Credit card pin number

[jshli]

Do I need a PIN number in Italy when using my credit card?

[CruiserBruce]

Occasionally, in unstaffed locations, like train ticket machines. Otherwise, no.

[John Bull]

There is normally a facility to sign for purchases when the POS machine detects that a card doesn't have a PIN.

But it's a few years since I last came across the same question, and the world (but apparently not the US of A) has moved on - so to know whether things have changed you need a response from someone who's been in the same situation recently. 

Or make life easier for future travel outside the US by asking for a new card with a PIN.

 

While I was slowly responding with my woeful typing skills, @CruiserBruce has responded.

Yes, of course un-manned machines would be a problem for a card without a PIN  - I 've had the same impasse trying to use pay-at-the-pump at some gas stations in the US because I don't have a US zip-code.

 

JB 🙂

[CruiserBruce]

@John Bull, was in France last June (not Italy). Used our PIN enabled card twice, at train station machines. Otherwise not once...eating in cafes and restaurants at least once a day, hotels, stores, etc. Had to sign most of those times, but not always.

[John Bull]

1 minute ago, CruiserBruce said:

@John Bull, was in France last June (not Italy). Used our PIN enabled card twice, at train station machines. Otherwise not once...eating in cafes and restaurants at least once a day, hotels, stores, etc. Had to sign most of those times, but not always.

 

Thanks for that Bruce. I think the OP will find that what applies in France will also apply in Italy and the other major European countries.

 

BTW there's now also a contactless "tap & go" feature on cards -  you just waft the card over the POS machine. But that only works with tap-and-go-enabled PIN cards and it's only good for purchases under £100 (or equivalent) - over that amount you need to enter the PIN.

Being technophobic I declined a tap-and-go card, fearing that my card would be debited for purchases made by the person in front of me at a check-out 🙄 and that at my expense a thief or finder could have a field day with my card 🙄. 

So even to pay for just a coffee I have to insert my card & enter my PIN, under the bemused & scornful gaze of young & with-it cashiers 😀

 

JB 🙂

 

[CruiserBruce]

@John Bull, in the US, "tap" is now quite common, but we don't use PINs with them.

[John Bull]

8 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

@John Bull, in the US, "tap" is now quite common, but we don't use PINs with them.

 

So for relatively small purchases a US tap card has got to be worth a try in Europe.🙂

Perhaps even at un-manned machines

 

JB 🙂

[megr1125]

1 hour ago, CruiserBruce said:

@John Bull, in the US, "tap" is now quite common, but we don't use PINs with them.

It took the pandemic to get us semi-caught up with the rest of the world.  Still, there are a few merchants who haven't gotten the tap and go part of the machines enabled.  LOL.

[Post Captain]

 

2 hours ago, John Bull said:

 

So for relatively small purchases a US tap card has got to be worth a try in Europe.🙂

Perhaps even at un-manned machines

 

JB 🙂

I've used my U.S.-issued non-PIN Visa credit cards in Trenitalia ticket machines numerous times in the past year without any problems whatsoever . Lack of a PIN has never been an issue; the "system" evidently detects that this is not a PIN card and thus does not prompt the user to enter a PIN. I've also used the same cards in Italian museums, restaurants, grocery stores, and hotels and have never been prompted to enter a PIN, regardless of the amount (anywhere from just a few euros to several hundred euros). In other words, the card works the same way in Italy that it does in the U.S.

 

I also use the same cards when I'm in the UK; again, they've always worked perfectly well in railway ticket machines without a PIN.

 

Will wonders never cease!😉

 

[CCWineLover]

5 hours ago, jshli said:

Do I need a PIN number in Italy when using my credit card?

If you have a moderately recent credit card with USA zip, you likely won’t need pin.  We just returned from Italy.  Bought several train tickets from machines with no pin needed.  (Rome, Naples)

[jshli]

Thanks everyone.

[alserrod]

On 3/21/2024 at 11:52 AM, jshli said:

Do I need a PIN number in Italy when using my credit card?

 

 

It is not an issue of type of card nor bank nor country. 

Just an issue of type of payment.

 

If payment machine AND your card accept a contactless payment you will surely not need a PIN

If you have to entry your card phisically in any machine, definitely you will need a PIN