My Mission to Get Back to Canada Was Hijacked by Financial Institutions

I have been nomadic for the better part of six years now. Not initially by choice, but by circumstance as I tried to find a way to get residency in Canada.

As the tourist visa for the Great White North lasts six months, I can only spend half a year in my lovely little basement apartment in Southern Ontario before having to get out of dodge and head somewhere else in the world for a few months before returning for another visa stint.

The life of an international immigrant is not for the faint of heart and the lack of stability and support systems can be terrifying. Travelling as a middle-aged woman on a dime comes with many challenges that I could never have imagined when I embarked on my journey six years ago.

Money, money, money, is not always sunny, in the rich man’s world.

As the world transforms a darker place financially and scams find their way into every aspect of our lives, banks are becoming more concerned with online safety. While many of the processes and security measures save people from falling victim to criminals, it places extra challenges for those of us who are nomadic.

Throughout my travels, I’ve had some issues that could have caused some major problems for me had I not had local friends for support. Booking local bus and train tickets in Turkey became challenging when my foreign debit card was not accepted. Friends came to the rescue, however, and I reimbursed them in cash. The same situation presented itself in Brazil last year, and again, a friend managed to sort it out for me.

As I don’t own a credit card, I travel with a debit card and herein lies the difficulties as I travel the world.

A staycation in South Africa

I returned to my homeland in March last year to visit my folks. I was only meant to be there for a few months but my dad died suddenly and I changed my travel plans to take care of my mother.

While Africa is not the only place in the world where fraud runs rampant, it is a hotbed for criminal activity and as such, my bank in Canada will not allow me to transfer money directly to South African bank accounts. Therefore, I need to use a third-party to get money into my local account. Using my Canadian debit card for purchases can be costly with fluctuating exchange rates and international fees, so I prefer to transfer money every few weeks and use my local card.

However, when buying large ticket items like plane tickets and accommodation, I use my Canadian card as it’s easier and more efficient.

The purchase

After ten months, Mom was ticking along nicely. She felt on top of things and ready to take on the world as a newly single woman. As such, the time came for me to make my way back to Canada via Australia. I used to live in Perth, Western Australia and I still had some stuff in storage that I needed to get rid of.

Booking my flight to Australia and organizing my accommodation was easy enough, but the cost to fly from the land Down Under to the Great White North was expensive. Everything within and from Australia is expensive.

I sighed, took a deep breath, and hit the “Check out” button.

Denied. Please use another payment method or contact your financial institution.

The message flashed on my computer screen in a bright red font.

What? Why? I thought. There’s enough money on my card, I checked twice!

I wracked my brain for the reasons why my card would be declined and came to the conclusion that my limit must not be sufficient for the online purchase. This was the most expensive flight I had ever bought and it probably never occurred to me that I would need a limit that high. I deliberately travel to cheaper places, mainly out of season, but this was a trip I couldn’t put off any longer.

Okay, what now? I thought. I’ll just message my bank through online banking and ask them to raise my limit.

Nope! Nothing! They used to be very good at responding to messages this way but now they simply ignore me. They want a phone call. While the internet has made it much easier to contact anyone anywhere, Canada is behind in the WhatsApp game. The rest of the world happily connects through the free system but my friends in the US, Canada, and Australia don’t use it. Only those who have travelled extensively have the app installed on their phones.

It seemed I wouldn’t be able to raise my limit until I got back to Canada.

Plan B

Okay, I’ll just transfer the money through the third-party website to my South African bank account and pay from there. The large amount pinged something in their system and I got a message requesting more documentation proving my status in Canada.

I had been hoping to avoid this as my Canadian driver’s license had expired a few months prior and although I managed to get a temporary six-month extension, I had to get back to the country to get a new card.

They wanted a copy of it so I sent the copy, hoping they wouldn’t pay attention to the expiry date.

They did.

To make matters worse, they also needed another document proving my address. As I avoid sending bank statements as proof of address — I don’t believe my financial status is anyone’s business — I logged in and downloaded my latest cellphone statement.

It was here that I realized, they had the wrong address in their system. I had never noticed. The street was correct but the number was wrong. I tried to change it online but I couldn’t. I needed the OTP from a text message to my Canadian number. I inserted the SIM card into my phone and waited patiently for it to work but to no avail. I guessed that international roaming hadn’t been activated.

I took a deep breath and sent the statement with the wrong address anyway.

Ping! An email requesting more information.

What is your address? I gave it to them.

What is the money for? I told them.

Please upload identification documents. I opened the PDF of my driver’s license extension and took a picture, sending it off with a prayer.

Nothing.

For twenty-four hours my money was held hostage by the third party and all I could do was wait for their decision. Was I a fraudster trying to embezzle money or was I telling the truth and simply wanted to buy a plane ticket?

As I have gotten older, I have realized that throwing my proverbial toys out of my metaphorical cot doesn’t solve a thing, so I leave it in the hands of Divine intervention and get on with other things when in a challenging situation.

Ping! An email came through as I walked the beachfront road in my mother’s coastal town.

Your transfer is complete. We have deposited your money into your bank account.

A sigh so loud I’m sure the dolphins swimming off shore heard it.

I use Expedia to book my plane tickets. They’re pretty good and their fares are cheaper than buying directly through the airlines. The only issue I found— they won’t allow me to set my location to South Africa or view prices in Rands.

This led me to worry — does that mean they won’t take a South African debit card in payment? I took another deep breath and hit the “check out” button once again.

EUREKA!

Congratulations! Your ticket is booked.

A message had never looked sweeter, becoming a little bittersweet when I realized that the website had taken the equivalent of Canadian dollars (my default currency) out of my South African account, making the ticket even more expensive.

Nonetheless, I had my ticket back to the Great White North!

Supporters to the rescue.

Thankfully, a support system was on my side again. If this final idea hadn’t worked, two kind souls volunteered their services and their bank accounts.

As credit cards are very rarely questioned, a South African friend had volunteered to buy the ticket for me and I could transfer the money into his account. Alternatively, my sister who lives in Australia, also volunteered to buy the ticket for me and I could send her the money.

Money, money, money, not so funny, in the rich man’s world.

Before I get any advice flooding into my comment section, I am very aware that some of these issues could have been avoided.

• It never occurred to me that I would need to make such a large online purchase based on my travel history, so the thought of raising my card limit never entered my mind.
• My driver’s license expiration was circumstantial and couldn’t be avoided.
• Not checking my cellphone billing address — totally my fault and could easily have been avoided.

When I embarked on my travel plans in late 2023, I couldn’t possibly know that my dad would die suddenly of a cardiac arrest and my plans would change overnight.

Although some of my issues could have been avoided, it doesn’t make it any easier when you are unable to rectify issues from afar and your ability to return to your base rests in the hands of financial institutions.

There are things that we can’t anticipate as digital nomads, complications that can’t be fathomed until we live them. While I ran a marathon of anxiety, Divine intervention brought me my reward — a ticket home.

A few days ago, I returned to the Great White North and immediately set about rectifying some of the issues that held me hostage in Southern Africa. The remainder will be sorted in the coming weeks.

Onwards and upwards… but first, time to collapse into a neat little puddle.

Please feel free to buy me a coffee if you like what you read.