Features for those who need to travel abroad

Everything Chip Feature Feedback & Requests
#1

Hi. I’m a new chip user. It’s a great app so far, but I feel you can make it even better. Hope you won’t mind that in my very first post, I will be recommending some ideas.

One of the features I’d love to have which no other bank has done yet, is that when I’m about to travel abroad, I want to be able to inform the bank/financial institution that I’m going abroad. This way Chip can then ask the departure/return dates I’m travelling on and then can give two options:-

- DO YOU WANT TO PLACE A TEMPORARY HOLD ON YOUR ACCOUNT UNTIL YOU RETURN HOME? - Imagine whilst you’re away on holiday and without your knowledge someone manages to hack into your account and take off with all your savings. This feature is for users who don’t want to use Chip abroad, but are anxious that their account may get hacked whilst they are away without their knowledge. The idea is that once Chip are put on notice, they can place extra security checks to ensure it’s the right owner. When the user returns back to UK, Chip can do a short ID verification to ensure it’s the right owner of the account before giving them access.

- DO YOU WANT TO USE YOUR CHIP CARD/ACCOUNT ABROAD? - Again similar to above, you are about to travel abroad, but this time it’s for users who are worried that your bank (Chip) may block your account whilst using your card abroad. Again Chip can clarify the departure/return dates and then go through some ID verifications to ensure it’s the rightful owner. Chip can then ask you whether you’d like to setup a maximum limit of expenditure or limit on how low your account balance can go.

So for example let’s say I have £5000 in my account and I’m travelling abroad to Greece on 15th May for 1 week. I know in total I won’t need to use more than £2000 maximum and I also won’t need to make a single purchase higher than £500, so I tell Chip the following:-

  • I’m Travelling on 15th May, Returning on 21st May.
  • Do not let my balance drop below £3000.
  • My max single purchase will be £500.

If any of the above conditions are not met, Chip can block the card/account or run additional checks to ensure it’s the correct owner. This protects both the owner and Chip from risk of fraudulent activity.

Let me know what you think :slightly_smiling_face:

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#2

Overkill IMO.

The world is a village these days, and secure Internet connections can be had worldwide.

To assume your money is safer when you are physically in the UK is a bit strange.

#3

Hi, new chip on the block. I love your proposed ideas for Chip and for the use of it elsewhere, too. But, it doesn’t need to be available just for short periods of going away and coming back. Instead, a full or partial lockdown of an account could / should be an extra ongoing choice. For example, my bank already alerts me about larger transactions in and out and when my balance goes below a certain amount - all of which I selected the values for and opted into. My bank doesn’t, though, lock things down - it only alerts me. So, yes, i agree that such a lock down and partial lock down would be great to have as optional extras for Chip security and on bank accounts, too.

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#4

Hi, Squirrel, I think that Chip4me means / meant that it’s harder to sort out such attacks on your finances when you are abroad. There might be a delay.

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#5

Not sure why that would be.

#6

I appreciate that internet connections can be received worldwide, but I don’t agree all customers will know the difference between a secure and unsecure internet connection. For example when you are abroad in a restaurant, you may not have good enough service signal, so a lot of customers will ask the restaurant for a WIFI password - How can we be sure that’s safe and secure and that no one is using a data/password capturer? Anyway, that’s a subject for another day.

Regarding physically being in UK etc, well when you go abroad, your IP address will change and reflect the physical location, which as a security measure may cause Chip to block you because they don’t recognise the usual location or think you’re about to be scammed and since the bank has not provided any option for the customer to alert them that they are abroad, it can cause a lot of distress and inconvenience for the customer when they can’t access their Chip account.

Lastly, try thinking from a customer’s point of view. Let’s say I’ve a £100k in my account. But I’m going abroad where I won’t need to use my Chip account at all, but as can be expected, I may worry whether my money is safe. When I’m placing my life savings in an account, the last thing I want is to come back from abroad is to find that someone has scammed and emptied my account. Having an option where I can partially lockdown my account for a short period of time is a lifesaver for me. It means that Chip can trigger extra security checks to ensure they are allowing the right person to access the account and money.

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