We had signed up for a Capital One MasterCard before leaving the States because they're one of the only banks left that won't hit you with a 3-4% foreign currency conversion charge. The only problem was that the credit limit was a mere $1000. Now, we're not throwing our money around on this trip, but we were expecting it to cost more than $33 / day. Additionally, it would be good to have some spending power on hand in case of emergency — there can be delays and problems when transferring money, and we wanted to have a cushion. But the limit was non-negotiable.

Not pictured: mosquitoes

However, three different agents (Enrollment, Activation, and Customer Service) all assured me that I could prepay to have a higher effective limit — using our credit card like a debit card. I was told to mail them a check. Hil and I had done this before on our Citibank cards without incident, so we thought it was pretty ordinary.

Turns out that's not the case. We discovered — at dinnertime on New Years Eve in Costa Rica — that our card wasn't working anymore. I spent much of that night (and a good portion of the next two days) standing at an outdoor payphone in the sweltering Costa Rican heat. At least Capital One accepts collect calls.

Bottom line: they admitted that the account notes indicated that I was just following the instructions of their own representatives, but they nonetheless blamed me for doing so. They said that it was impossible to remove the hold. So we posted a big rant here, and a bunch of the Internet picked up on the story.

I don't know if it was due to the efforts of friends and family or the publicity on the front pages of Consumerist and Reddit, but by the end of the day I had received an email from a Capital One executive: The hold was off!

I also found out what scam Capital One was defending itself from. Here's how it works:

1. Sign up for a credit card with a low limit -- they're the easiest kind to get
2. Mail the issuer a fraudulent check for a great deal of money
3. Go on a shopping spree with your high effective limit
4. Disappear before the check bounces

In light of the above exposure, Capital One's placement of a hold on my account makes sense. If my check turned out to be bad, they didn't want to be on the hook for $7000, since they were only ready to trust me with $1000. I guess the fact that we'd already fled to Central America didn't really help our credibility.

Nonetheless, I think Capital One's customer service department should make a few changes. If a customer calls up and asks how to send in an overpayment check, the rep should warn them of the consequences. Heck, when such a check arrives, they could call the customer and tell them a hold will be placed. They could even offer to rip up the check.

Anyway, I'm just glad it's all over.

Hilary and I want to extend our deepest gratitude to the following people:

• Everyone who helped publicize the story; we'll never know how much of a role you played.
• The two complete strangers who offered to wire us money if our emergency funds ran out or got held up; that was unspeakably generous but thankfully not necessary.
• Everyone who offered moral support; it was sorely needed.
• The two Costa Rican Redditors who volunteered to help in any way they could; this is a country of friendly, helpful people.
• The Subway restaurant in Tamarindo, for providing free WiFi to anyone within a 300-foot radius.
• Mom
• Capital One, for bending the rules on behalf of two customers in need.

Some final tips for anyone who might be planning a similar trip:

• Definitely shop around for a card with a low or nonexistent foreign currency fee; it adds up!
• Get the card as far in advance of the trip as possible. I was told multiple times that if my account had been more than six months old, this might not have happened.
• Once you get the card, use it enough that they raise the limit, so you can avoid everything that we went through.
• Add someone back home to the account so they can act on your behalf.
• Consider doing all of the above with multiple credit cards; it's not likely that they'll all fail at the same time.