Hi,
Just saw this and thought to give my 2c.
3 Years ago I had my QNB Visa and Master cards on my vacation in Bulgaria and had no troubles at all getting money from any of them, even the ATM card was working fine. Since last year, my wife and I were unable to use any of the credit or debit cards in Bulgaria - they were working fine on duty free shops in Vienna or Frankfurt, but once in Bulgaria - nothing - just some weird messages on the ATM or the CC machine in the shops. The cards are the same as what used to work before, so I am sure that QNB is somehow blocking transactions from these countries - maybe they are afraid of credit card fraud or something.
Last year I reached to the point that my wife's card was blocked from the bank since they saw more than 3-4 transactions in a very short time - while she was trying to get money from the ATM and it kept refusing...
Anyway, If you're going to Bulgaria, (now I see that Russia is the same), better do not count on QNB cards - you can just carry one for testing...
I used cash this year and that's it!
Hi,
Just saw this and thought to give my 2c.
3 Years ago I had my QNB Visa and Master cards on my vacation in Bulgaria and had no troubles at all getting money from any of them, even the ATM card was working fine. Since last year, my wife and I were unable to use any of the credit or debit cards in Bulgaria - they were working fine on duty free shops in Vienna or Frankfurt, but once in Bulgaria - nothing - just some weird messages on the ATM or the CC machine in the shops. The cards are the same as what used to work before, so I am sure that QNB is somehow blocking transactions from these countries - maybe they are afraid of credit card fraud or something.
Last year I reached to the point that my wife's card was blocked from the bank since they saw more than 3-4 transactions in a very short time - while she was trying to get money from the ATM and it kept refusing...
Anyway, If you're going to Bulgaria, (now I see that Russia is the same), better do not count on QNB cards - you can just carry one for testing...
I used cash this year and that's it!