Chip and signature experiences abroad?

Anonymous · ‎01-10-2016

Does anyone have any experience with chip and signature cards abroad? I've had quite a bit of problems using my non-chip cards abroad, but I'm beginning to wonder if chip and signature may end up being more trouble than it's worth?

Throughout Europe, the chip is always with a pin. Anytime you use a chip card, you're expected to put in a pin. If the card doesn't have a chip, they usually swipe it. How do merchants react, though, when you have a chip card but no pin? Does anyone have any experience with this? I'm moving to Germany this summer and want to make sure I have a card I can actually use, though. It seems like many US cards are now chip and signature, which seems odd.

longtimelurker · ‎01-10-2016

@Anonymous wrote:
Does anyone have any experience with chip and signature cards abroad? I've had quite a bit of problems using my non-chip cards abroad, but I'm beginning to wonder if chip and signature may end up being more trouble than it's worth?

Throughout Europe, the chip is always with a pin. Anytime you use a chip card, you're expected to put in a pin. If the card doesn't have a chip, they usually swipe it. How do merchants react, though, when you have a chip card but no pin? Does anyone have any experience with this? I'm moving to Germany this summer and want to make sure I have a card I can actually use, though. It seems like many US cards are now chip and signature, which seems odd.

If you go to areas that see lots of US tourists it's less of an issue. They were very used to US tourists having to swipe and (hopefully) in the past year or so, they have become more used to the US chip&sig process. I imagine though lots of American's who haven't encountered EMV terminals in the US (as they are still far from ubiquitous) will be confused by the need to insert the card. (and will pull it out too quickly).

There may be more issues elsewhere. In the UK in a non-tourist part of North London, I found a lot of confusion with my chip&sig card. Very few clerks had pens anymore, so had to search around for something to use when the sig slip printed out. In at least one case, the clerk gave me both copies as she had no idea what to do with it. I soon switched to using a UK chip&pin card to get through lines quicker.

The one advantage abroad of chip&sig over swipe is that the machine will tell the clerk what to do in the local language, whereas if you need to swipe because your card has no chip, you may be told (via gestures!) that you cannot use it.

Anonymous · ‎01-10-2016

@longtimelurker wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Does anyone have any experience with chip and signature cards abroad? I've had quite a bit of problems using my non-chip cards abroad, but I'm beginning to wonder if chip and signature may end up being more trouble than it's worth?

Throughout Europe, the chip is always with a pin. Anytime you use a chip card, you're expected to put in a pin. If the card doesn't have a chip, they usually swipe it. How do merchants react, though, when you have a chip card but no pin? Does anyone have any experience with this? I'm moving to Germany this summer and want to make sure I have a card I can actually use, though. It seems like many US cards are now chip and signature, which seems odd.

There may be more issues elsewhere. In the UK in a non-tourist part of North London, I found a lot of confusion with my chip&sig card. Very few clerks had pens anymore, so had to search around for something to use when the sig slip printed out. In at least one case, the clerk gave me both copies as she had no idea what to do with it. I soon switched to using a UK chip&pin card to get through lines quicker.

This is exactly what I'm worried about and from previous hellish experiences in German supermarkets, I'd rather not be subjected to that kind of verbal abuse!

elim · ‎01-10-2016

All of my chip cards (even chip and pin) defaulted to chip and signature after inserting in chip readers. I think it returns a U.S. bank/card and defaults to sig. Kiosks at parking, tolls, train stations, etc... required our chip and pin cards to make the transaction.

If you are worried about it.. grab any USAA card(s) and request the card(s) to be issued as chip/pin. I think arrival+ is also chip/pin

Anonymous · ‎01-10-2016

@elim wrote:
All of my chip cards (even chip and pin) defaulted to chip and signature after inserting in chip readers. I think it returns a U.S. bank/card and defaults to sig. Kiosks at parking, tolls, train stations, etc... required our chip and pin cards to make the transaction.

If you are worried about it.. grab any USAA card(s) and request the card(s) to be issued as chip/pin. I think arrival+ is also chip/pin

I'm pretty sure USAA cards will still default to printing out the signature slip regardless of what you ask CS for. Same with Arrival+.

jason86423 · ‎01-10-2016

My experience from Nov 15, visited Amsterdam, Milan and London

Aviator Mastercard (Barclays)- defaulted to chip and sign, except unattended kiosks. I was able to use my PIN

USAA- defaulted to chip and sign, even though supposedly it was chip and pin

Chase sapphire preferred- chip and sign

Penfed Visa Sig- Chip and pin

Diners club- worked the best, unfortunately you can't get this card anymore, but it worked flawlessly with chip and pin default.

Overall, I didn't have any issues in any of the cities I visited, no matter which card I used

Anonymous · ‎01-10-2016

Awesome, thanks everyone!

Anonymous · ‎01-10-2016

I was in Europe about 2 months ago, and while my main form of payment was cash, there were a few times I used my Cap One QS (chip and sig). I didn't have any problems with it, but I only used it at train stations and restaurants (and Uber for the 20% discount on rides, but that has nothing to do with the topic, I just wanted to point out that it was 20% off on rides! ). If it helps, I did use my CC in Germany, as well, but again, I only used it at "tourist" places.

Non-chip cards are pretty much a no-go, so I wouldn't even bother. When you say "more trouble than it's worth" in regards to chip cards, what do you mean? What CC's do you have? IMO, I would request chip cards (even if they're only chip and sig) for all of my current CC's, and take my chances with that, rather than going with non-chip cards, which I'm almost certain I'll run into trouble with. Overall, having a chip and sig card doesn't hurt in any way, I don't think.

*Edited: I was in Berlin, Frankfurt, Paris and Barcelona

UncleB · ‎01-10-2016

@elim wrote:
All of my chip cards (even chip and pin) defaulted to chip and signature after inserting in chip readers. I think it returns a U.S. bank/card and defaults to sig. Kiosks at parking, tolls, train stations, etc... required our chip and pin cards to make the transaction.

If you are worried about it.. grab any USAA card(s) and request the card(s) to be issued as chip/pin. I think arrival+ is also chip/pin

All new USAA cards are being issued as chip/signature... only the lucky folks who have an older card got a chip/PIN, and once those expire they'll be replaced with chip/signature as well.

It's really too bad, since it would have been an excellent selling point for an otherwise mediocre offering.

Anonymous · ‎01-10-2016

@UncleB wrote:
@elim wrote:
All of my chip cards (even chip and pin) defaulted to chip and signature after inserting in chip readers. I think it returns a U.S. bank/card and defaults to sig. Kiosks at parking, tolls, train stations, etc... required our chip and pin cards to make the transaction.

If you are worried about it.. grab any USAA card(s) and request the card(s) to be issued as chip/pin. I think arrival+ is also chip/pin
All new USAA cards are being issued as chip/signature... only the lucky folks who have an older card got a chip/PIN, and once those expire they'll be replaced with chip/signature as well.

It's really too bad, since it would have been an excellent selling point for an otherwise mediocre offering.

There's always one of the known credit unions (UNFCU, First Tech) if you really want a card that always asks for PIN. Merchants in the US really have a hard time with such a card though from my personal experience.