Visa? Mastercard? They are not "everywhere you want to be" if issued by a USA bank

I was talking with a friend who lives in a European Union country about something I have to do before each trip overseas.

Basically I have to go through my wallet card-by-card and get a customer service rep on the line for each, who transfers me to their "fraud department."

Why? Because if I do not do this, my USA-issued cards may work ONCE in a foreign country (if at all). I am therefore forced to share my travel itinerary with each bank every time I leave the USA.

You might have guessed that I am not your typical USA citizen. In reality I travel quite a bit. But every time I have to go through this cycle, card by card and bank by bank - sharing my itinerary with the bank.

This is contrary to "it's everywhere you want to be." I have to answer all sorts of trick questions - what was the exact amount of your last deposit? Of these two bank branches, which one did you open your account at? What is your social security number?

DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED ABOUT THE INSISTENCE ON SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS. Yes, it's the closest thing the USA has to a national ID. However, I have a national ID number in Uruguay and I very rarely have to share it with anyone for anything. Pretty much at the airport/seaport when I arrive and depart (I am a legal resident so no passport is required for entry/exit of that country) I have to show the card. Otherwise no one asks.

Well, that's not QUITE true - everytime you sign a charge slip in Uruguay you are expected to show your national ID or passport and also to write those digits on the slip - but no one verifies that you wrote the correct digits of anything. Just a formality because "that's the way we've always done it."

The USA banking system is just as screwed up as healthcare. Yes, I expect and hope that I will get declined if I try to use my card in Cuba, North Korea, Sudan or Myanmar. There are trade embargoes.

I expect and hope that anywhere on the African continent outside of MAYBE South Africa I should have to do this. (But from Nigeria, definitely not. Nigeria and Ghana should have their internet and phone access to the rest of the world simply cut off until they have governments that enforce their own internal fraud laws. I've had three Nigerian-bullshit-emails in the last six hours. Zimbabwe should get shut off too until they figure out the basics of an honest election!)

But for a goddamn charge by phone to Mexico to pay for TV service each monthe when the bank rep can SEE that each month there is a charge of about the same amount? No....

Or for Uruguay. I go to Uruguay frequently. WHY should i have to give itinerary dates anymore? It should be damn right well NORMAL in my bank's eyes that I have charges from Uruguay.

And why am I upset? Because friends who live in Italy and Spain do not have to go through this bullshit with their banks. Their cards work and they are "everywhere they want to be," as opposed to what I have which is having to sit though the ad and then have it be "everywhere I want to be provided I have shared information I should not have to about my movements!!"