Summer is finally here, and for many of us in Anne Arundel County that means a long-awaited getaway — a beach week in Ocean City, a road trip down the coast, a cross-country flight to see family, or maybe the international adventure you’ve been saving up for. Whatever your destination, the last thing you want to think about while you’re soaking up the sun is your bank account. But here’s the reality: travel is exactly when your finances are most exposed, and a little preparation before you leave can be the difference between a worry-free trip and a vacation derailed by a frozen card, a drained account, or a fraud headache that follows you home.
The good news is that keeping your money safe on the road isn’t complicated. It comes down to a handful of simple habits, and most of the tools you need are already in your pocket. This guide walks you through everything — what to do before you leave, how to turn your phone into a security tool, smart ATM practices that also save you money, and exactly what to do if something goes wrong. Let’s make sure your money stays as relaxed as you are this summer.
Why Travel Raises Your Risk
It’s worth understanding why vacation is such a vulnerable time for your finances, because it explains why each of the steps below matters. When you travel, you’re spending money in unfamiliar places, often using your card more frequently than usual, sometimes in cash-heavy tourist economies, and frequently while distracted by the joys of being somewhere new. Fraudsters know this. Travelers often find themselves in unfamiliar territory, making them prime targets for scams — including ATM skimming, phishing messages claiming to be from your bank, pickpocketing in crowded tourist areas, and merchants who overcharge or add unauthorized charges.
Importantly, you’re not necessarily at more risk of fraud on the road than at home — but the hassle of dealing with it is far greater when you’re away. Sorting out a blocked card or a fraudulent charge is annoying from your kitchen table; it’s a genuine crisis when you’re 800 miles away with a hotel bill due. That’s the whole reason to prepare in advance.
Before You Go: Set the Stage for a Smooth Trip and Tell Us Where You’re Headed
One of the most important things you can do before any trip is let us know you’ll be traveling. Card issuers monitor accounts for unusual activity, and a purchase in an unfamiliar location can trigger a fraud flag and get a perfectly legitimate transaction declined — a real headache when you’re standing at a hotel front desk or a restaurant counter in a new city. Using your debit card in a new location, especially out of state or internationally, can trigger fraud alerts and lead to your card being blocked. Adding a travel notice with your dates and destinations helps reduce that risk substantially. To set up a travel notice, call your local Bank of Glen Burnie branch office or download and submit the BofGB Travel Notice Form found on our website. Your travel details will be noted on your account to alert FraudWatch Plus of transactions that may occur outside of your typical spending patterns.
You can also let us know your plans easily through our card management and controls within our Personal Banking mobile app. If you haven’t been using our card management features, it’s a great time to start setting up alerts and controls. Once logged in to our Personal Mobile Banking app, simply tap “My Cards” to begin. It only takes a couple of minutes but can potentially save you hours of frustration. Not only can these controls help protect your card when traveling, they even help protect your account on a day-to-day basis.
Make Sure We Can Reach You
Before you leave, double-check that your phone number and email address are current with us. Keeping your contact information up to date allows us to quickly reach you if any unusual activity is detected — helping prevent or minimize debit card issues while you’re away. If you’re heading overseas, it’s also worth checking with your mobile carrier about your ability to receive text messages and make calls abroad, since some fraud alerts and verification codes arrive by SMS.
Know Your Limits and PINs
A small detail that trips up a lot of travelers: make sure you actually remember the PINs for the cards you’re bringing and have a sense of your daily limits. Knowing your credit card and daily debit card limits and PINs can make travel easier — the PIN assigned to your card is required at ATMs and at some payment terminals.
Clean Out Your Wallet
You don’t need to carry every card you own on vacation. Carry only the cards you plan to use and keep them in a secure spot — fewer cards mean less risk if your wallet is lost or stolen. Take one primary card, one backup, and leave the rest safely at home. If the worst happens, you’ll have far less to cancel and replace.
Pack a Backup — and Separate It
Speaking of backups: don’t rely on a single way to pay. Always carry a backup payment method, such as a second card or some cash, for emergencies. Having multiple payment options is a smart part of any travel plan. Just as important is where you keep that backup. Keeping an alternate form of payment in a different bag means you’re covered if your wallet is lost or stolen. If your primary card and your backup are in the same wallet, a single theft wipes out both. Split them up.
Turn Your Phone Into a Security Tool
Your smartphone is one of the best fraud-protection tools you have while traveling. With The Bank of Glen Burnie’s mobile banking and online banking, you can keep an eye on your accounts from anywhere in the world — and catch problems while they’re still small.
Set Up Real-Time Alerts
This is the single most powerful step you can take. With our online banking, you can get real-time alerts delivered to your phone by text message, email, or to a secure inbox within online banking. Real-time transaction notifications let you know when your card is used and can help you spot suspicious activity the moment it happens. Set email or text-message alerts to notify you of card or account transactions and customize alerts for large purchases, low balances, or any card activity — so the instant a charge you didn’t make shows up, you know.
Check on Your Accounts
While you’re enjoying yourself, take a minute every day or two to glance at your account activity through the mobile app. Popular tourist destinations can attract fraudsters, so monitoring your accounts during and after travel is key — and if you notice any suspicious charges, contact us immediately. A quick daily check is the easiest way to keep small problems from becoming big ones.
Use Card Management to Stay in Control
Our mobile app lets you do far more than just look. You can check balances, view recent transactions, transfer money between accounts, and manage your debit card directly from your phone. If something doesn’t look right, you have controls at your fingertips rather than having to wait until business hours or until you’re back home. That kind of immediate control is exactly what you want when you’re far from your home branch.
Be Careful on Public Wi-Fi
Hotel, airport, and café networks are convenient — and not always secure. Avoid logging into your bank account on public networks while traveling; if you need to check your account, use a secure cellular connection instead. Your phone’s own data connection is almost always safer than open Wi-Fi for anything involving your finances.
Adding multifactor authentication to your accounts provides another important layer. A combination of a hard-to-guess passcode and biometrics like your face or fingerprint means that even if your passcode is compromised, fraudsters can’t meet the second authentication requirement to get into your accounts. It’s a one-time setup that protects you on every trip going forward.
Smart ATM Habits — and Avoiding Fees
Find a Fee-Free ATM with MoneyPass®
Nobody likes paying $3 to $5 just to access their own money. As a Bank of Glen Burnie customer, you have access to the free MoneyPass® ATM network — thousands of surcharge-free machines across the country. Before you leave, use the MoneyPass® locator tool to map out fee-free ATMs near your destination so you’re not stuck paying out-of-network charges every time you need cash. You can also use our mobile banking app to locate ATMs in the MoneyPass® network. A few minutes of planning here can easily save you $20 or more over the course of a week-long trip, and it steers you toward established, well-maintained machines rather than sketchy stand-alone ATMs.
Watch Out for Skimmers
ATM skimming remains a serious and costly threat, and tourist areas are prime hunting grounds. Skimming devices found on ATMs, gas pumps, and® other card readers are responsible for over $1 billion in losses each year, according to the FBI. These devices capture card data and record cardholders’ PIN entries, and criminals use the information to create fake payment cards and make unauthorized purchases or steal directly from accounts. What makes them dangerous is that a single device can quietly collect thousands of cards before anyone notices.
A few quick checks before you insert your card can protect you:
- Inspect the machine. Look the ATM over for possible skimming devices. Indicators can include sticky adhesive residue, damaged or crooked pieces, scratches, loose or extra attachments on the card slot, or noticeable resistance when pressing the keypad.
- Wiggle the card slot. A legitimate card reader should feel secure; if it moves, feels bulky, or looks misaligned, don’t use it — and report it. Comparing it to a nearby machine can help you spot something that’s out of place.
- Cover the keypad. Hidden cameras are sometimes installed alongside skimmers to capture PINs, so the FBI suggests covering the keypad with one hand while you enter your PIN.
- Check the keypad feel. If the PIN pad feels loose, thick, or sponge-like, that can indicate a counterfeit overlay designed to record your keystrokes.
- Trust your gut. If anything about the machine seems off — odd on-screen messages, unusual attachments — walk away and find another ATM.
Choose Your ATM Location Wisely
Where you withdraw cash matters as much as how. Plan ahead and withdraw cash from ATMs located inside reputable banks, airports, and other well-lit, high-traffic areas. Freestanding machines in remote or poorly monitored spots are far more likely to be tampered with. And stay aware of your surroundings while you’re at the machine — pay attention to strangers loitering near a cash machine, especially in pairs, since a common tactic is for one person to distract you while another grabs your cash.
Guard Your PIN
It sounds obvious, but it bears repeating: never write your PIN on your card or store it with your card, and shield the keypad whenever you enter it. “Shoulder surfing” — a thief watching you type your PIN into a keypad — is a real risk worth guarding against, so carefully block others’ view when entering your PIN.
Consider a Credit Card for Purchases
When it comes to everyday spending on your trip, there’s a strong case for leaning on a credit card rather than your debit card for purchases. The reason comes down to how the money moves. Because a debit card pulls funds directly from your bank account, any fraudulent charges stay on your account while the bank investigates — which is why many travelers limit debit card use to cash-machine withdrawals and pay for purchases with a credit card or cash. If you don’t already have a BOGB consumer credit card, now is a great time to apply.
If Something Goes Wrong
Even with careful planning, problems can happen — and the key is to act fast. If your debit or credit card is lost or stolen while you’re traveling, report it to your bank right away. Before you leave, write down our customer service numbers and store them somewhere separate from your wallet so you can reach us even if your card and phone go missing together. Noting the phone numbers for your bank and storing them separately from your cards means help is just a call away if something doesn’t look right.
You can reach The Bank of Glen Burnie at 410-766-3300 or 1-800-870-8612 during normal business hours and use the debit and credit card support numbers below as needed. These numbers are also found on our website.
Debit Card Support
Support is available 24 hours a day to report a lost or stolen debit card by calling 833-358-0112. To dispute a debit card transaction please call 833-358-0113, Monday through Friday, 8 AM until 8 PM.
Credit Card Support
To report a lost or stolen credit card, or for 24-hour credit card customer service, call 855-401-4743.
Reporting quickly does two things: it stops further unauthorized charges, and it starts the process of getting you a replacement card.
And once you’re home, don’t drop your guard. Checking your bank accounts daily lets you catch any unauthorized transactions quickly so you can report them and minimize potential losses. Remember, stolen card data is sometimes held and used weeks after the trip, so a post-vacation review is just as valuable as the daily checks you did while away.
Your Local Bank Has Your Back
At The Bank of Glen Burnie, we’ve been looking out for our Anne Arundel County neighbors since 1949 — more than 75 years of community-focused, FDIC-insured banking. When you call us, you reach a real person, not a phone tree routed halfway around the world. That kind of personal, local service matters most precisely when you’re far from home and need help in a hurry.
Before your next trip, take a few minutes to set up real-time alerts, file a travel notice, confirm your contact information, and locate the fee-free MoneyPass® ATMs near your destination. None of it takes long, and together these small steps go a long way toward a vacation where the only thing on your mind is making memories.
Ready to travel with confidence this summer? Download the Bank of Glen Burnie mobile app to set up real-time account alerts and manage your cards on the go, or stop by any of our six convenient branch locations to talk through your travel banking checklist with a neighbor who knows you by name. Have questions before you head out? Call us at 410-766-3300 — we’re here to help you bank safely, wherever summer takes you.
The Bank of Glen Burnie is FDIC-insured. Member FDIC. Equal Housing Lender.