Credit card use

[WeBeGone]

Read what Rick Steves writes:

 

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...lecfmid243.DTL

[hkto]

Correct. Some CC terminals (but not all) in Europe will only work with chipped cards. Others are dual purpose: will read chip or magnetic stripe. In Canada most newly issued cards have chip & merchant terminals read both kinds. I am not in the US but it's probably possible to ask the bank to issue chip card. Cards are more secure and harder to counterfeit. One of the advantages of chipped cards is that the signature is no longer required which probably makes it easier to resolve transaction disputes.

[riffatsea]

Rick Steves is kind of late if he is just writing about this now!

There are NO banks in the USA offering chips in cards at this point. There is no prob using your USA cards in most of Europe even now. The prob only comes in at the few unmanned machines like on toll roads, car parks, etc.

You can still use your card for hotels, restaurants, stores, buying train tix at the station etc. Sooo I suppose if you are going to be in these few situations then always carry some euros in cash. You can also ask your credit card to give you a pin and they will do this.

[RHefley228]

I am not in the US but it's probably possible to ask the bank to issue chip card.

 

Unfortunately, it's not possible; no US bank seems interested in doing this at the moment. It's only been a problem for me in Europe at places where there is no human attendant (self-service ticket machines, gas pumps, etc.), but that's sometimes been a major hassle.

[Turtles06]

We learned about credit cards with chips the hard way, five and a half years ago in Paris. We had made reservations on line from the U.S. to take the train from Paris to Reims. All we were supposed to do to pick up our tickets, which were paid for, was get to train station in Paris and put our credit card into the ticket machine and enter our reservation number. Imagine our surprise, and momentary horror, when the machine refused to recognize our credit card.

 

Fortunately, after waiting on line and dealing with a human being, we were able to get our tickets. When we got back to the U.S. I looked into this and learned about the cards with the chips. I don't know why our banks can't get with it....

[nho9504]

No US bank issues PIN and CHIP card.

 

You will find yourself in a blind when travel by a rental car on a weekend in most France and Switzerland when only unmanned gas stations are operating and the machines only take CHIP cards. Ditto for Toll Booth. Most train ticket vending machines only take CHIP card. Some do not even take cash - we found that out this past April at Lisbon when our Transatlantic cruise called on the city. Even the locals who tried to help could not make the machine took our Euro at the station closest to the port. We wound up walk 1/2 mile to another bigger station (where several lines exchange) and found a machine there would take cash with the help of an employee who is not even the attendant but office worker at the station.

 

However, as long as there are human attendants, for the time being you can still use the magnetic strip cards without problem. And I still prefer this way then using cash. I found cash is difficult to account for and much easier to lose. All US issued CCs are protected by fraudulent charges so in case if your cards are breached, you are not out of money. Hassle, yes. Out of money, no.

 

Heck, even in US your card number can be lifted at places you never suspected. DH paid his eye exam fee at the doctor's office - that was the one and only time he used a particular card which happened to be the authorized user card on my own account. A month later, his card number was used in Mexico 5 times when Citi called to ask if we were in Mexico - all charges were done in restaurants and grocery stores, not a whole lot of money, about $300 in total. We told Citi we had physical cards in our procession. Citi said those were POS transactions meaning an actual care was swiped - so his card number was lifted and a cone card made - and all I could figure is, the card number was lifted at the eye doctor's office when the receptionist swipe his card for payment!

 

Just keep a good records of your spending and immediately notify your bank if you find any charge does not belong to you. We check our card activities online every few days especially when we are traveling. Yet, the few breaches we had so far, ALL happened when we are staying at home!

[nho9504]

We learned about credit cards with chips the hard way, five and a half years ago in Paris. We had made reservations on line from the U.S. to take the train from Paris to Reims. All we were supposed to do to pick up our tickets, which were paid for, was get to train station in Paris and put our credit card into the ticket machine and enter our reservation number. Imagine our surprise, and momentary horror, when the machine refused to recognize our credit card.

 

Fortunately, after waiting on line and dealing with a human being, we were able to get our tickets. When we got back to the U.S. I looked into this and learned about the cards with the chips. I don't know why our banks can't get with it....

 

Costs.

 

The payment processing system has to be completely revamped and the costs are very high, estimated in the hundreds of millions.

 

http://www.pymnts.com/perhaps-it-s-time-to-mothball-the-mighty-mag-stripe/

 

The concept of PIN and CHIP based card is more secured is a misconception because the statistics from UK show it is not the case.

 

A real life incident my friend had, also convinced me it is not necessarily safer. He needed train ticket in some town in Scandinavia. The attendant refused to sell him ticket but insisted he must purchase it from the machine. Needless to say the machine would not take his mag card and insisted he entered a PIN... Guess what he did? He entered 9999 and the machine took it. There! The stupid machine took a phony PIN. How much security one could have?!

 

The only security I can see is better, is that now at many restaurants in Europe, the waiter would bring the little machine to your table for you to pay with your card - so your card has no danger of leaving you and thus having the possibility of being coned. We had our card info lifted by waiter right here in our own town Ft. Lauderdale. The card was used only 2 times, a brand new card - one time was to pay BellSouth online, the other time was to pay the bill at a restaurant. 3 weeks after the payment at restaurant, a charge from a gym in California showed up on the card. The merchant said it was a POS transaction, meaning the card was swiped when payment was made. So the waiter lifted the card number and sold it to criminals who in turn make faked cards then sell those cards...

 

Thanks for the US credit card laws, US consumers are well protected by fraudulent charges.

 

People often confuse credit card fraudulent charges to ID theft - they are 2 different things The former being very prevalent while the latter not as much so. But the media often mix the 2 and the general public is misled.

 

If your SSN is lifted and being used to apply credit - then you suffer ID theft.

 

But if you have fraudulent charges on your CC? That is just that, fraudulent charges but your ID is safe because your ID is not stored on the card whatsoever.

[CruisinGerman]

Are the chip cards foolproof? No. But they are the next generation of cards, and are being implemented basically everywhere except the U.S.

 

Up until now, the U.S. banks have lobbied against Visa and Mastercard on this issue simply because they don't want to spend the money to implement this system. Eventually they will have no choice but to succumb. New technology always gets implemented sooner or later, which is why you don't see anyone processing credit cards manually anymore and then looking up to see if your cardnumber is blacklisted in a weekly bulletin -- which is what they did years ago.

 

Kind regards,

 

Gunther and Uta

[SwissDave]

Even if you dont have a CHIP card, you will still need a pin number to use it in Europe. I have not yet come across any machine that relies solely on the chip, although I have no doubt there are some around.

 

I had a chip & pin card where the chip stopped wokring due to a crack along the length of the card but could still use it in bars, shops etc as they just swiped it instead, printed the receipt which I then had to sign in the old fashioned manner.

 

As long as your card has a pin number (to use in ATMs, train ticket machines etc)you should not have any problems.

[MATHA531]

Many places in Scandanavia do ask for a pin even on non chip and pin cards. In that case, as indicated above, you can enter any pin you want and the transaction will go through. You most assuredly do not need your bank to issue you a pin...the pin has nothing to do with a credit card purchase authorization. It is not attached to the magnetic strip....it is sort of a gate keeper in your bank's computer when you make a cash advance in an ATM. That is the only time you need a correct pin as the bank's computer, before authorizing the cash be dispensed, needs their pin to get into their computer system. Otherwise, if you never use your credit cards for cash advances, and it is almost always going to cost you a pretty penny (or dime), you most assuredly at least for now don't need a pin.

[UKBayern]

Many places in Scandanavia do ask for a pin even on non chip and pin cards. In that case, as indicated above, you can enter any pin you want and the transaction will go through. You most assuredly do not need your bank to issue you a pin...the pin has nothing to do with a credit card purchase authorization. It is not attached to the magnetic strip....it is sort of a gate keeper in your bank's computer when you make a cash advance in an ATM. That is the only time you need a correct pin as the bank's computer, before authorizing the cash be dispensed, needs their pin to get into their computer system. Otherwise, if you never use your credit cards for cash advances, and it is almost always going to cost you a pretty penny (or dime), you most assuredly at least for now don't need a pin.

 

Yes and no. Because Europe is in a transitional phase, there are a variety of cards with and without chip and/or pin. It depends on the card, your bank, the vendors bank and the credit card machine. In Germany, all new cards have a chip and a pin, but people who still have the old technology with the magnetic strip can pay too. I have a Dutch MC and a German Visa, who both have a chip with pin. I cannot get out of entering a pin when typing 9999. Country where I always have to enter a correct pin are the Czech Republic and Italy for example. DO contact your bank before your trip to discuss this issue. You will most probably be OK with an American swipe through card, but just check to be sure.

 

If you have a bankcard/debitcard and want to pay in shops or use ATMs with it be sure to have a 4-digit pin which you have learned by heart (no letters on the buttons in Europe).

[chrispb]

We've had chip n pin cards here in UK for - at a guess - at least 9 years. It's only the odd small shop that does not have card machines and instead you can sign.

 

Yet another number to memorise :mad: