Auto-pay when away

Regarding “Hands Tied as Credit Limit Exceeded” (Sept. ’10, pg. 26), about a cruise passenger at sea unable to communicate with his credit card company, several years ago we converted all of our credit card bills (AmEx and two Visa cards) as well as other recurring charges, including utility bills, to auto-pay, by which each bill is automatically deducted from our checking account(s) on the due date.

We have never had to worry about being current or having overdrawn our credit limit while on longer trips. Upon returning home, we audit the credit card statement(s) that arrived in the mail while we were gone, just to make sure that all is okay. It has always worked perfectly.

In most cases, arranging for auto-pay can be done online, and there are several options regarding what it will cover: a) the minimum amount due, b) a specific amount greater than the minimum balance or c) the full balance due.

Of course, to clear the auto-pay debits it is necessary to have a predictably adequate checking account balance linked to the credit cards. In our case, this is helped by having all of our income deposited automatically as well (Social Security, pensions, etc.).

Also, one should have a credit limit sufficient enough to cover all expected charges. It is quite possible that auto-pay might not have helped the above-referenced passenger, if the total outstanding balance on the account exceeded his credit limit at any time during the billing cycle. In our case, I can’t imagine that we could ever spend enough while traveling to exceed our limit.

If one has an American Express card, spending limits are very flexible and can even be increased with a phone call if that need should ever occur. Visa and MasterCard are usually happy to accept over-the-limit charges, since they could charge a fee.

Chase once stopped honoring my card while I was traveling in Australia because they found suspicious a large charge (over $10,000) from a country that was not on my previously registered itinerary, even though the amount was still well within my limit. I called Chase (collect) from Alice Springs, and they issued a new card, which was, of course, sent to my home 6,000 miles away! Lesson learned — always travel with several credit cards.

PETER KLATT

Berkeley, CA