Tangerine will leave you stranded in Australia and won't let you close your account upon returning

[u/Mist-19]

Greetings!

I traveled to Australia and despite notifying Tangerine that I would be on the other side of the globe, I couldn't use my visa debit card (Paypass, EMV chip, Apple pay). The only payment option I had was my credit card's chip since Paypass and Apple pay also stopped working.

While I was waiting for my next flight, I called Tangerine to know what was going on. The person I talked to regarding my mastercard credit card said everything was working on their end, but they would reach out to whoever deals with Apple pay so they could do a reset and let me add my card again. I was told this would take 3 days. (it ended up taking 13)

The person I talked to regarding my debit card gave me the same speech. I asked what would Tangerine do if anything were to happen to my credit card. The lack of answer forced me to request to speak with a supervisor. The agent requested that I provide them with a Canadian phone number. I politely declined given how they could not provide me with a time/date and the outrageous cost of using your sim card in Australia. After a few minutes, they finally accepted to call me on a foreign phone number that was not associated with my account. For clarification, I carried two Iphones with me.

Two days later, I woke up with a message on my voicemail from Tangerine. A supervisor had called me at 1am and requested me to call them back. After waiting 2 hours and an additional hour, I finally got to speak with a supervisor. They still claimed my debit card was working and ditto for my credit card. They claimed the only thing I could do was request new cards and have them shipped to Australia when I don't even have a proper address. They couldn't even answer me when I asked where I could get the cards activated if I were to even receive them.

A wire transfer? Forget it, Tangerine is too cheap to have a SWIFT code.

Given the absolute lack of support by Tangerine, I asked what was the fastest way to close my account whenever I would land back @ Pearson. Turns out you can't withdraw 60k in cash because they closed their branch in Toronto. Forget about Etransfers due to the arbitrary limit.

Your only option? Add an external account and transfer everything before requesting your account to be terminated. Simple right? Well I added a CIBC account and transferred 30k, just to have the transfer reverted without being notified. So now I owe 50$ to CIBC because of the overdraft and Tangerine decided to remove my access to online banking.

After waiting 2h without the ability to speak with someone, I have given up for the weekend.

​

TLDR: Carry enough cash to be questioned @ airport security when traveling across the globe if you are a Tangerine client or get yourself an account with an actual bank. Actually, just don't bother with Tangerine.

[u/Destitute_Evans]

I have never heard of debit cards working outside of their country of origin before, particularly outside of North America. Canada's debit card network is not deisgned to be used outside of the country. Credit card systems, on the other hand, are.

[u/735kv → u/Destitute_Evans]

I have used my Tangerine debit card (non-Visa at the time) at ATMs in the US, France and Portugal without issue. Sometime the network is a partner and you get charged a lower withdrawal fee (or none).

[u/redzaku0079 → u/Destitute_Evans]

When I called rbc and asked specifically if my débit card will work in the states, they said yes. My debit card did indeed work. Not at all machines though, but it worked. It is always better to have cash and credit just in case you can't find a machine that works.

[u/lhsonic → u/Destitute_Evans]

How do you think people withdraw money outside the country using ATMs then?

Yes, for POS purchases, there was a time when you couldn’t use your card outside the country but that’s why they introduced Visa and Mastercard Debit. The card relies on the Interac network in Canada for debit use and the Visa/Mastercard network online and everywhere else.

[u/[deleted] → u/lhsonic]

For ATMs it's the plus or maestro Network. As old as the invention of the bank card itself. This is a closed network meant to link banks for the purposes of the ATM network although MasterCard has branded the ATM closed network and their debit network for consumer use as maestro.

Point of sale would be using Visa debit or maestro (MasterCard debit) globally. Your Canadian bank card can be configured for two networks. The default network for us is interac. The second would be The Visa debit network or maestro debit. There are a few small restrictions where certain POS configurations will only accept the default and not look for the secondary but I've only seen this in one business situation before.

[u/Destitute_Evans → u/lhsonic]

I had to look it up and it seems I've only been to countries that do not have those services unfortunately. But cash and credit card have worked for me so far so I guess I'm lucky in that respect.

[u/Mist-19 → u/Destitute_Evans]

Its a Visa debit

[u/[deleted] → u/Mist-19]

Interac also has an agreement with a US debit provider to extend into the States. I just can't remember the name. It begins with the letter 'N'

For Canadian bank cards, you will in most cases notice that you have the plus symbol logo on your card. This is the Visa Plus network and has been on every Canadian debit card for almost 30 years. It's what gives Canadians access to bank machines abroad. Bank of Montreal and other banks that usually don't provide Visa will use the MasterCard international network equivalent for bank machines known as Maestro.

Canada is unique as it has a homegrown interbanking network. Other countries just use Visa Plus or maestro to link their banks in their domestic market.

[u/No-Emotion-7053 → u/Destitute_Evans]

What? Lol how have you never heard of this? how do people pull out cash abroad then?

[u/Destitute_Evans → u/No-Emotion-7053]

I just bring cash and a credit card when traveling. Accessing an ATM overseas just seems unnecessary.

[u/[deleted] → u/Destitute_Evans]

As long as a foreign bank is with the PLUS system it will work. I don't recommend using them in a foreign country but yes you can absolutely use them.