Chip and PIN credit cards for Europe

[audreyh1]

We just returned from a trip to Europe, first time in 30 years for me. Personally, I think the portable terminals are a great idea. In France, I was told by one server that it's illegal for them to take your credit card out of your sight. I paid attention after that and noticed that was always the case.

I LOVE the portable terminals and was so disappointed when the new chip cards didn’t change handing off credit cards to waitstaff.

My first portable terminal I experienced in a seafood restaurant in Longview WA in 2011. And I thought - cool, wave of the future. But that was the only time I ever had a terminal brought to my table in the US.

 

[COcheesehead]

I LOVE the portable terminals and was so disappointed when the new chip cards didn’t change handing off credit cards to waitstaff.

My first portable terminal I experienced in a seafood restaurant in Longview WA in 2011. And I thought - cool, wave of the future. But that was the only time I ever had a terminal brought to my table in the US.

A lot of places here in Denver, especially new ones, use Square. The card is swiped in front of you, the signature and tip are all done with your finger. They email you a receipt immediately.

 

[Chuckanut]

I like not having to see my card disappear for 5 minutes while in the hand of strangers

 

[audreyh1]

A lot of places here in Denver, especially new ones, use Square. The card is swiped in front of you, the signature and tip are all done with your finger. They email you a receipt immediately.

I have encountered that at a farmer's market here a few years ago - if you are talking about the device plugged into an iPhone. I was impressed!

 

[COcheesehead]

I have encountered that at a farmer's market here a few years ago - if you are talking about the device plugged into an iPhone. I was impressed!

That's the mobile version, there is also a small white terminal that sits on a counter. It looks like an iPad.

 

[sengsational]

Verified by Visa Participation (or not)

I wrote a bit more here in this post, but the gist is that when considering a card for European travel, one aspect that I didn't consider was "Verified by Visa".

...many merchants in Europe will simply not allow you to use the CapitalOne Venture card. So if you wanted to buy a train ticket or something, you couldn't log on from your hotel and buy it because if this lack of enrollment in Verified by Visa.

 

[brett]

We travel three cards each plus a debit card that we never use but is for just in case.

We have had cards declined for on line airline ticket purchases in foreign countries. Not certain if it was because of verified by visa or because it was a premium card that may have carried a higher vendor cost. We checked on two different unapproved transaction. The cc company claimed to have no record of the attempted purchase.

I’m both occasions the transaction went through on another card without issue. We had no issues in using the refused card for subsequent purchases.

Don’t fall for the gag when the vendor asks if you want to be billed in your home currency. Translated, that usually means that you are getting hosed on the exchange rate. We never let a card out of our site.

 

[sengsational]

Yeah, always local currency!


After failing to buy the tickets on the European airline site, I called Capital One and they said there was no attempt to process a transaction. That indicated to me that it got stuck in Verified by Visa.


I'm going to fax it in tomorrow (shakes head) the world we live in!

 

[audreyh1]

I wrote a bit more here in this post, but the gist is that when considering a card for European travel, one aspect that I didn't consider was "Verified by Visa".

I hadn’t run into this problem generally. Maybe because my VISA cards support it.

I ran into one funny thing on one Spanish museum site (the Alcázar in Seville), it wouldn’t take my VISA, then I tried my First Tech MasterCard, and it handled some verification thing that the website wanted.

PS. I think this may be my longest thread I ever started!

 

[kcowan]

I tried to pay my Mexican property taxes with a new Visa card. It dropped me into Verified by Visa and I had to add the card. Then the transaction was presented and my company presented an email to verify the last 6 purchases, one of them the taxes. I had been out for the day so was not checking email but confirmed only to find the tx had been declined. I redid the online tx and it went through. Not bad for a new card.

 

[Sunset]

Decades ago, I always made sure to carry both a Visa and a MasterCard, as I've gone to places where one OR the other was not accepted.

I get not accepting Amex due to higher fees, and don't always expect it to be accepted.

 

[sengsational]

Cards That Allow 3DS?

3DS is the name of the system that powers "Verified by Visa" and "MasterCard SecureCode".

I'd like to apply for a card that has or allows for the use of that security scheme. This will allow me to buy things online from European vendors, whereas cards that don't participate simply won't work, or won't work without a whole lot of telephone calls or other work-arounds. The problem I'm having is that there seems to be no way to tell in advance if a card is or can be enrolled in the scheme.

So I'm shopping for a large sign-up bonus travel card with a waived annual fee the first year and found Navy Federal Visa Signature Flagship Rewards, Chase Sapphire Preferred, Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select World Elite, all on nerdwallet. But there's no details on if these cards have what I consider the "defect" of not participating in the European online security scheme. The card I just got, CapitalOne Venture, does NOT participate, so I'm searching for one that does.

Could it be that there's someone in this European credit card thread that has figured this out?

 

[audreyh1]

3DS is the name of the system that powers "Verified by Visa" and "MasterCard SecureCode".

I'd like to apply for a card that has or allows for the use of that security scheme. This will allow me to buy things online from European vendors, whereas cards that don't participate simply won't work, or won't work without a whole lot of telephone calls or other work-arounds. The problem I'm having is that there seems to be no way to tell in advance if a card is or can be enrolled in the scheme.

So I'm shopping for a large sign-up bonus travel card with a waived annual fee the first year and found Navy Federal Visa Signature Flagship Rewards, Chase Sapphire Preferred, Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select World Elite, all on nerdwallet. But there's no details on if these cards have what I consider the "defect" of not participating in the European online security scheme. The card I just got, CapitalOne Venture, does NOT participate, so I'm searching for one that does.

Could it be that there's someone in this European credit card thread that has figured this out?

First Tech MasterCard which is a PIN priority MasterCard with embedded PIN and thus works very well in Europe also supports the MasterCard Securecode. I have used it for buying tickets online from some European vendors that required Securecode.

A lot of European vendors support PayPal online, so I use that if possible.

 

[explanade]

3DS is the name of the system that powers "Verified by Visa" and "MasterCard SecureCode".

I'd like to apply for a card that has or allows for the use of that security scheme. This will allow me to buy things online from European vendors, whereas cards that don't participate simply won't work, or won't work without a whole lot of telephone calls or other work-arounds. The problem I'm having is that there seems to be no way to tell in advance if a card is or can be enrolled in the scheme.

So I'm shopping for a large sign-up bonus travel card with a waived annual fee the first year and found Navy Federal Visa Signature Flagship Rewards, Chase Sapphire Preferred, Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select World Elite, all on nerdwallet. But there's no details on if these cards have what I consider the "defect" of not participating in the European online security scheme. The card I just got, CapitalOne Venture, does NOT participate, so I'm searching for one that does.

Could it be that there's someone in this European credit card thread that has figured this out?

I'm not absolutely sure but I've used the Chase Sapphire Reserve card (similar to Chase Sapphire Preferred) to book hotels from European hotel websites. I don't know if it Was verified by Visa but probably it was.

The Chase Sapphire Reserve is my go-to for hotels because it gives me 3x points (Preferred is only 2 points I believe).

But Chase points are very useful, as you can transfer them to frequent flier mileage programs from several airlines including United.


However, whether a European website takes a US card or not doesn't only depend on Verified by Visa. I think some vendors just won't take foreign cards, especially from another continent. An example would be European mobile carriers, where you can't use a US card to "top up."

I've even heard in some cases, they won't take a foreign card even if the foreign card is a neighboring EU nation.


Anyways, Chase Ultimate Rewards and Amex Membership Rewards are both considered the most valuable points which could be transferred to airline frequent flier programs.

Citi often has very generous AA points offers but the thing is, AA doesn't offer too many "Saver" rewards on its own aircraft for frequent flier tickets. Instead, you can go on One World carriers like Cathay Pacific to fly to Hong Kong and other Asian destinations.

But the main choice for going to Europe with AA miles is British Airways, which imposes steep fuel charges. For instance, to go to Europe from the West Coast on AA, which is rarely a directly flight when you're redeeming AA miles, costs like $1500 on top of the miles.

 

[brett]

Excellent. I had the same experience with my card. Got a phone message, which I missed, and an email message which I read hours later. Just had to respond to the email that the charges were legit.

 

[audreyh1]

I haven’t run into a European website yet that wouldn’t take either PayPal or my US issued credit card except for public train companies.

 

[brett]

Never had an issue with a cc in Europe.

Have had issues with one card, on line airline purchases, in SE Asia and Australia. I suspect it was because the card was a premium card.

 

[audreyh1]

There are some ticket machines in Europe that don’t take foreign issued credit cards such as DBahn in Germany and SNCF in France. SNCF accepted a US issued debit card, didn’t take cash. The DBahn machine took cash.

 

[Lsbcal]

There are some ticket machines in Europe that don’t take foreign issued credit cards such as DBahn in Germany and SNCF in France. SNCF accepted a US issued debit card, didn’t take cash. The DBahn machine took cash.

I haven't been closely following this thread so sorry if I'm asking something that's been covered. I think we have all the bases covered but we'll be in Italy this year and have:

1) a Chase Sapphire preferred card
2) another Chase CC
3) a Schwab debit card
4) a Bank of America Travel Rewards card

Will this cover us for things like regional trains where you buy through machines? Any other gotchas?

P.S. I could get the FirstTech Mastercard but don't think I need it. Or do I?

 

[audreyh1]

I haven't been closely following this thread so sorry if I'm asking something that's been covered. I think we have all the bases covered but we'll be in Italy this year and have:

1) a Chase Sapphire preferred card
2) another Chase CC
3) a Schwab debit card
4) a Bank of America Travel Rewards card

Will this cover us for things like regional trains where you buy through machines? Any other gotchas?

P.S. I could get the FirstTech Mastercard but don't think I need it. Or do I?

You may encounter some issues using a machine. They usually require cards with a PIN.

Your Bank of America Travel Rewards VISA does have a PIN that can be used in unattended situations, so try that card in machines. And obviously make sure you know/have your PIN before your trip.

If you can’t get your credit card to work, your debit card should work in the machine.

I’ve had cases where a ticket machine (France SNCF) did not ask for a PIN with a debit card - so don’t be alarmed if that happens.

If you ever get nervous about your debit card overseas, it’s easy enough to change the PIN via phone call. Also, you and your wife have different debit card numbers, so you have a built-in backup if for some reason you need to block a card.

I wish Schwab would send texts immediately whenever the debit card is used like Fidelity does. You have to check the account online if you have concerns.

Be sure to notify banks of your travel plans with each of these cards before your trip so that they work overseas.

The FirstTech MasterCard is very convenient to use overseas but I would say that what you have is sufficient.

BTW for regional trains I sometimes buy online a day or two ahead, and then print out at the train station machine from a given ref number or have the hotel print it for me from an emailed PDF. There are good third party online providers of train tickets as recommended by The Man in Seat 61 that make this process much easier. It’s an alternative to dealing with paying at a machine. That Seat 61 site tells you whether it’s better to go direct with the train company or through a certain third party.

 

[Lsbcal]

You may encounter some issues using a machine. They usually require cards with a PIN.

Your Bank of America Travel Rewards VISA does have a PIN that can be used in unattended situations, so try that card in machines. And obviously make sure you know/have your PIN before your trip.

If you can’t get your credit card to work, your debit card should work in the machine.

Thanks for that comment about the BOA card. I'll have to check that the PIN is the same one I use on other cards.

When we were traveling a few years ago I did have to use the Schwab card in the machines. Forgot about that. I really prefer to only use it to get cash at a bank's machine when the bank is open (in case the card gets eaten).

If you ever get nervous about your debit card overseas, it’s easy enough to change the PIN via phone call. Also, you and your wife have different debit card numbers, so you have a built-in backup if for some reason you need to block a card.

Reminds me DW has a FirstTech debit card we also should bring.

BTW for regional trains I sometimes buy online a day or two ahead, and then print out at the train station machine from a given ref number or have the hotel print it for me from an emailed PDF. There are good third party online providers of train tickets as recommended by The Man in Seat 61 that make this process much easier. It’s an alternative to dealing with paying at a machine. That Seat 61 site tells you whether it’s better to go direct with the train company or through a certain third party.

I'll have to refresh my memory on how to deal with those trains. I've used the Rome2Rio app to get a good idea of train travel between stays in Italy. I'll look over the site you suggested.

If not at the train station, do you do your order using the hotel's wifi access or do you use perhaps cellular to order the train tickets (i.e. turn off web access on your device) ? I'd be somewhat nervous providing CC information on a hotel's wifi.

Edit: On the Rick Steves site someone suggested the Trenit app for Italy. This is from Trenitalia. I downloaded it to my iPhone. It works like a charm and seems very friendly to English speakers (Florence is can be found as Firenze or Florence) with pricing too. It works well on cellular when wifi is turned off. So maybe I've answered my question above.