Overseas transactions
Any foreign transaction on a Credit Card automatically gets it flagged to the bank's fraud department. If there is a note on file saying you are traveling to, say, Great Britain and that's where the charge is coming from, the card stays active. If not, they will automatically shut the card off and wait for you to call them saying "Hey, my credit card doesn't work any more". The turn off usually takes a few hours, however. The crook has to move quickly to beat the turn off. Some banks will call your home phone to ask if you were in Great Britain today charging pizza! Seems kinda silly but they do. Other banks don't bother - they wait for you to call from the US or overseas. (Remember 1-800 numbers usually don't work from overseas locations. You need the local number with area code to call the bank's fraud dept. - collect!)
And on Credit Cards you are not liable for the fraudulent charges, nor do you have to pay that part of the bill while the charges are being investigated. Paying $8 a month to a bank for credit card guarding - to me - is a waste of money. You are already protected by the US credit laws.
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