Potentially Suspicious Activity on your Credit Card

Well, I did it. I bought a motorcycle today. Charged $2,348.33 on my credit card and walked out the door. Brand new Honda something will be ready to be picked up on Saturday. They lady just has to call me.

Of course, this motorcycle isn't for me - BUT I did buy it. I'm guessing you'd like an explanation?You see, a friend of mine here wanted to buy a motorcycle but he was explaining all the hassle/fees he had to go through in order to transfer money from the United States or charge it on his credit card. Before leaving the United States I made sure I had a credit card with "no foreign transaction fees". Most cards with such awesomeness have an annual fee, but I managed to find some without any strings attached. So, I offered to buy it for him and the his parents in the states would just transfer money to my account. Pretty simple and it avoids all these fees. He hasn't given me the  money yet, so technically the bike is still mine. Woo hoo! Proud owner of a Honda motorcycle.

In order for Steve to get this motorcycle he had to "take a test, go to the driving school, apply for a license, receive the license and then he'd be set". The use of quotations signifies that this is what should happen, but definitely not what did. All he did was pay this guy $150 US to do all the paper work, he signed some forms saying he knew how to drive, and then waited a week for his license. He got the license yesterday and then after school today we went and bought the thing. It took us about 20 minutes and then we were done. Now on Saturday one of the salesmen will call me and I'll call Steve and send him to go pick it up. It was easier than we had imagined and definitely happened more quickly than in the United States. For the first time since I've been here Colombia has proven to be more efficient at something! Score!

Oh yeah, one more thing, when I got home from charging the motorcycle on my credit card I had received a email notice from Capitalone, "We recently noticed potentially suspicious activity on your credit card." Ha! They didn't like a purchase in Colombia for over $2000. Made me smile.