Chip and PIN credit cards for Europe

[explanade]

That information is unknown.

You don't have to use the system or buy an Apple device. Not like credit cards aren't going to work.

But we know what a mess the banks and the stores have made with the current system. So some people will use it if they have one of these devices. Or it may be a factor in which device they choose.

 

[Chuckanut]

As long as the legal safeguards consumers currently have when using their credit cards are maintained when using Apple Pay, then it could be quite useful.

 

[audreyh1]

Hey! Who hijacked my thread!!!

DH was talking about Apple Pay today, so it's not a real surprise diverge......

 

[Alan]

Good news Audrey, glad to hear that your PenFed CHIP and PIN worked for you. My Penfed CHIP card has been no problem even though Australia is now officially "PIN only cards from August 1st". Since we've arrived in Melbourne I never even get asked about a PIN, probably because Melbourne is such a cosmopolitan city with lots of overseas tourists. I avoid unattended kiosks which is a shame as we'd like to give the bike stations a try. (there are lots of bike stations around the city and lots of wonderful bike trails). The station requires visitors to use a credit card to pay (and leave a $50 refundable deposit), and the first 30 minutes are free.

We have rented bikes for a long bike ride down the coast, riding 35 miles, and once you are renting for 3 hours or more the cost evens out, plus you get lighter bikes sized to suit.

Touchless credit and debit cards have been available in the UK for a couple of years now so I would expect the Apple option to be easlily accepted.

 

[anethum]

PIN Success!!!

Today I tried the PenFed VISA chip and PIN credit card in a Vienna metro ticket machine. It prompted me for my PIN, I entered it, and it happily spit out my tickets and the receipt.

Woohoo!

Nice to finally verify that the PenFed chip card technology works, and my PIN worked. €32.40, so it was a goodly amount.

For the first time, I was prompted today for my PIN when using my PenFed Visa card. It happened in a Trader Joe's in the USA. I was always prompted for my signature when I used the card before today. The card was not accepted in kiosks in France earlier this year.

I'm guessing that PenFed has finally fixed the problem we were all having with their chip & PIN cards not functioning as true chip & PIN cards.

 

[mpeirce]

For the first time, I was prompted today for my PIN when using my PenFed Visa card. It happened in a Trader Joe's in the USA.

It might be that since Trader Joe's is owned by Germans (Aldi) they may have been willing to be one of the first retailers supporting chip and pin in the US.

 

[rodi]

Good news Audrey!!! And that's interesting about TJ's now prompting for PIN. Sounds like it possible to verify everything is in working order BEFORE you head overseas. Since I'm heading over to Europe next summer this is good news for the detail obsessed like myself.

 

[In-control]

I ordered our signature cards today. It comes with the chip and both CC and pin enabled. If you select or say its a debt card you can use the pin and it is treated like a CC transaction. This is what the PenFed rep told me today. I plan to use the debt card selection at gas pumps to see how it works.

Thanks all - I also have all my laddered CD's with PenFed - great service as well.

 

[audreyh1]

For the first time, I was prompted today for my PIN when using my PenFed Visa card. It happened in a Trader Joe's in the USA. I was always prompted for my signature when I used the card before today. The card was not accepted in kiosks in France earlier this year.

I'm guessing that PenFed has finally fixed the problem we were all having with their chip & PIN cards not functioning as true chip & PIN cards.

Wow - Trader Joes!

The France kiosk thing - that may be a restriction by the particular French company. My card was not accepted as valid by a Deutsch Bahn ticket machine. Yet the very same card worked fine with PIN in a Vienna metro machine a week and a half later.

Braumeister thinks the DB machines simply don't accept foreign credit cards. And I had heard of such a restriction with French transportation kiosks.

 

[anethum]

CORRECTION !

For the first time, I was prompted today for my PIN when using my PenFed Visa card. It happened in a Trader Joe's in the USA. I was always prompted for my signature when I used the card before today. The card was not accepted in kiosks in France earlier this year.

I'm guessing that PenFed has finally fixed the problem we were all having with their chip & PIN cards not functioning as true chip & PIN cards.

After nobody else reported being prompted for their PIN with a PenFed card in the US, I began to suspect I had screwed up earlier today. When I was at TJ's this morning, I didn't put in my PIN because I had forgotten it, never having been prompted for it before and also because PenFed generated the PIN, not me. I simply used a different credit card for my purchase as a result. I went back to TJ's later after I looked up my PIN, and this time I wasn't prompted for my PIN when I used my PenFed card (and I was charging a slightly higher amount the 2nd time). I must have accidentally hit the "Debit" box on the little screen this morning, instead of the "Credit" box. Oh well.

Sorry folks.

 

[audreyh1]

The only time I was prompted for my PIN with the PenFed VISA chip and PIN was at the Vienna metro kiosk. Everywhere else automatically spit out a receipt for me to sign.

Here in Austria, people take your card and insert it for you as if they expect the signature transaction. I don't know how they handle the case of someone needing to enter their PIN at museum ticket offices where the card reader is mounted behind the glass.

In Netherlands they always have the card reader out facing the customer and you interact with it directly yourself.

 

[Alan]

I ordered our signature cards today. It comes with the chip and both CC and pin enabled. If you select or say its a debt card you can use the pin and it is treated like a CC transaction. This is what the PenFed rep told me today. I plan to use the debt card selection at gas pumps to see how it works.

Thanks all - I also have all my laddered CD's with PenFed - great service as well.

Let us know how that works out, my understanding at the time I got my card is that you will be prompted for your PIN but the transaction will appear as a cash withdrawal/advance. If it comes through purely as a CC charge with no interest charge for the first month then that is great.

 

[Meadbh]

This message RE: mobile payments came from my bank (TD) yesterday. Apple devices are not supported at this time.

 

[mpeirce]

This message RE: mobile payments came from my bank (TD) yesterday. Apple devices are not supported at this time.

My son banks with Fifth Third Bank which also isn't among the banks supporting Apple Pay at first. He's switching banks so he use it.

 

[explanade]

Just returned from France.

Was able to use my Barclays Arrival Plus card at an unmanned gas station and at a airport train kiosk.

In both cases, my other cards with chip, which only supported signature, didn't work.

But the rest of the time, whenever I went to places with human sales clerks manning the cash register, I had to sign for every purchase.

So it's not a true Chip and PIN card like the ones the Europeans get.

I'm hoping things like Apple Pay really takes off so we can bypass this whole chip and PIN vs. chip and signature vs. signature only mess.

It would have been easier pulling out my phone than digging through my wallet for the right cards, though I'm interested in the iPhone 6 Plus, which is a big device to have to carry around.

 

[Debinnov a]

I'm heading to UK with my new BofA travel rewards card. I just realized that if there is a pin, I don't know what it is. At least there are no foreign transaction fees. I have another Visa and Amex as backup. Wondering if I will have any trouble accessing cash with my BofA debit card....

Sent from my KFSOWI using Tapatalk

 

[Chuckanut]

Despite having a pin, I always had to sign. Always. Even overseas.

 

[sengsational]

Just got a replacement credit card from my giant monster megabank (BofA), that has a chip on it. The brochure says that it doesn't have a PIN, and that it's up to me to advise the vendor that only a signature is required. This card has a 3% foreign transaction fee.

I have a Discover IT with a zero foreign transaction fee, but it's not got a chip.

Being new to this thread, have there been recommendations for a zero foreign transaction fee chip and PIN card for use while traveling across the Atlantic?

 

[explanade]

Chuckanut, did you ever use unattended kiosk, like train ticket machines and such?

Or fill up the gas on a rented car?

sengsational, I would look at the Chase Sapphire Preferred card and ask specifically for the chip. They have zero FTF and they give you bonus points in travel and dining. Usually the first intro. offers given you like 40,000 points, which you can transfer to several airline programs for miles.

ANother option is the Chase Ink, which also supposedly has zero FTF and is now coming with 70k points. Tempted to do that, make a fake business.


EDIT: These cards do have annual fees though, $95.

A no annual fee card which is available with chip and with zero FTF is the Bank of American card. I got it when my old Schwab Visa, which used to offer 2% on all purchases, was ended and our accounts moved over.

 

[Chuckanut]

Chuckanut, did you ever use unattended kiosk, like train ticket machines and such?

Or fill up the gas on a rented car?

No rental car. But, I tried various ticket machines and they did not like my card. I ended up using cash, which works very well, I might add.

 

[audreyh1]

Just got a replacement credit card from my giant monster megabank (BofA), that has a chip on it. The brochure says that it doesn't have a PIN, and that it's up to me to advise the vendor that only a signature is required. This card has a 3% foreign transaction fee.

I have a Discover IT with a zero foreign transaction fee, but it's not got a chip.

Being new to this thread, have there been recommendations for a zero foreign transaction fee chip and PIN card for use while traveling across the Atlantic?

The BofA Travel Rewards card is 0% foreign transaction fee, is the main one I use in Europe. It's chip & signature but 1.5% rewards along with no fees makes it the best value overseas.

I use the PenFed Chip & PIN VISA card as a backup, and at unmanned kiosks that take chip and PIN. But not all kiosks accept foreign credit cards, so it's hit or miss. Vienna Metro accepted it. DBahn ticket machine in Munich did not.

Almost all US issued chip cards require signature if at manned POS locations whether they have a PIN or not. If you got a Canadian or UK issued credit card you could get around this. But it's a minor inconvenience.

 

[audreyh1]

No rental car. But, I tried various ticket machines and they did not like my card. I ended up using cash, which works very well, I might add.

The only place where cash doesn't work well is Amsterdam! (hit head)

 

[Alan]

I continue to use my Penfed CHIP card in Australia since arriving July 14th. I've never been prompted for a PIN but the cashiers always take signatures although they are surprised that a signature is required and I often have to tell them that I need to sign. We are in Tasmania at present, and for the next few weeks, so not so many tourists around. The card has been denied 3 times, 2 hotels and an airport desk, but each time I have then handed over my CHIP'ed Amex card and that has worked (with signature).

Never had to pay for parking so no experience with unattended ticket machines. Buses and trams in Melbourne and here in Hobart use electronic cards that you buy and top-up in shops so public transport has been easy so far. (and cheap)

 

[fidler4]

I am currently in Europe (Italy) and traveled through Gernamy, Aurstria and Switzerland using my B of A Travel Rewards with a Chip. All was going well until it got rejected in a train station. Then I tried to use it online for a Air Italia flight again it got rejected. I logged onto my account and they had locked the card until I verified all of my European purchases. I called them before I left on my trip to let them know my travel plans but they still locked it. I used the hotel wifi, logged onto to BofA was able to verify everything online and am up and running again.



Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

 

[audreyh1]

I continue to use my Penfed CHIP card in Australia since arriving July 14th. I've never been prompted for a PIN but the cashiers always take signatures although they are surprised that a signature is required and I often have to tell them that I need to sign. We are in Tasmania at present, and for the next few weeks, so not so many tourists around. The card has been denied 3 times, 2 hotels and an airport desk, but each time I have then handed over my CHIP'ed Amex card and that has worked (with signature).

Never had to pay for parking so no experience with unattended ticket machines. Buses and trams in Melbourne and here in Hobart use electronic cards that you buy and top-up in shops so public transport has been easy so far. (and cheap)

I was only once prompted for a PIN with that card, and that at an automated ticket machine. Otherwise signature, or the ticket machine deciding it didn't want my card.