Are all International Debit Cards (VISA) supposed to work abroad?

Zinc

Adept
I have an international debit card from Union Bank of India and had assumed that it will work abroad.
It was activated and used in India.
While I was outside India, I tried using it on multiple occasions, failing each time.
It usually gave an error saying "Bank refused the transaction", etc.
It was tried on swipe machines as well as ATMs in at least three countries (I can name the countries if that helps in any way).

I called up the UBI toll free number and I was asked to contact the branch who in turn told me to contact the toll free number since there is no problem from their side! :dead:

Anyone else has used any other such debit cards abroad?
 
yes, mine worked without any issues. i've used both credit and debit cards. my accounts are with international banks... maybe that's the reason they worked in the first attempt.

you should've informed your bank before travelling. one of my accounts were frozen as they thought someone else was operating it. even though it's an international card, they asked me to keep them in loop whenever travelling outside india.
 
Well my account was not frozen or anything after the card use attempts.
Plus the branch told me that it should work just like that without any issues and they already know that I travel abroad frequently because it's an NRE account.
May be I should just use my credit card (from a private bank) when required since that works almost everywhere.
 
Account getting frozen is a nuisance but it's a safety feature. It happened when I was using a Citibank card in the US. Bank couldn't reach me in India for verification and they locked it to prevent unauthorized use. My Bank of America account was hacked thrice and my cards were frozen immediately, without my knowledge. I came to know about it only when I got replacement cards.

Of course, credit cards will work almost everywhere because they are insured.
 
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