"I'm baffled as to why you'd tell your credit card company you'd be out of town."

A lot of people do it. I would have told them online, but it slipped my mind.

They are quite capable of putting a freeze on the card when they see activity 'out of the ordinary', which they may define as simply not being in my home town. As if Americans never travel anywhere.

When I worked retail, the company used to send us newsletters on how to do our jobs better. One thing I learned is that a dishonest person is one of the first people to get angry, to act suspicious, and to bully a defenseless clerk. The rep at the credit-card company was giving off just that vibe, and I cut off the supply of info to her. She could have verified my identify (for about the 4th time) by asking for part of my address or the last 4 digits of my social.

So, can anybody recommend a credit-card company which doesn't waste one's time with irrelevant stuff and personnel with a chip on the shoulder?