Using US credit cards without a chip?

[tricruisers]

Has anyone recently used US issued credit cards that do not have the chip in the Baltic countries? After the recent Target theft we are reading that many European countries do not accept credit cards that do not have the chip. Anyone have info on this?

[spirit rev]

This past summer we did not have a problem using our non-chip US credit cards in the Baltics. I was told when I called my CC company about it: "If they accept the brands card, they must accept a swipe card." Where the problem might be is trying to make a purchase from a machine rather than with a person.

[CruiserBruce]

If you do a search on the board, you will find many large threads on this topic. Summary... You can use your US card in many, but not all locations. Small mom and pop locations, machines, like at gas pumps or transportation centers may be a problem. Small towns. But most other places will be fine. The Baltic is a little tougher than the rest of Europe.

 

We had no problem using our US style card in the Baltic for 25 days last summer. We have traveled through Europe extensively the last 5 years, used our cards a couple hundred times. Been rejected exactly twice.

Edited December 27, 2013 by CruiserBruce

[NantahalaCruiser]

I used both chip and non-chip cards last summer on a Baltic cruise. Wanted the chip card for use in ticket machines for public transit passes in Helsinki. Although the non-chip card was generally accepted, I used the chip card most frequently since I felt that it was more secure.

 

I got the chip card through Bank of America (which also had no foreign exchange fee)

[Giantfan13]

It has been a few years since we went, but reading on these boards every day, the only problem you will have with a non chip card are at Kiosks, to buy something, like a ticket, from a machine. MOST times, when dealing with a human, they will accept any swipe card. Just be aware that AMEX cards are not widely accepted, as well as Discover cards.

Also remember that many cards charge a foreign transaction fee of usually 3% on each transaction. You can avoid those charges with cards like a CapitalOne card and several others. We charged everything any anything, and those extra charges could add up.

 

Cheers

 

Len