This page initially contained breaking news about some credit card trouble we had early in the trip. A few Web 2.0 sites picked up the story. The headlines became a bit sensationalized — for the record, we were never in danger of starving to death — but we were forced to spend three days in Costa Rica dealing with a credit card company instead of having fun and creating content for the vicarious enjoyment of our readers. Here's a summary for posterity:

SpotHopping is the story of Mike and Hilary's trip around the world. If you're new to the site, you can read more about it here . You can write to us here .

We had signed up for a Capital One MasterCard before leaving the States because they're one of the only banks left that won't hit you with a 3-4% foreign currency conversion charge. The only problem was that the credit limit was a mere $1000. Now, we're not throwing our money around on this trip, but we were expecting it to cost more than $33 / day. Additionally, it would be good to have some spending power on hand in case of emergency — there can be delays and problems when transferring money, and we wanted to have a cushion. But the limit was non-negotiable.

However, three different agents (Enrollment, Activation, and Customer Service) all assured me that I could prepay to have a higher effective limit — using our credit card like a debit card. I was told to mail them a check. Hil and I had done this before on our Citibank cards without incident, so we thought it was pretty ordinary.

Turns out that's not the case. We discovered — at dinnertime on New Years Eve in Costa Rica — that our card wasn't working anymore. I spent much of that night (and a good portion of the next two days) standing at an outdoor payphone in the sweltering Costa Rican heat. At least Capital One accepts collect calls.

Bottom line: they admitted that the account notes indicated that I was just following the instructions of their own representatives, but they nonetheless blamed me for doing so. They said that it was impossible to remove the hold. So we posted a big rant here, and a bunch of the Internet picked up on the story.

You did it!

I don't know if it was due to the efforts of friends and family or the publicity on the front pages of Consumerist and Reddit, but by the end of the day I had received an email from a Capital One executive: The hold was off!

What got us into this mess

I also found out what scam Capital One was defending itself from. Here's how it works:

Sign up for a credit card with a low limit -- they're the easiest kind to get Mail the issuer a fraudulent check for a great deal of money Go on a shopping spree with your high effective limit Disappear before the check bounces

In light of the above exposure, Capital One's placement of a hold on my account makes sense. If my check turned out to be bad, they didn't want to be on the hook for $7000, since they were only ready to trust me with $1000. I guess the fact that we'd already fled to Central America didn't really help our credibility.

Nonetheless, I think Capital One's customer service department should make a few changes. If a customer calls up and asks how to send in an overpayment check, the rep should warn them of the consequences. Heck, when such a check arrives, they could call the customer and tell them a hold will be placed. They could even offer to rip up the check.

Anyway, I'm just glad it's all over.

Thanks

Hilary and I want to extend our deepest gratitude to the following people:

Everyone who helped publicize the story; we'll never know how much of a role you played.

The two complete strangers who offered to wire us money if our emergency funds ran out or got held up; that was unspeakably generous but thankfully not necessary.

Everyone who offered moral support; it was sorely needed.

The two Costa Rican Redditors who volunteered to help in any way they could; this is a country of friendly, helpful people.

The Subway restaurant in Tamarindo, for providing free WiFi to anyone within a 300-foot radius.

Mom

Capital One, for bending the rules on behalf of two customers in need.

Tips

Some final tips for anyone who might be planning a similar trip: