Travel Preparation Tips

Even though COVID-19 has placed many of your travel plans on hold, it’s likely that you are making plans on where you would like to go once these restrictions are lifted and life as normal can resume. When traveling, take some of the following steps to make sure you are fully prepared.

• Take inventory of your wallet – Before you leave for vacation, make a list of every single card that is in your wallet. If your wallet was to go missing, this would help you recover everything once you get home. With that list, you’ll be able to know who you need to call to report any lost or stolen cards.
• Get travel insurance – Consider getting travel insurance when taking a trip for work or leisure. If you suffer any financial losses you can file a claim and once approved you could be reimbursed for said losses.
• Update any important legal documents – If you are traveling abroad, there are always risks. You should make sure that if something tragic were to happen to you, there is a plan in place for what happens to your belongings. This can include updating things such as a will, beneficiary, advanced directive, your estate, etc.
• Notify your financial institution of travel plans – This is an easy and important way to protect your finances while on vacation, as well as prevent an inconvenience. If your card is used outside your normal area of travel without being in travel mode, it could result in your card being flagged for potential fraud and being shut off. But when you schedule your card to be in travel mode, the system knows that any purchases during your set timeframe in the state or country you designated are okay for approval.

You can utilize the card control functions on your American 1 Credit Union mobile app to put your card(s) into travel mode. If you don’t have the app, you can download from Google Play or the App Store or you can visit your closest branch and notify your Account Specialist of travel plans, and they would be happy to get your cards put into travel mode for you. If your American 1 Credit Union debit or credit card is lost or stolen you can turn off the misplaced card in the Mobile App or stop into your local branch and get a new one instantly issued to you. If you need to update your beneficiary information, you can stop into your local American 1 Credit Union branch and one of our Member Service Specialists would be more than happy to help you.

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