This fall’s trip to Europe has me thinking about Chip & PIN credit cards. I may never forget running up and down the platform at the train station in Rome very late one evening trying to buy a ticket from Roma Termini to FCO with no luck because I did not have a credit card with a stupid chip in it. As it turns out, I need not have run so much because they took cash on the train, thankfully. Suffice it to say I got my exercise that night. While it turned out ok in the end, I haven’t stopped asking every credit card company I’ve done business with when they would be issuing Chip & PIN cards.
Each of my emails has been met with a response that merchants are required to accept the card I have. That might be true, but try telling that to the ticket machines on the platform at Roma Termini. đŸ™‚ So here’s the discussion point….. I’ve got a trip to Europe coming up, and I’ve been thinking about pocketing the Chase BA Visa just because of the chip. But that card like most US issued Chip cards at this point is “Chip & Signature.” Would I be able to buy petrol at an automated station in Tuscany with one of those? I’m not so sure. Will one of the US issued Chip & Signature cards be good enough? I’d love to hear about your experiences on this.
[…] written about my own EMV experiences in the past here and here. Personally, I think it’s past time for the USA to move to EMV. News that a big […]
I’m in the Netherlands every year and my US cards are never accepted at any Dutch train intercity station machine or even at the desk where a person helps you. Many times the desk is closed. Some of the machines take coins. So you better have enough. What a hassle. From now on, I’ll try out that Travelex card.
Swipe cards are so outdated and unsafe. The whole world has changed for the chip and pin, it’s time USA change too.
Honestly, my advice to tourists regarding chip and pin issues in the UK is to simply not visit the UK. Almost none of the stores and shops train their staff how to do swipe card transactions and you may very well find yourself stuck in a situation whereby you can not make any purchases. This has been my experience on several occasions. I simply would just avoid the UK altogether as a tourist destination as they don’t seen to give a toss anyway. In addition if you do pull out a normal swipe and sign card, be prepared to be… Read more »
July 2012, Amsterdam Airport – None of the train ticket vending machines, nor the ATM, nor the ticket sales counter, could take a non-chipped ATM or Credit card.
I exchanged US $ cash, then could buy ticket at counter. ( most of the machines would not take cash either )
I have a new Bank of America credit card coming with chip, will try to use it next week.
My existing cards have a PIN for ATM use, but they do not work without the chip.
FlyerTalk has a good discussion on Chip & Signature and Chip & Pin cards.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/credit-card-programs/1304271-usa-emv-cards-available-today-chip-pin-chip-signature.html
There’s also Google Docs spreadsheet with the various options.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ani-u3tGk5hedGRvcE1ELVg5UmlGZk01SHZvTUMxdUE
Easy solution is just pick up a Travelex chip & pin card at airport or online. Recharge, when needed via online. These work EVERYWHERE. Never had a problem, except need separate cards for € and £. Travelex.com
[…] based on the number of views of my Chip & PIN credit card post, it is clear to me that this is an issue for many travelers. While it is an issue, it’s also […]
Everything I have read online is that the BA card is Chip and Signature. Has that changed recently?
Andrews CU (Andrews AFB) used to have the only Chip and PIN card available in the U.S.
Just returned from Rome, Livorno and Paris. A brand new Chase Sapphire Preferred Card was unusable in many Italian train stations, Autostrada toll booths and gasoline stations. But to top it off, it couldn’t be used in Livorno to pick up a new Hertz Rental car at the cruise ship pier. No chip and the raised numbers on the card don’t provide enought defination to make an image on an old pressure type slide card image recorder. My travel partner used her Capitol One card and no problem. Chase…..FIX THIS !!
The BA chase card is chip and pin, I had the card on me but had stupidly never set up the pin for a trip to the UK this week. Make sure you handle that pesky detail a few weeks in advance!
The Rome Termini ticket machines (not on the platform, next to the sales counter) will take debit cards with pin. I got a ticket that way about 2 hours ago. I got a debit card with a very small foreign exchange fee, and keep only a small amount on it in case things go weird. I don’t know if it’s an option for other automated systems, though.
The only places you may have problems are:
1) where automated machines are the only options and
2) with smaller merchants who generally don’t deal with tourists – because they have been told that they will be charged more if there’s no PIN and there’s no way to pre-authorise the transaction.
I’m in France right now. We have been having issues with credit cards being rejected, especially sapphire preferred.
I’ve always had that problem in the Netherlands where the train ticket kiosks never accept my US strip only card or even my Malaysian issued credit card with chip but no PIN. Strangely enough, never had this problem in France, Belgium or the UK.
I’d love to skip the coins or standing in line at a crowded ticket counter or paying extra money just because my credit card won’t work at the kiosk.
I encountered one business in Scotland that had machines that would only accept chip and pin. It wasn’t a problem since I could obviously still pay with cash, but I imagine it could have been a problem if I didn’t have any on me. Otherwise, I have had no serious problems with my conventional card in Europe, aside from the aforementioned issues with automated kiosks, some of which work, and some of which don’t.
Agree…can mostly use these, but be careful at gas stations as many only accept local cards in places like France and Italy etc.. I always find a good bank machine in a “safe” location and take cash with me. Also agree about the small change, but would add Euro 20 notes as things get expensive in a hurry!
Chip & PIN might be king in Europe, but I’ve gotten through Europe plenty of times with american magnetic stripe cards in all merchants. The only problem you will encounter is the automatic ticketing kiosks in metro/train stations.
Tip: Machines accept bills and coins (mostly coin only). Carry lots of 2 and 1 euro coins and lots of small 5/10 euro notes
Been to 10 major countries in europe and have not encountered a single problem with my methods
To be honest, most of the UK has converted to Chip+Pin over Signature based cards (in fact, the last signature based transaction I made was in the USA… in the UK I can’t remember when I last made a Signature based transaction). Whilst the merchant agreement may state that they must accept a card, some shops have lovely signs saying “Chip+Pin only”, and front-line staff who know nothing of Visa/Mastercard/Amex/CarteBlance agreements – only what they’ve been trained to do. Personally, I would just get a chip+pin card.. or if you’re happy to skip the points, TravelEx do an expensive-ish TravelMoney… Read more »
Just came back from Paris, London, Dublin and netherlands. I would have saved some time and cash if I had a chip and pin card. Make sure you bring some extra cash.
The automatic machine at train stations, certain airport terminals only have the chip and pin ability. Most McDonald’s take swipe cards.
We were in Florence and Rome in march this year and had to use the ticketing line and pay at the ticket counter because the machines/ kiosks didnt accept our credit cards. It kept prompting us for a pin, and the chase sapphire customer serv on the phone old us to head over to the actual counters which we did. No big deal though, most of the merchants in italy took our credit cards, and if it didn’t work we had cash as back up. McDonald’s seems to fail at first but if the cashiers know what they are doing… Read more »
Never needed a chip / pin card in any european transaction, including buying a ticket at a Termini kiosk for the high speed train to naples. could it be a case of YMMV?
We had no issues with the kiosks for the Eurostar. But the kiosk for the trains to FCO were different. This was the only place we had an issue. Next trip we will be doing some driving so I’m concerned about the automated gas stations.
I haven’t taken it to Europe yet, but I was able to set up a PIN with my new EMV BA card, if that helps.