Bobmac,I think I may have mentioned this before? But my friend who lives in Pattaya had his credit card details stolen and maxed out in Thailand.

He used his credit card as his only source of funds and had his own cash in the card, when it was maxed out via Hong kong the bank put an immediate stop to the card leaving him with no funds and a card that had to be replaced in Australia!

The credit card company security turned a blind eye to unusual use of the card until it was too late because it was used in Asia on a frequent basis anyway.

I had to send him money until his return to OZ and it took many months for him to get his money and card back.

If you were on holiday and used your credit card just a few times it would possibly be ok ,but using it all the time puts you at a greater risk of id theft!

He only used the card to withdraw cash and am unsure how his details were stolen, so you have to be careful .

It put him under a lot of stress just knowing he had to fly back to Perth to sort out the problem as he could not do anything about it in Thailand.

This was before the new debit cards they have now, and it was a good idea because no fees were charged for using your own funds in the card,until he lost it all!

Now I only use credit cards overseas in an emergency.

Den

Thanks for that. I don't use a credit card to pay for anything, but use my CBA ATM card in Thai ATMs. I do have a credit card but never use it as I'm an excellent money manager, I just have the credit card in case of an emergency. I think it's the credit cards that are risky. When I get back to perth in Sept I'll look further into using a new debit card for future trips overseas.