Chip & Pin Cards

Would love to hear if any independent travels have run into any problems getting around without chip & pin cards. I head they are most often needed when purchasing tickets for subways & busses and at other kiosks with no attendant.

If you've gotten a chip & pin card, which one did you get?

Thanks!

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1818712&highlight=credit+cards

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2070756&highlight=credit+cards

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2062770&highlight=credit+cards

Would love to hear if any independent travels have run into any problems getting around without chip & pin cards. I head they are most often needed when purchasing tickets for subways & busses and at other kiosks with no attendant.

 

If you've gotten a chip & pin card, which one did you get?

 

Thanks!

That is what most people report going to Europe. Where they can swipe your card, you will be OK with a regular card, but if you need to use it at a place where there is no attendant, like at a Kiosk, then a regular card might or might not work. If you can get the chip and pin, go for it.

Cheers

Len

Yeah - We're thinking we might pick up one of the Andrews Credit Union Cards. No foreign transaction fee, no annual fee. Just something extra to keep in our wallet in case we need it. We get around by public transportation for the most part and want to be able to buy tickets when we need them.

While in Copenhagen last September, we encountered a few problems in restaurants using visa cards with no pin.

If you don't have a pin number, be sure to ask FIRST if you can pay by signature NOT pin.

Also, I was able to buy Danish Krona at the ATM at the airport, but at two other ATMS (banks), my ATM card did not work. I called my credit union in the USA and they said the card was good, not sure why the ATMs did not like my ATM card.

In Europe it is almost always chip and pin everywhere.

There is supposed to be a signing facility for the disabled or elderly who can't remember a PIN number, but even they report problems and hassles.

If there is no chip the retailer is supposed to swipe the magnetic strip and then act on instructions on the terminal, but many do not understand this as it is such a rare occurrence.

I have just checked the cards in my pocket and I have only bothered to sign two out of four of them!

I am sure your bank can supply chip cards on request.

Dupe, sorry!

In Europe it is almost always chip and pin everywhere.

 

 

I am sure your bank can supply chip cards on request.

As widely discussed in the threads I linked before, most venders will take US style magnetic cards, except for perhaps small purchases. We have traveled extensively in Europe over the last 5-7 years. I can count the rejections of our US style credit card on one hand.

No, US banks won't just provide them, at least not yet. MasterCard and Visa have agreed that all stores in the US should have PIN and Chip capabilities by Oct 2015. Their intent is to get a lot of cards switched by then. But they acknowledge they will have trouble getting even 50% of the credit cards in the US switched by then.

For example, two months ago we received, after our request, a PIN and chip card for our backup credit card. But our primary card is not offering PIN and chip, and has no idea when they will be.

As widely discussed in the threads I linked before, most venders will take US style magnetic cards, except for perhaps small purchases.

We have traveled extensively in Europe over the last 5-7 years. I can count the rejections of our US style credit card on one hand.

Well I am sure that was the case then but things have changed and most the old swipe card terminals have been replaced by chip & pin terminals.

At least in Sweden, not sure about the other counties.

What we Europeans are saying is that signing here is finished.

In England, because of the disability aspect mentioned above retailers are supposed to have a swipe slot, and my own terminal and the ones here in the pub that I just checked have one but staff are not aware how to use it.

Moreover, I have been with friends from America who have have had to try several swipe cards to find one that worked.

If you are somewhere cosmopolitan where they are used to tourists, your sign card may well work, but don't bank :D on it!

Another method of payment that is starting to become quite regular is to pay with your mobile phone.

We were told that Norway has plans to do away with paper money and go to total electronic, with payment by cell phone or debit card.

Well I am sure that was the case then but things have changed and most the old swipe card terminals have been replaced by chip & pin terminals.

At least in Sweden, not sure about the other counties.

Most recently, "back then" was 15 days land tour in Italy, June 2014. Not a single rejection of my US style card. It is commented on in the threads linked above that Northern Europe seems to be ahead of the rest of Europe switching to PIN and Chip.

Conversely, do European businesses want to shut out millions of Americans who want to spend money in Europe, particularly as the Euro is falling?

Most recently, "back then" was 15 days land tour in Italy, June 2014. Not a single rejection of my US style card. It is commented on in the threads linked above that Northern Europe seems to be ahead of the rest of Europe switching to PIN and Chip.

 

Conversely, do European businesses want to shut out millions of Americans who want to spend money in Europe, particularly as the Euro is falling?

Ok then those places in Italy are breaking the law. The European central bank issued a new law 5 years ago that all terminals have to have a chip reader.

The reason to why the swipe is being phased out is that it is much less safe then swipe.

Chip readers decreases the risks for skimming and etc.

Sure some tourist might be affected but the majority of those who operates these terminals rarely or never gets any (American) tourists and

I think for the majority of these the safety for their native customers are more important then a few tourists.

http://vaxjonytt.se/nyheter/vaxjo/emv_standarden_ska_stoppa_kortbedragerier_/

http://www.hd.se/nyheter/ekonomi/2010/10/07/handeln-sena-med-att-fixa-chiplasare/

http://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/pr/date/2009/html/pr090327.en.html

Another method of payment that is starting to become quite regular is to pay with your mobile phone.

I have Apple Pay, so is this what you are referring to. Also, can it be done while the phone is in airport mode? I don't want to have huge data fees just to use my phone to pay. I admit to being quite ignorant on this point. :confused:

I have Apple Pay, so is this what you are referring to. Also, can it be done while the phone is in airport mode? I don't want to have huge data fees just to use my phone to pay. I admit to being quite ignorant on this point. :confused:

Yeah, Apple pay is one of several "pay by phone" methods/softwares/providers but I don't know if all methods works in all stores jowever all stores do not have them.

You can read more about it here:

http://www.cnet.com/news/everything-you-want-to-know-about-apple-pay/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_payment

and yes it will work in airplane mode (from the cnet link above);

You could even switch to Airplane Mode and still make a purchase because your iPhone doesn't need to contact anyone since all the info is onboard.

Northern Europe has been all chip and pin for a few years now. Credit and debit cards are very widely accepted and typically used also for small purchases (coffee etc.). Visa and MasterCard are always accepted, Amex and Diners are much less common especially in smaller establishments.

Unmanned kiosks typically accept Chip & PIN only and possibly also cash.

Every manned Chip & Pin terminal I have come across has also a swipe slot for magstrip cards. They are still regularly used for older store loyalty cards etc. However especially in establishments not frequented by masses of tourists your card may very well be the first non-chip card the attendant has come across so they may not know/remember how to deal with them. Just be sure to have an official photo ID as merchants may ask for ID if the PIN is not used.

I primarily use a VISA through Bank of America. Just yesterday I contacted BofA through my on-line banking site chat "help" feature, chatted with the attendant, and arranged to get a chip card and PIN, which should arrive within 14 days. Very easy to do.

I work for a large retail chain (JYSK/Danishen bettenlager if anyone cares) that has shops all over Europe.

At least here in the danish shops, we still accept signatures both with the chip and also with the magnetic stripes stripes.

The machine will just print a receipt out and the costumer will have to sign that receipt and I just compare the signature with the one on the card.

Most of our major problems with non chip/PIN cards have occurred in the more northern European countries with Norway and Belgium at the head of our list. In fact, when we spent a few nights in Brugges we ran into many places that would reject magnetic strip cards. If was apparently due to the fact that one of their major banks had issued new card readers (for the merchants) that only accepted Chip/Pin.

I work for a large retail chain (JYSK/Danishen bettenlager if anyone cares) that has shops all over Europe.

 

At least here in the danish shops, we still accept signatures both with the chip and also with the magnetic stripes stripes.

 

The machine will just print a receipt out and the costumer will have to sign that receipt and I just compare the signature with the one on the card.

That last sentence clearly confirms what some of the posters on this, and all the previous threads on the subject, have been pointing out. The reason why the credit card systems in most countries have switched to requiring a PIN rather than a signature is better security!! Certainly not a desire to make things difficult for their valuable US visitors. (a view which has been expressed to me by frustrated visitors on more than one occasion, truly :rolleyes:)

No reflection on the ability of Danish Viking or the vast majority of his fellow retail workers to compare two signatures but.... if a chip and PIN card is lost or stolen it is useless without the PIN whereas a signature can be copied and the human eye can be deceived, especially when one is rushed or under stress. A personal PIN is known only to the card holder, read by a machine and matched to all the other hidden information on the chip by a computer.

The banking systems of the European Union, Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and a host of others are moving ahead to a better, safer system for their clients. Admittidly a huge undertaking but considered worth while in the battle against credit card fraud. In many places with a person behind the counter there are still facilities to accommodate both types of card but they are being phased out, as a previous poster discovered in Bruges, and automated retailing is also becoming more common.

Maybe it is time for the USA banks to follow into the 21st century. They will have to in the end or leave their clients who travel out on a limb.

Anni :)

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Maybe it is time for the USA banks to follow into the 21st century. They will have to in the end or leave their clients who travel out on a limb.

Anni :)

As discussed in several threads, MasterCard and VISA are starting the transition this year, with likely completion in 2016. US businesses are being told they must be able to handle PIN and chip transactions by Oct 1, 2015.

Anni is right and I don´t like to be the judge about if it is the correct owner of the card that stands infront of me.

Splinter-

If you are getting a BofA "Travel" card it is NOT a true chip and pin card. We have one and unless they suddenly came out with new cards it is a "chip and signature" card. Yes, we have a pin number but.....it is for cash advances only :eek:.

<<<Karen>>>

P.S. The card worked fine on two recent European cruises. We did not need to get tickets etc from unmanned kiosks, just paid for hotels, purchases in stores or tickets to museums.

Splinter-

 

If you are getting a BofA "Travel" card it is NOT a true chip and pin card. We have one and unless they suddenly came out with new cards it is a "chip and signature" card. Yes, we have a pin number but.....it is for cash advances only :eek:.

 

<<<Karen>>>

 

P.S. The card worked fine on two recent European cruises. We did not need to get tickets etc from unmanned kiosks, just paid for hotels, purchases in stores or tickets to museums.

Citi AA card is the same. I just signed up for one for some miles...they assigned a pin with the card, but the information sent with the card made it quite clear that it is a cash advance pin...not a security pin. So unless you don't mind 25% interest, from the date of the transaction - regardless of paying your statement in full - don't use that pin!