No issues elsewhere, but in Zambia, both ATMs and stores keep rejecting my card. Anyone know if this is common? Any banks that actually work?
Yes, this happens often in Zambia. My Mastercard would work at Stanbic and Standard Chartered ATM branches in Lusaka and Livingstone, but fail elsewhere. And shops here rarely accept cards; cash is the norm. I’ve mostly relied on ATMs at these trusted banks. Always choose those names clearly marked on ATMs, not random kiosks, and keep a solid backup card and cash stash just in case.
Had multiple rejects in Kitwe earlier this month - no PIN, no swipe, just segmentation faults. It turned out my card was blocked by my home bank’s fraud detection since I hadn’t informed them I’d be in Zambia. Called bank, got a manual unblock, and then I was fine at FNB and Absa ATMs. Advice: pre-inform your bank about Zambia travel and test your PIN before departure.
This was a surprise - my UK debit card worked fine in Kenya, but kept failing in Livingston (Victoria Falls). Turns out Standard Chartered and Stanbic ATMs are the most reliable for foreign cards. Smaller branches or petrol station machines are glitchy. Stores reject Amex primarily, but Visa/MasterCard are good at big outlets. Your bank may need a transaction limit uplift, so call them before travelling.
Used to have zero issues until I hit Ndola in May - ATMs kept rejecting my Visa debit. After a few tries, I discovered some machines (mostly private kiosks) have outdated network setups. The only ones that consistently worked were Stanbic, Standard Chartered, Absa (Barclays rebrand). Stick to those - your card needs chip and PIN; magnetic stripe rarely works here.