How to Ensure Worry-Free Travel With Your Debit/Credit Card
Here are a few ways you can help minimize problems when traveling.
Before Travel
1. Notify Bell Bank before traveling internationally if you will be using your debit card. Notify Elan directly if you will be using your credit card.
It’s helpful for you to call Bell before you travel to let us know where you are headed and the dates which you will be traveling. This will help ensure that legitimate purchases are approved. You should tell us the names of all cardholders who are traveling to ensure we modify each individual card that will be used internationally.
You should review the expiration date of you card(s) and inquire about daily limits or cash withdrawal limitations. For debit card limit increases, you can call our customer service department at
800-450-8949. For credit card limit increases, you can call Elan customer service at
701-461-1556 collect.
Ensure your contact information (address, home phone number, cell phone number, email address, etc.) on file with us is current. This will make it easier for us to contact a customer if necessary.
Be sure you have access to your debit and credit cards through an online account. This will allow you to review transactions clearing your account, ask questions, and update your travel itinerary if applicable so cards aren’t shut down or blocked for fraud.
2. Ensure the debit or credit card is ready for use.
It is important to make sure your cards are activated. Using a debit card may help to easily obtain cash from local ATMs while traveling. Bell Bank's Debit Mastercard can be used at Mastercard ATMs worldwide. Before you travel, we recommend you activate and begin using your new Mastercard since it has the more secure EMV chip, which foreign merchants require.
You should memorize your PIN and never write the PIN on the actual card. You create your pin when you call to activate your Mastercard. If you want to change your PIN you can call
701-298-1550 or
800-558-3424.
During Travel
1. You may encounter issues at the checkout.
In some countries (particularly in Europe), merchants are more familiar with accepting EMV chip cards (cards with an embedded chip) than magnetic-strip cards. For this reason, we recommend that you activate and use your new Debit Mastercard instead.
In countries that have adopted chip technology, international visitors may continue to use their non-chip enabled cards; most chip terminals will recognize and process a magnetic-strip card.
If you encounter a merchant who is hesitant to accept a non-chip card for payment, you should try and encourage the merchant to swipe the magnetic-strip card through the terminal and follow the terminal prompts to complete the transaction.
If you are using an unattended rail ticket kiosk, or an automated fuel dispenser that does not recognize non-chip cards, you can present the card to an attendant or agent (e.g., at a ticket window).
If for some reason, you are unable to use your Debit Mastercard or Visa credit card to make a purchase at a merchant location, you should be able to obtain cash from a local ATM.
When you use your card at a merchant or ATM that settles in currency other than US dollars, the charge will be converted into the US dollar amount. The conversion rate used is either a rate selected by Mastercard from a range of rates available in wholesale currency markets, or the government mandated rate.
Mastercard charges a 0.9% Issuer Cross-Border Assessment fee plus a 0.2% Currency Conversion Assessment fee (if applicable) on all international transactions.
Bell Bank's automatic ATM fee refund is for domestic ATM transactions only and is not offered for international ATM transactions.
2. What to do if you have problems or concerns.
Please contact Bell Bank by dialing the phone number printed on the back of the debit card. You may also contact Mastercard Global Services (visit
www.mastercard.com to locate the toll-free number appropriate for the country in which they are traveling in).
Upon return, review your statements carefully and contact Bell Bank immediately if you see any suspicious or incorrect charges.
3. Save with MoneyPass.
Don’t forget about MoneyPass®! All Bell Bank personal and business debit card customers receive automatic refunds of the first 4 domestic ATM fees on your monthly bank statements. Now, you can also use any of the 32,000 MoneyPass ATM machines across the country surcharge-free!
4. Find MoneyPass ATMs.
To find a MoneyPass ATM:
- Look for the MoneyPass symbol at the ATM.
- Go to www.moneypass.com to locate an ATM.
- Download the MoneyPass ATM app locator on your smartphone.
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