Chip and PIN in Europe

[YB88]

I thought I'd post an update regarding my Barclay's AARP Mastercard after getting home from a 2 week trip to Poland. The short version is that tap-to-pay has pretty much taken over everywhere including at unattended train & metro ticket machines. My AARP Mastercard worked everywhere I tried it, and I almost never needed to sign the receipt. I used my credit union ATM card to get cash twice, but I used a lot less cash than on any previous trip. While I still like having a card that should be "pin priority", it seems as though that's going to be a thing of the past fairly soon. Contactless payments are here.

I too used my Barclay's AARP Mastercard in Europe recently, in my case for 6 weeks ending a few days ago, mostly in Germany and a bit in Austria.


The tap to pay works, but it works with other credit cards too, so I guess I really didn't need this one. I think I'll keep it just because I like the idea of not all of my credit cards coming from the same bank.
The card definitely does not work for what I got it for --- unattended kiosk without tap to pay, i.e., it is not pin priority.



My experience is more limited than expected, however, as Germany is still very much into using cash rather than credit. The particular thing that tilted me towards cash was that if I payed a restaurant bill with credit card, there was no place on the receipt to add a tip, so I was always dragging out my wallet and/or coin purse anyway --- easier to just do it all with cash.
Grocery store purchases tended to be small, and it just felt easier/faster to do those with cash too. So I didn't end up using any credit card very much.

 

[NoiseBoy]

I too used my Barclay's AARP Mastercard in Europe recently, in my case for 6 weeks ending a few days ago, mostly in Germany and a bit in Austria.


The tap to pay works, but it works with other credit cards too, so I guess I really didn't need this one. I think I'll keep it just because I like the idea of not all of my credit cards coming from the same bank.
The card definitely does not work for what I got it for --- unattended kiosk without tap to pay, i.e., it is not pin priority.

Drat, I had intended to test mine, but tap-to-pay was so prevalent in Krakow that I just never got around to it.

My experience is more limited than expected, however, as Germany is still very much into using cash rather than credit. The particular thing that tilted me towards cash was that if I payed a restaurant bill with credit card, there was no place on the receipt to add a tip, so I was always dragging out my wallet and/or coin purse anyway --- easier to just do it all with cash.
Grocery store purchases tended to be small, and it just felt easier/faster to do those with cash too. So I didn't end up using any credit card very much.

It took me a bit to figure this out, but when the server presented me with the paper bill, I would look at it and then add around 10% for the tip and then tell that number to the server. They would key that amount into the little machine at the table and then I'd tap my card. I did need to ask for a second receipt, otherwise all I'd have is the original bill which would not show the correct amount of the charge. Before I figured that out, I was leaving cash for a tip too.

 

[explanade]

Drat, I had intended to test mine, but tap-to-pay was so prevalent in Krakow that I just never got around to it.



It took me a bit to figure this out, but when the server presented me with the paper bill, I would look at it and then add around 10% for the tip and then tell that number to the server. They would key that amount into the little machine at the table and then I'd tap my card. I did need to ask for a second receipt, otherwise all I'd have is the original bill which would not show the correct amount of the charge. Before I figured that out, I was leaving cash for a tip too.

How do you know the owner will share the gratuity with the servers?

Service is already factored into prices and they may not track the additional sums meant for tips.

 

[audreyh1]

I've been in Europe for a week, in two different countries (neither of them in the Euro zone) and used Apple Pay on my watch for just about everything. Found two places that only took cash, but they were very small purchases so not an issue. One place apparently didn't do MasterCard, so I just scrolled down to a Visa card and the watch worked perfectly.

Nobody has ever raised an eyebrow when I double-click my watch to pay for something; it's normal now.

All the rural buses in England and Scotland use contactless credit cards these days and US cards work just as well as UK ones as our daughter discovered last year and her partner this year. He also used his Apple watch to pay on the bus the other week. He now has his UK “green card” so will be getting a UK bank account and card in due course but meanwhile continued to use his watch with US credit card everywhere he buys stuff.

Great!

 

[audreyh1]

The particular thing that tilted me towards cash was that if I payed a restaurant bill with credit card, there was no place on the receipt to add a tip, so I was always dragging out my wallet and/or coin purse anyway --- easier to just do it all with cash.
Grocery store purchases tended to be small, and it just felt easier/faster to do those with cash too. So I didn't end up using any credit card very much.

We always used cash to tip in Europe . It was quite small - usually a euro or less or occasionally 2. Also used for hotel tips. So we tried to have change handy. Hotel front desks were good at giving change.

I suppose taxis these days take credit including tap to pay?

Groceries - we’d usually use credit - that’s because we were usually buying fancy stuff like wine and cheese ha ha.

 

[NoiseBoy]

How do you know the owner will share the gratuity with the servers?

Well, our servers knew that I was tipping them, so I assume that they are well motivated to get their tips. Also, this is a practice that is recommended by Rick Steves.

Service is already factored into prices and they may not track the additional sums meant for tips.

This is why I generally tipped 10% versus what is common here in the States. Dinners were pretty cheap in Krakow, so we're talking a massive outlay of about an extra $3 to tip the server

 

[anethum]

In September-October 2022 in France, my Mastercard always worked without a PIN at automatic Metro ticket dispensers. Some of these devices were contactless, while in others I had to insert my card. I noticed that I was sometimes momentarily prompted to enter my PIN but that message would quickly disappear and the transaction was approved.

There were 2 occasions in shops where small 7.50 euro purchases were rejected by the contactless device so I paid cash. In one of the shops, they tried inserting my card into a reader but it was still rejected. I later checked online and that rejected charge was listed as "pending" for a couple of days before it finally disappeared. I never had a problem with larger contactless purchases in France up to 50 euros, which was the maximum for contactless transactions in France.

One other unrelated item about France: Avoid Credit Agricole ATMs. Before dispensing cash, the ATM screen told me there would be a 5 euro fee and asked me if I wanted to proceed. I was using a Schwab card which normally reimburses ATM fees, so I proceeded. However, I wasn't reimbursed for that fee. I don't recall any other bank's ATMs displaying such a message, and all of their fees were reimbursed by Schwab.

 

[SecondAttempt]

I've been in Europe for a week, in two different countries (neither of them in the Euro zone) and used Apple Pay on my watch for just about everything. Found two places that only took cash, but they were very small purchases so not an issue. One place apparently didn't do MasterCard, so I just scrolled down to a Visa card and the watch worked perfectly.

Nobody has ever raised an eyebrow when I double-click my watch to pay for something; it's normal now.

I have now been in Europe for a few days. I am mostly in Sweden. One of my friends who lives here told me not to bother getting cash so I did not. Tap to pay, either Google/Apple pay or credit card is ubiquitous and everything has been very smooth. We had an unplanned stopover in Scotland and found the same thing, tap to pay seems to be the expected way and using cash or other means is the unusual.

I used to live here and have been here every few years since the mid 90s. Last time was 2016, mostly because of covid. I am amazed at the pace of change on payment methods! Even in the early 2000s credit cards were unusual.

We had lunch in a restaurant today and heard a woman ask to pay in cash and it seemed to very unusual.She was a non-english-speaking tourist but spoke to the server in english. But they definitely found it unusual that someone would pay in cash. I think Sweden is way ahead of the curve but based on what I've seen, I don't think cash will be common inEurope in 5 - 10 years.

 

[explanade]

In September-October 2022 in France, my Mastercard always worked without a PIN at automatic Metro ticket dispensers. Some of these devices were contactless, while in others I had to insert my card. I noticed that I was sometimes momentarily prompted to enter my PIN but that message would quickly disappear and the transaction was approved.

There were 2 occasions in shops where small 7.50 euro purchases were rejected by the contactless device so I paid cash. In one of the shops, they tried inserting my card into a reader but it was still rejected. I later checked online and that rejected charge was listed as "pending" for a couple of days before it finally disappeared. I never had a problem with larger contactless purchases in France up to 50 euros, which was the maximum for contactless transactions in France.

One other unrelated item about France: Avoid Credit Agricole ATMs. Before dispensing cash, the ATM screen told me there would be a 5 euro fee and asked me if I wanted to proceed. I was using a Schwab card which normally reimburses ATM fees, so I proceeded. However, I wasn't reimbursed for that fee. I don't recall any other bank's ATMs displaying such a message, and all of their fees were reimbursed by Schwab.

Should ask Schwab why they didn't reimburse.

Did they code those transactions differently somehow?

 

[explanade]

In September-October 2022 in France, my Mastercard always worked without a PIN at automatic Metro ticket dispensers. Some of these devices were contactless, while in others I had to insert my card. I noticed that I was sometimes momentarily prompted to enter my PIN but that message would quickly disappear and the transaction was approved.

It probably depends on the metro or transit system.

A lot of systems only support these cards you have to buy and load with credit, not with credit cars because they don't want to pay credit card fees.

They also have a vested interest in those cards.

I think Paris still requires Navigo cards, you can't use your credit cards directly on the Paris metro or buses.

But London will support both Oyster cards and Apple Pay or contactless cards.

 

[perez99]

Just came back from a 24 day travel in UK, Italy, Switzerland and Germany. Traveled in trains, uber, taxis. Contactless everywhere. Cash withdrawal in ATM same as in the USA. I I did encounter a couple of train ticket machines that asked for my credit card pin, so recommend you have one just in case.