The country's banks want to know its customers' holiday destinations so they can combat credit card fraud, according to a report.
People are increasingly finding that their debit or credit cards are being frozen while on holiday - which the banks claim is an effort to combat fraud.
According to a report in the Times, the biggest card providers are increasingly keen for people to tell them their holiday plans. Banks monitor card usage and often freeze them if they begin showing unusual behaviour.
They claim that if customers inform them of their plans, then it means they can make a proper assessment of the information.
"If people are going to Africa, South America, we like to know. Also, we like to know about people going to Eastern Europe," HBOS told the newspaper. The reason for this is that these areas have not adopted the chip and PIN mechanism, which has seen card fraud fall since its inception.
However, it is the USA that is the biggest defrauder of British cards. Some £24.6 million was taken from UK cardholders in the country in 2008, marking an increase of 118 percent in the last three years.
Much of this fraud is conducted by criminals who copy the information on the card's magnetic strip when it is used. They can then use this information to create fake cards for their own use.
But chip and PIN has lessened the threat of this, as plastic users must know their PIN number to use their card to buy goods and services.
