UPDATE: Some good news on the credit card front. Of course, nothing changed with my old credit card. That account was flagged by my bank for potential fraud, and the card was cancelled. My phone call to my bank was extremely stressful, but it wasn’t actually that bad. I’ve certainly had far, far worse. The two guys I dealt with were extremely professional and also kind, and they walked me through the procedures with as little pain as possible.
But the end result was still the same: my old card had to be cancelled and a new one issued. That isn’t normally a big deal when you are living at your permanent address in your home country. But it can be a bit challenging when you are overseas, AND you have only ONE credit card and your entire life depends on it.
The good news is that I just got a notification that the new credit card has already been issued and been put into the mail. Unfortunately, I’m told that postal workers in Canada are on strike, so no one knows how long it will take for the new card to be delivered.
More good news is that my brand new Touch’n’Go Visa card has already arrived. I got it today, and I activated it, and it seems to work just like a regular credit card. So I can use it to book and pay for hotel rooms, just like I did with my regular credit card. So I’m not actually plunged into a state of homelessness. The difference is that this Touch’n’Go Visa card is a prepaid card, meaning it draws on your Touch’n’Go transferable balance. You can only use it if you have sufficient funds in your Touch’n’Go eWallet. The money is taken directly from there.
So you can’t charge things to the Touch’n’Go Visa card and pay for it at the end of the month. But you CAN use it to pay for things online just like a regular credit card and the money is deducted from your Touch’n’Go eWallet. It’s a great option to have, particularly because you can also use it to withdraw cash from an ATM.
So, the universe took away one credit card, but it gave me one to replace it (temporarily).