The high season for travelling is just about upon us, and many people are busy planning trips abroad, including all those details of where to stay, eat, see the sights and find the best shopping.

You may end up being well prepared for budget accommodation and bargain shopping in the cities you are visiting, but what about your credit cards?

Perhaps you have three credit cards from three different banks or companies that have tempted you with hard-to-resist promotion packages and even gifts just to apply for their cards. You may also be thinking that having three cards in your purse or wallet is a prudent move, in case you need extra cash. And if one of them is blocked by the issuing bank for some reason, then, Hey! You've still got two left.

Where it comes to credit cards and foreign trips, this is not good enough.

First of all, you should inform the banks or companies that issued your credit cards that, for example, you're going to Japan for one week from December 9. Just call their customer service centre or call centre and give them the details, including your name and card number.

This will help prevent or at least reduce two big problems: first, the enormous headaches and costs that can come from using credit cards in places with a high incidence of fraud and fake cards.

One true story concerns a senior figure from the central bank who made a short trip to a neighbouring country some years ago. Finishing his work there, he did some shopping before coming home. When he got back he found a huge bill waiting for him from the country he had just visited, but most of the expenses had been incurred by someone else.

Fortunately, the bank that issued the card knew about his trip and helped track down the rogue spending. His credit card had been used by someone to create a fake card, using his card number.

The conclusion of the story is he did not have to pay for spending that was not his own. The card issuer had to deal with the illegal transactions.

So, give your card issuers your rough itinerary, because you don't want to get home to face other people's bills.

The second problem is if you do not inform the banks about your trip, and you are not a regular traveller, the issuing bank may decide that these strange foreign transactions cannot be yours and put a hold on your spending.

Therefore, making a few calls to the banks may avoid the awful situation when the cashier shakes her head and hands back your card, saying, "Sorry, it doesn't work," - just when you've found the perfect pair of shoes or the wrist-watch of your dreams.

Having said this, you may find that credit-card companies simply do not care where you're going. A well-known credit-card firm once told me: "You don't need to tell us [where you're going]. We will just put your transactions on hold if we think they're weird." There's nothing anyone can do about that kind of approach, but other card issuers still like to know. So be prudent and call them all.

To avoid nasty surprises, make sure, before you go abroad, that your credit-card issuers do not charge additional fees for international transactions. Some do and some don't.

Now, check the exchange rates between the baht and the currencies of the countries you are going to visit. Doing this shortly before you leave will help when you are making purchases or payments. Do a rough calculation of your expenses abroad as you go and make a list giving each amount in baht. Later, when you receive your statement from the card issuer, check each amount against your rough list. Better still, call the credit-card companies when you get home and ask them what transactions have been made via your credit cards and on what date. This will let you know early whether there are any unusual transactions.

This procedure may also help when you make purchases or payments in countries with currencies whose exchange rate fluctuates. The merchant may want to wait for a week before presenting their charges to your bank to get a better rate, and you end up paying more. If you have done your homework, you will be able to compare the purchase and posting dates.

Now, take a look at your credit cards. Usually, they have the phone number of the issuing bank. Note down all of these phone numbers, your credit-card numbers and the expiry date for each card and keep them separately, in a safe place. These will be essential if your cards are lost or stolen.

Both Visa and MasterCard have call centres that can be contacted from abroad. Generally, they will simply transfer you to your own bank.

Only a few banks in Thailand have changed some of their customers' credit cards into smart cards with embedded memory chips. Most people still carry cards with magnetic strips or chip cards that require a signature.

In some countries, particularly in Europe, most automatic vending machines, including ticket machines, require chip cards that are confirmed with a pin number and not a signature.

In Thailand, since cash advances via credit cards are quite costly, many cardholders don't use this service and quickly forget the pin number that came with the credit card when it was newly approved.

Do some searching and keep your pin number with you. It might be useful if you need cash urgently when travelling abroad. Just step up to an ATM and withdraw cash with your credit card, using your pin number.

Jiwamol Kanoksilp

The Nation