Job Discussion Forums

[Sheikh N Bake]

Agreed. Local merchants in Saudi tell me there are many problems with Saudi-issued credit cards. On the other hand I have maintained a US address and used my US-issued credit cards overseas for the last 24 years and have never had any problems--that includes 15 years in the Gulf. Sometimes they block purchases if they suspect fraud--that's their job. I just had an extended vacation in the States and Europe and, while there was no problem there, when I returned to Saudi and attempted a $2000 purchase at an electronics shop in Buraidah, it was blocked. It was a simple matter to unblock it on the spot while the store rang up my purchase--I used my cell phone and called the issuing bank, gave them my passwords, and we were all set. They apologized for the error and I said it was because I'd just been using the card for 5 weeks in the West and I could understand that a sudden large purchase in Saudi Arabia could trigger an automatic fraud hold until I called.

I've never had any problems greater than what I just described. But don't get any Middle-East-issued credit cards.

[Stephen Jones]

There are two problems with a Saudi credit card.

The first is the horrendous rate of interest. The second is that they view all fraudulent transactions as being your problem not theirs. The section of the banks that deal with Visa and MasterCard in Sri Lanka are corrupt, and they have developed the scam of using your number for non-existent small transactions that don't call in an automatic fraud call. I reported this to the police and sent details off to the bank, but they still insisted in charging me for every purchase made whilst I was in Lanka, independent of whether it was fraudulent or not.

[sauditeacher]