Hey all,

Having some issues with my Canadian Tire Mastercard and was hoping for some feedback or if anyone has experienced similar issues.

I live in Canada but am in the US at least one to two weeks a month for work. I have a company RBC US Visa which I use for business expenses (meals, fuel, etc..). I will use my personal CT Mastercard for personal purchases (drinks, snacks, buying beer to bring to Canada). I also use my CT card when I visit my girlfriend who lives in the US and does travel healthcare. So it’s always in different states (Montana, Kentucky, NY state etc…).

At the start of this year I visited her in the Finger Lakes region of NY state. I went to use my card at the gas station to buy snacks and it declined. I thought it was weird so paid cash and went to a local brewery for dinner. I went to pay for dinner with my card and it declined again. I always pay my balance in full, have never come close to my limit and have never made payments on a balance and have had the card for 5+ years. I called customer service and they said it was weird but they would clear the declined transactions from my card and send me a new card. They also stated to call or go online and let them know when I travel outside of Canada. My gf suggested putting my card on my iPhone and using Apple pay. Using the digital copy on Apple Pay worked for a while but fast forward to this month. I drove down to Virginia. Before hand I filled out the travel notification section online to tell CT bank where and for how long I was going. Thinking I was all set, I set off. I bought fuel and snacks twice and had no issues. I went to pay for drinks and lunch at a local restaurant and the card declined. I went for dinner and drinks and tried the card again and it declined. I also tried Apple Pay at both with no change.

It is very frustrating and embarrassing to have this happen repeatedly after filling out the forms and never having issues with payment before. This is slowly getting worse and with no solutions offered by CT bank I think I will be looking to switch to another brand of card. Being in the US so much for work and personal trips I can’t afford to be stuck without a means of payment.

Any help, suggestions or feedback is welcome and very much appreciated!