# Credit / Debit Cars with NFA *



## OurJud (Sep 7, 2013)

So you decide to go on a road trip, sell all your possessions and give up the tenancy of the flat / apartment you're renting. You have a few thousand $ / £ saved up in the bank.

How long would you be able to get away with drawing on those savings by use of your debit card, before the bank realised you no longer lived at the address they have for you?

* No Fixed Abode


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## philistine (Sep 7, 2013)

A long time I'd imagine. How often do they really check these kind of things?


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## Kevin (Sep 7, 2013)

They'd take notice only if you missed a payment, which nowadays, if your accounts are online, means could be never, as long as you log in once a month and make your payments.


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## OurJud (Sep 7, 2013)

Well my character wouldn't have any bills, so I'm not sure what payments you refer to, Kevin. Before he left he cancelled all his direct debits and made sure any outstanding bills had been paid.


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## Blade (Sep 7, 2013)

OurJud said:


> Well my character wouldn't have any bills, so I'm not sure what payments you refer to, Kevin. Before he left he cancelled all his direct debits and made sure any outstanding bills had been paid.



Then there would be no problem. Just keep withdrawing until the $$ run out.


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## Kevin (Sep 7, 2013)

I was thinking that he was using a credit card to finance his trip. I guess a 'debit card' might work better, but I don't know if they allow those, overseas.  

Hmm...I have heard that after a period of time, maybe a couple years, banks will send out a notice to 'inactive' account holders, requesting some sort of response. At some point they just keep the money.


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## Blade (Sep 7, 2013)

Kevin said:


> .
> 
> Hmm...I have heard that after a period of time, maybe a couple years, banks will send out a notice to 'inactive' account holders, requesting some sort of response. At some point they just keep the money.



That would apply to a dormant account, no activity whatsoever. If withdrawals were made, even on an occasional basis, that would be sufficient to render it 'active, as far as I can see.

(Hey, give me the money and I will try it out.)nthego:


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## cropofkids (Sep 7, 2013)

You would have to get online statements. Regular statements would be sent to a physical address, if you left a forwarding address then the statements would be forwarded for a year. If no forwarding address was left, then the mailed statement could be returned to sender. This could trigger the bank to take action, as they like to have a physical address to attach to account holders. A way around this might be to have a post office box where mail has been placed on a hold. They will set aside mail for you for a set amount of time usually.


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## OurJud (Sep 7, 2013)

cropofkids said:


> You would have to get online statements. Regular statements would be sent to a physical address[...]



Yes, I think for this reason it can be presumed my character is on 'paperless banking'.

Maybe I'll just make this problem part of the story somewhere down the line and make it so that he's forced to withdraw all his money and close the account.


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## DuKane (Sep 10, 2013)

As someone who has done something similar, we jettisoned the UK three years ago to live and work in the Phils, but still have our UK bank accounts, I’ll add my two-bobs/cents worth from a UK banking perspective. This may differ in other countries.

The most obvious answer to your original question is three years, presuming that you just received a new debit card and pin as they expire after roughly that time and are replaced with a new one. The new card has to be posted to a physical address in the UK to conform with UK banking regulations. My bank know I'm 'working' in the Phils and have been here for over three years but when I asked if I could collect my new debit card in person, from my own branch, on a trip back to the UK last year, I was very politely told NO! Obviously the card and the pin are sent separately to the same physical address. UK banks will not accept P.O. Boxes either, unless you have an almighty wedge of cash in your account apparently! Then the majority of banks don’t really care, if you only have a few thousand the banks are going to take more interest.

So you would need a physical address of a trusted friend or relative who could receive your 'new card', this is quite commonplace here where banks send a new card to a UK address and then your trusted friend / relative who is residing at that address, forwards the ‘new card’ by Fed-Ex, DHL etc on to the owner out here. This is also useful for any communications from the bank regarding refused or, in their eyes, dubious transactions. The trusted friend / relative contact’s you to warn of the banks concerns and you phone / Skype the bank to reassure them. Happens to us all the time when using a new card for the first time out here or when buying flights online!

If you're just using the debit card within your own country or the country where the card was issued to withdraw money from an ATM, then there's no real problem as long as there's sufficient funds to cover the withdrawal, other than the card needing to be renewed after three odd years.

Using a debit card abroad, especially the first time, whether for purchases or at an ATM it will get flagged up and refused if the country has a history of fraud. This has happened a couple of times to me out here in the Phils when using my UK debit card. Again it's easily rectified by phoning / Skyping the bank, to assure them that it’s actually me using the debit card so technically they’re still not interested in a physical address.

Using the debit card to buy flights online, especially if abroad always gets flagged up due to the amount of online fraud in buying flights according to the last time we spoke with the bank a few weeks ago, for example in our case we have bought flights back to the UK from here the Phils via Air Asia in Indonesia and Cathay Pacific in Hong Kong. Despite having done this and others a few times it always gets flagged up by the UK banks but again can be rectified with just a phone / Skype call.

So you, or more importantly your bank, would need a physical address of someone you trust to receive your 'new card' and forward it to you otherwise you're only going to have three odd years of freedom!


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## egpenny (Sep 11, 2013)

Dukane's comments work in the US, too.  I just received renewal ATM/debit cards this year from the bank.  In the US the pin is the customers.  We make it up and it doesn't change until we want to change it.   The bank doesn't care where you are as long as you have money in the account to cover your withdrawals, but you'll need an address...there are places all over, mailbox and shipping stores that will sell you a box or forward your mail to wherever you are.  Full time RV'er's use them all the time.


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## Blade (Sep 11, 2013)

Applies to Canada as well. As long as you have money in the account and somewhere to send a monthly bank statement you are fine. I find it hard to believe it would be otherwise as communication only costs the bank money.:grumpy:


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