Credit Card Question

[eileeshb]

On 10/14/2019 at 3:37 AM, sunlover12 said:

That’s interesting because I use a credit card many times a week in the US and none of my cards have a PIN.  They all have chips. The standard procedure is that a signature is required only if the transaction is a minimum amount, usually $100.  ATM and debit cards do have a PIN. Credit cards do not. 
 

I was in Scandinavia this year and used my credit cards without any problems.  A PIN was never asked for but I am wondering if it’s a different procedure in Spain.

A pin exists for every card, usage of it is determined by your issuer. I’ve used a pin for both credit and debit cards for 30 years. The credit card back then I only needed the pin for atm transactions in the pre-chip era. You may only have received a pin with the very first card you were issued and through lack of usage forgot it’s existence.

 

basically the advice is to check with your bank/card supplier and find out if there’s a pin and if so get it re-issued to you. I’ve had a number of American customers caught out by our payment terminal requesting a PIN they’d never used for the card they tried to pay with. Also the behavior of the card terminals doesn’t just vary by country, it also varies by card processor. Our previous terminal would take American Express cards but not Apple Pay, the current one refuses AmEx but will take Apple Pay (up to a €30 limit).