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After nearly four months of chasing the people at BancoNacional I finally have one of their Master Card Credit cards. I have no problem using it in stores etc but I am wondering how to use it on-line. One of the things on-line stores require is a billing address. Since we in Costa Rica have no addresses, how to get over this problem?
Rotsa ruck, David!
We continue to use our U.S.-based credit and debit cards on-line and our HSBC/Costa Rica debit card locally. So far, it’s worked out fine. The only problem we’ve had is that some retailers, for security reasons, will only send merchandise to either the billing address (ours is Aerocasillas in Miami) or to the state where the billing address is.
Maybe you should just get a U.S. credit card.
Thanks David. Of course I have several U.S. cards. But since I now live in Costa Rica and hope to spend the rest of my life here, I wanted to have at least one Costa Rican card. Well, now I have it. But if it’s no good anywhere other than C.R. I might as well give it back to them and continue to use my debit cards and internet transfers for transactins here. It’s like ICE dial-up internet. I fought for months to get it (because I live in the mountains) but when I got it, I found it almost useless and had to get satellite instead. But when I tried to get my deposit back they gave me such a hard time I donated it to them with all my love. This is a wonderful country but we have to live with the system, or lack of one.
You might want to read what one of our VIP Members wrote here recently:
‘mcsolas’ wrote that:
“I have been having a lot of trouble registering on certain sites, say yahoo and selecting CR in the country box. I had no luck passing their zip code validation.. so I went searching for zip codes and found the correos site offers a list. I think this is going to help me a lot. Hope you find it useful too.”
http://www.correos.go.cr/codigo_postal/Lista_Cod_Total.php
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comI have a Banco Nacional account and they gave me a National Card. Not a credit card but Debit card, This way I could use it in the States. It works great.
I have a BN debit card and have used it to rent cars, hotel rooms in Florida, Seattle and Vancouver and to buy airline tickets online . No problems so far but it is not a credit card so that might be different. I started using it because I had so much trouble using my Canadian credit card here in CR.
Alberto
NO ADDRESS:
Certainly you have an address in Costa Rica. You live SOMEWHERE! Just because it is “different” doesn’t mean you do not have an address. If your address is “Blue house, 15 meters n. of Ricky’s Famoso, Aleuela, CR then THAT IS your address.
I am an on-line merchant and we get all kinds of weird things. Due to the nature of my business (we sell nothing a crook could re-sell for a quick profit) I generally do not worry about address match ups. This varies with the merchant. Two things to know:
1) The major credit card handling companies do not have methods to check out of country addresses. This is going to change soon for the EU but not elsewhere at this time. I deal with the biggest processor in the country and if they cannot do it, nobody can. So when you order on-line it does not matter. The merchant is shipping at their own risk (this is NOT news to crooks).
2) When they DO have methods to check then whatever address your card is billed to should match the billing address you use on the form. Ship to MAY be different.
3) Some merchants will not ship to addresses other than the billing address. If I was selling ANYTHING of resale value on-line I would do the same or want cash payment in advance.
4) On international sales the U.S. merchant CAN get your bank’s phone number in CR and may call them to ask
a) Does this person bank with you?
b) Is this address and phone number correct?
c) Is the account active and up to date?How much more we could ask is dependent on the country’s privacy and banking laws.
So, you DO have an address. It is where your bankcard bill is sent OR the address they have on record. AND it may not make any difference to online merchants OR it might. If there is a problem then a phone call is in order.
Now. . shipping to Costa Rica. . THAT is an altogether different thing. Use your forwarding service and note what it is in the comments field of the order form.
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