How to call your bank from overseas when your card is blocked
Use the direct-dial international number on the back of your card, not the freephone one. Dial it in full with the country code from a browser tab, keep your account details to hand because the bank will not recognise the number you are calling from, and expect to work through a phone menu and a queue. Rates start at $0.02 a minute and are published in full before you sign up.
Finding the right number
Look on the back of the card first. Most cards carry two numbers: a domestic freephone one and a direct-dial international one written with a plus and a country code. The second is the one that works from abroad. If the card is lost, the same pair is in the contact section of the bank’s website, usually under a heading like “calling from abroad”.
Ignore the freephone number, even if it is the only one you can find. A toll-free line bills its owner rather than the caller, and that arrangement is normally bought for domestic traffic only, so the network refuses calls arriving from other countries. No calling service can override that. We wrote the mechanism up separately in calling toll-free numbers from abroad.
Check what kind of number you have found. Banks publish a mix of geographic, non-geographic and premium-rate lines, and they do not cost the same to reach. Paste it into the number checker and it will tell you the country, the band and the exact per-minute price before you dial.
Surviving the call
Assume the bank will not recognise you. Calls go out with a number we assign, not your own mobile, so a bank that identifies customers by caller ID will treat you as an unrecognised caller. That is not a failure, it just means the identity questions come first. Have the card number, account details and any security information open before you dial rather than hunting for them while a queue advances.
The keypad works the whole way through. Press 1 for English, key an account number, enter a reference. The phone menu cannot tell the call started in a browser, so an IVR behaves exactly as it does from a handset.
Hold time is billed, and the meter is on screen. A long queue costs money, which is worth saying plainly rather than burying. A sixty minute call to a UK landline is $4.20 at the published rate and a US one $1.20. The running total sits beside the call while you wait, so the bill is never a surprise at the end.
If nobody answers, you are not charged. A call that rings out, hits an engaged tone or fails to connect costs nothing. You pay for connected time only.
One thing this cannot do
It cannot receive the security code your bank texts you. Most banks deliberately refuse to send two-factor codes to internet phone numbers, and that applies to every service of this kind rather than to this one specifically. Keep an ordinary mobile number reachable for codes. If the whole problem is that your bank is texting a number you can no longer use, a phone call will not solve it and you will need to change the number on the account, which usually has to be done in the app or by post.
Call the number now
Type the international number off your card. The price resolves from the digits before you dial.
Type a number to see its exact price.
Sign up and call. First minute on us, no card details.
Questions
- How do I call my bank while living abroad?
- Find the direct-dial international number on the back of your card or in the contact section of your bank's website, which is usually written in +country-code form rather than as a freephone number. Dial it in full, including the country code. Airlophone places that call from a browser tab, so it works from any country without a local SIM, and the keypad stays live so you can work through the phone menu when you get there.
- Why won't my bank's 1-800 number work from another country?
- A toll-free number bills the organisation that owns it, and that billing arrangement is usually bought for domestic calls only, so the network refuses the call when it arrives from abroad. It is not something a calling service can override. Almost every bank publishes a separate direct-dial international line for exactly this reason, and that is the number to use.
- Will my bank recognise the number I am calling from?
- Not necessarily, and you should assume it will not. Calls go out with a number we assign rather than your own mobile number, so a bank that recognises customers by caller ID will treat you as an unrecognised caller and take you through its normal identity questions. Have your account details, card number and security information ready before you dial.
- Can I get through a bank's phone menu from a browser?
- Yes. The keypad stays live for the whole call, so pressing 1 for English, entering an account number or keying a reference works exactly as it does on a handset. Nothing about the phone menu knows or cares that the call started in a browser.
- What if I am on hold for an hour?
- The line holds for as long as the call does, and you are billed per minute for the time you are connected, hold time included. That is the honest answer: a long queue costs money. A sixty minute call to a UK landline is $4.20 at the published rate, and the running cost is on screen while you wait so it is never a surprise.
- Is it cheaper than calling my bank on roaming?
- Usually, and sometimes by a lot, but check your own plan rather than taking our word for it. Roaming rates vary enormously by carrier and by which country you are standing in, and some plans include the destination you are calling. Every one of our rates is published before you sign up, so the comparison is one you can make in a minute.