Chip and pin credit card -- availability

[Hlitner]

Sorry - I am not very familiar with the chip and pin technology. Does this mean that our American magnetic stripe credit cards will not work in Europe?

 

It is quickly becoming more of a problem. Theoretically, like Lew said, you should be able to use your credit cards (especially MC and Visa) at most manned locations such as stores and restaurants. But reality has started to overtake theory and more and more merchants do not accept magnetic strip cards. So we recommend that if you are going to sit down at a restaurant/café and do not have enough Euros to cover the tab, ask before you sit. Most of the time your card will be fine, but we have run into problems too many times to feel secure unless we have enough cash.

 

Hank

[agadora]

Question: My Delta American Express is offering chip starting May 1. I'm assuming its chip and signature. Will the Amex still be accepted at fewer emv locations because of its different charges for the proprietors or will that not matter with emv?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[-Lew-]

 

Question: My Delta American Express is offering chip starting May 1. I'm assuming its chip and signature. Will the Amex still be accepted at fewer emv locations because of its different charges for the proprietors or will that not matter with emv?

As a retired retailer my best guess is that AmEx will be no more widely accepted once it becomes Chip & Signature or PIN. Until they revise their fee structure VISA and MasterCard will be the credit cards of choice.

 

Lew

[Hlitner]

Must admit that we have a love/hate relationship with AMEX. It is a great card with a very high credit limit and they are 2nd to none in dealing with issues like unauthorized charges. But, unless you have a Platinum Card (which costs over $400 a year) you will be charged 2.7% on every foreign transaction. In addition, many restaurants and shops will not accept AMEX because they charge the merchants more money then Visa or MC. And by the way, we have both a Visa and a MC that charge zero foreign exchange fees...and those cards have zero annual fees (unlike AMEX).

 

Hank

[slidergirl]

Must admit that we have a love/hate relationship with AMEX. It is a great card with a very high credit limit and they are 2nd to none in dealing with issues like unauthorized charges. But, unless you have a Platinum Card (which costs over $400 a year) you will be charged 2.7% on every foreign transaction. In addition, many restaurants and shops will not accept AMEX because they charge the merchants more money then Visa or MC. And by the way, we have both a Visa and a MC that charge zero foreign exchange fees...and those cards have zero annual fees (unlike AMEX).

 

Hank

 

Hank - AMEX and Delta just announced, this week, that the Gold and Plat Delta AMEX cards will now have no foreign transaction fees. And, you can ask for a Chip & Sig card now.

I've had my Delta AMEX Plat card since 1988. I'm just pissed that they are jacking up the annual fee on it. But, I also have a normal Plat card (thanks to the ex). I like all the travel bennies it has with it. The $100 credit for the GE card, the $200 airline credit (love it for buying up to those EC seats), the SPG Gold status, the airport lounge access - all are good. I'll book a hotel through the FHR program too once in awhile - the room upgrade, guaranteed late checkout, the $40 breakfast credit, the $100 spa credit - all nice bennies...

[NEW 2 CRUISIN]

Citi just sent me a "Chip and Signature" card that replaces an old one that was expiring soon. I didn't ask for it, but found it timely that it arrived as I was reading this thread. Thankful for baby steps, I guess....

 

When I called Capital One yesterday to inquire about another card that is coming up for replacement they said they have no "Chip and Pin" cards in the works right now, but are in the planning stages.

 

What I found funny was that they repeatedly re-assured me that "any merchant who accepts Visa and Mastercard MUST accept any version of the card presented by contract."

 

HAHA....Hope they remember to remind the Euorpean Store owners about that! :rolleyes:

Edited April 24, 2014 by NEW 2 CRUISIN

[critterchick]

Citi just sent me a "Chip and Signature" card that replaces an old one that was expiring soon. I didn't ask for it, but found it timely that it arrived as I was reading this thread. Thankful for baby steps, I guess....

 

When I called Capital One yesterday to inquire about another card that is coming up for replacement they said they have no "Chip and Pin" cards in the works right now, but are in the planning stages.

 

What I found funny was that they repeatedly re-assured me that "any merchant who accepts Visa and Mastercard MUST accept any version of the card presented by contract."

 

HAHA....Hope they remember to remind the Euorpean Store owners about that! :rolleyes:

 

Indeed. We had only one issue using our chip & stripe card in 2012, at a tiny cafe in Copenhagen where the clerk had no idea how to process the card. But in a cab to the pier, the cabbie ran it. It's the unmanned machines where we will have the most trouble.

[Hlitner]

Citi just sent me a "Chip and Signature" card that replaces an old one that was expiring soon. I didn't ask for it, but found it timely that it arrived as I was reading this thread. Thankful for baby steps, I guess....

 

When I called Capital One yesterday to inquire about another card that is coming up for replacement they said they have no "Chip and Pin" cards in the works right now, but are in the planning stages.

 

What I found funny was that they repeatedly re-assured me that "any merchant who accepts Visa and Mastercard MUST accept any version of the card presented by contract."

 

HAHA....Hope they remember to remind the Euorpean Store owners about that! :rolleyes:

 

We have a love/hate relationship with CapitalOne. We love that their fee free Master Card has zero foreign exchange fees. But we hate that they refuse to issue Chip/PIN cards to their US customers while they have been giving Chip/PIN cards to their Canadian customers for some time.

 

As to their claim that the merchants "must" accept the US Magnetic Strip cards, they forgot to tell that to many of the restaurants, smaller hotels, and merchants throughout Europe.

 

Hank

[NEW 2 CRUISIN]

We have a love/hate relationship with CapitalOne. We love that their fee free Master Card has zero foreign exchange fees. But we hate that they refuse to issue Chip/PIN cards to their US customers while they have been giving Chip/PIN cards to their Canadian customers for some time.

 

As to their claim that the merchants "must" accept the US Magnetic Strip cards, they forgot to tell that to many of the restaurants, smaller hotels, and merchants throughout Europe.

 

Hank

 

I agree! HAHA!

[wp bob]

USAA ( for anyone with any kind of past military service) offers a pin and chip card. You have to ask for it since it is in testing. No fee for the card but 1% foreign transaction fee.

We just got one for travel in June to Europe.

[bellebaby]

Target to issue cards as MasterCard chip-and-pin

 

Hadley Malcolm, USA TODAY 11:12 a.m. EDT April 29, 2014

 

Starting next year, Target will issue its branded credit and debit cards as MasterCard chip-and-pin cards, the company said Tuesday.

 

The retailer's REDcard portfolio includes a Target-branded debit card, credit card, and a co-branded credit card with Visa that the company stopped issuing in 2010. All three will be reissued with MasterCard's chip-and-pin technology.

 

Cards with chip-and-pin technology are considered more secure than the magnetic stripe cards most of us use now because they are embedded with a microchip that generates a different, single-use code to process every transaction you make. That means the card data is practically impossible to counterfeit, because even if the data is hacked, it can't be used again.

 

The announcement comes as Target is already in the process of replacing its store registers to accept chip-and-pin cards as the company brings a renewed commitment to information security after suffering one of the largest data breaches in retail last year. Since the breach, Target sped up its adoption of the technology and committed $100 million to the effort.

 

Sixty to 70 stores a week are being updated with new registers, with 12,000 total updated so far, says spokeswoman Molly Snyder. Target plans to have all stores updated with the registers by September.

 

Snyder says Target chose MasterCard over its existing agreement with Visa because "MasterCard technology will be able to be used across all three types of cards."

 

We have a Chase Hyatt Card with Chip and Signature. Used chip processing for the first time in the U.S. last week... at Wal-Mart! Their processors had been updated to accept chip processing.

Edited April 29, 2014 by bellebaby

[NEW 2 CRUISIN]

Target to issue cards as MasterCard chip-and-pin

 

Snyder says Target chose MasterCard over its existing agreement with Visa because "MasterCard technology will be able to be used across all three types of cards."

 

We have a Chase Hyatt Card with Chip and Signature. Used chip processing for the first time in the U.S. last week... at Wal-Mart! Their processors had been updated to accept chip processing.

 

This is interesting because WALMART also is changing their Discover Card to MasterCard this Summer. Coincidentally, WALMART'S new MasterCards will be CHIP and Signature also. Stores are being fitted with the new debit readers now to accomodate the new cards!

 

Baby steps, folks! HAHA! :D

[bellebaby]

Here's an article that was published today regarding this topic:

 

http://www.thestreet.com/story/12687523/1/your-best-credit-cards-for-a-european-vacation.html?cm_ven=RSSFeed

[shemp2000]

I just got a Bank of America Travel Rewards card, no annual fee, no transaction fees and it has a chip and you can get a pin.

We are B of A customers so I don't know if you need an account to get it.

 

This is from the Bank of America website (I have the same card)

 

Chip & PIN is a very similar technology, except that you use a PIN to complete a purchase instead of a signature. Both chip & PIN and chip & signature offer enhanced security against counterfeiting compared to traditional magnetic stripe-only cards. Bank of America does not offer chip & PIN technology.

[euro cruiser]

Just FYI, I've been in the Netherlands all week and there has not been one place where I could use my credit cards. Not one.

 

The US banks need to get on the stick about this.

[buggins0402]

Just FYI, I've been in the Netherlands all week and there has not been one place where I could use my credit cards. Not one.

 

The US banks need to get on the stick about this.

 

Eurocruiser, were any of the cards that presented problems chip and signature? Or are they all just old mag strip only?

[euro cruiser]

Eurocruiser, were any of the cards that presented problems chip and signature? Or are they all just old mag strip only?

Just the basic strip cards. Completely unusable here.

[GeezerCouple]

Just FYI, I've been in the Netherlands all week and there has not been one place where I could use my credit cards. Not one.

 

The US banks need to get on the stick about this.

 

Are you referring to shops, etc., or has this included hotels, too?

 

Will "chip and signature" cards work?

(We switched to those for all of our accounts, but obviously we can't get the better "chip and PIN" cards as we are USA-based.)

 

We are (unfortunately) expecting to need to pay for everything with cash *except* for hotels.

We've paid in advance for the first hotel (3 nights), but the remaining several nights at two different hotels are just "guaranteed" for late arrivals, not pre-paid.

 

GeezerCouple

[euro cruiser]

Chip and sign does not work, at least in this country everyone (hotels, transit, gas stations, etc.) have switched to the chip and pin technology and they no longer maintain dual systems.

 

I don't know about the hotel or the rental car, as both were pre-paid.

Edited May 3, 2014 by euro cruiser

[edtorious]

For the credit cards with foreign transaction fees. Do they apply when the credit card is used outside the country only? Or let's say I use the credit card to prepay a tour company instead of paying cash?

 

What if I use paypal with my credit card that has foreign transaction fee to prepay? Will i get charged for a foreign transaction fees? Please advise. Thanks.

[bugeater2]

For the credit cards with foreign transaction fees. Do they apply when the credit card is used outside the country only? Or let's say I use the credit card to prepay a tour company instead of paying cash?

 

It applies to all foreign transactions where the currency needs to be converted. You can prepay the tour but the transaction is being processed by the tour company where they are located, not where you are located.

 

What if I use paypal with my credit card that has foreign transaction fee to prepay? Will i get charged for a foreign transaction fees? Please advise. Thanks.

 

ie: if the transaction is in euro's and you pay with paypal, there will be a transaction fee because € were converted to $.

 

If the transaction is in USD$ I don't believe (and I could be wrong) there would not be fee because there is no currency conversion.

Edited May 8, 2014 by bugeater2

[edtorious]

ie: if the transaction is in euro's and you pay with paypal, there will be a transaction fee because € were converted to $.

 

If the transaction is in USD$ I don't believe (and I could be wrong) there would not be fee because there is no currency conversion.

Oh so you're saying that it doesn't matter how or where it was paid as long as it's a different currency (other than $) then the foreign transaction fee will apply?

[bugeater2]

Oh so you're saying that it doesn't matter how or where it was paid as long as it's a different currency (other than $) then the foreign transaction fee will apply?

 

That has been my experience in the past. I didn't have a 0% Credit card last year.

 

I booked my Cliffs on Moher tour in Ireland via Paypal but was charged in € so got hit with the 3%. Same as any of the hotels I prebooked as they were in € as well.

 

But in Dublin, I bought my daughter a sweatshirt in a store and they asked me if I wanted the charge to be processed as $ or €. I chose $ and was not assessed the 3% fee.

 

Now you will find a few places offering to convert the transaction for you but often that is their way taking the 3% (or more) for themselves.

 

for example:

The item you want to buy is 100€. At todays rate of 1.384 to cost would be $138.40 + 4.15 (3%) = 142.55

 

Now the store may offer to convert it for you but charge a rate of 1.450. Now that same item is $145.00 total but you have, in fact, over paid by $2.45.

 

Point being you should ask what the rate is if you are going to let them convert to $.

[buggins0402]

Another question I've always wondered about:

 

No foreign transaction fee - but has anyone ever checked to see if they received the true interbank currency exchange rate on the date of purchase? In other words, could the transaction fee be worked into the Xrate? Guess it's just the past (years ago) international banker in me wondering.

[bugeater2]

Now with all that being said, It is very easy to get a 0% transaction fee card. There are a lot of them out there.

 

I used the Chase United Mileage Plus Card for all of prebooking for this summer.

 

I will be getting the Southwest Rapid Rewards CC that I am going to use while in Europe. It will be easy to get the $2000 dollar spend and the 50,000 points are not bad either.

Edited May 8, 2014 by bugeater2