The security measures that banks take to prevent fraudulent transactions can be too much of a good thing.
If you travel abroad often, chances are that you will, sooner or later, have trouble buying something with your credit or debit card. Banks often decline transactions that are made far from a cardholder's home--a signal that the card may have been stolen.
This spring Visa, the payment network, will roll out a service that it says will cut the number of "false declines" by about 30%.
The optional service, called Mobile Location Confirmation, uses data from your smartphone about where you're located to help decide if a card is properly in your possession.
If your phone is in the same place as where a transaction is being processed, then the transaction is more likely to be approved by automated fraud-alert systems.
The service will be launched in April 2015 and will be offered through the smartphone apps of banks that sign up for it. Here's a promotional video, to show how it works:
Visa says it spends "hundreds of millions of dollars annually to manage customer service calls related to pre-travel requests and to research declined transactions."
It is using software from technology company Finsphere to perform the data matches "in less than a millisecond" each.
If successful, the solution could spare travelers from having to notify their banks of upcoming travel plans.
The move comes the same week as the news that JetBlue will soon begin accepting Apple Pay as a form of in-flight payment.
FOR MORE INSIGHT: Everything you need to know about Apple Pay and the travel industry
Google Wallet comes to iPhone, and travel companies sign up for mobile payments