American chip and pin credit cards

I know a few are available now but I heard on the news that they will be mandatory in 2015. Anyone else hear that?

You can't use regular magnetic strip credit cards a lot of places in Europe these days. I found out the hard way three years ago in Denmark. Since then I have procured a chip and pin card from visa, I would strongly not recommend going to Europe without a chip and pin card.

I know a few are available now but I heard on the news that they will be mandatory in 2015. Anyone else hear that?

It's a hoped-for silver lining to the Target black cloud. But so far I believe the best you can get in the US is chip and sign cards, which still won't work at un-staffed kiosks in Europe.

It's a hoped-for silver lining to the Target black cloud. But so far I believe the best you can get in the US is chip and sign cards, which still won't work at un-staffed kiosks in Europe.

I have heard that too - that by some point in 2015 MC/Visa will hold either the bank or the merchant responsible for fraudulent charges made with a magnetic-stripe CC. The responsible party will be determined by which party didn't upgrade to chip technology.

Correct that so far the US cards are advertised as Chip and signature. We have several - our oldest one is a JP Morgan signature Visa that we have had since 2011, and we have used it extensively through Europe on multiple trips - Norway, France, Greece, Italy, etc. We also have BOA Amex accolades cards which chips which we've used in Europe as well. Newest is BOA travel rewards Visa which we have not yet taken to Europe, but will be trying next month.

We have used these first two chip and signature card(s) in all sorts of unstaffed kiosks in Europe and they almost always work just fine. We've bought gas, train tickets, metro tickets, etc. The CCs have PINs for cash withdrawal (which is different from payment via Chip and PIN, I know) but we have not been asked for a PIN at unstaffed kiosks. The machine just asks you to confirm the amount by pressing (usually) a green button. Once I had to pay inside for gas and the cashier insisted that I enter a PIN; I used that PIN and it worked fine.

The few times that we've had them not work have been limited to certain types of machines that only take European cards (Maestro). In our experience so far, this has been uncommon. It happened at one of the older machines in the Munich hauptbahnhof, but moving to a different machine solved the problem. Usually these machines can be identified by the logos that appear on them... But in our experience, any machines with MC/Visa or AMEX logos have taken our chip and signature cards.

I have an American chip and pin card. It is through USAA. It also has a magnetic stripe so you can use it with either method.

I have an American chip and pin card. It is through USAA. It also has a magnetic stripe so you can use it with either method.

Me too. Here's a list of other US banks. http://creditcardforum.com/blog/chip-and-pin-credit-cards-usa/

I have an American chip and pin card. It is through USAA. It also has a magnetic stripe so you can use it with either method.

We also have this card, but my understanding is that they are no longer issuing them to non-members.

We did have our chip and signature card refused in Denmark and Switzerland. Many bank employees are still uneducated about true chip & pin technology, saying you can request a pin for your swipe card, this is not the same as the EMV cards.

Hpefully the US will catch up soon. The site linked in the above post has some very helpful information.

Actually here in Germany the PIN stayed the same when they´ve changed to EMV chip. I can still use the magnetic stripe. But all machines here in Europe do work with the chip (and signature - except for automated machines where you will need the PIN too). I´ve never used my PIN in Germany (o.k., I do have my debit card for all ticket machines and stuff where I do need a PIN).

steamboats

It's a hoped-for silver lining to the Target black cloud. But so far I believe the best you can get in the US is chip and sign cards, which still won't work at un-staffed kiosks in Europe.

Jazzbeau, my chip and signature cards still worked this month at multiple unattended kiosks in train/tram stations. Once, the machine insisted on a PIN (you can usually bypass that by pushing the OK button without entering the PIN, but this particular Swiss machine was politely insistent...). The other times, it read the chip, and happily processed the charge without a PIN. The latter scenario has been the far more common experience for us. The chip cards are a Godsend!

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You can't use regular magnetic strip credit cards a lot of places in Europe these days. I found out the hard way three years ago in Denmark. Since then I have procured a chip and pin card from visa, I would strongly not recommend going to Europe without a chip and pin card.

Never had any problems with regular magnetic strip cards in Europe and we just got back from Check Republic, Germany and Switzerland. I agree it may not work in an unattended kiosk in a train station, but you can always use cash if needed.