Using American Credit Cards in Europe

[Anonymous]

CreditMuppet,

I appreciate your valuable input!  Have fun with your international trips :-)

[mikka1]

Just one small comment about using non-chip'n'pin cards (with magnetic stripe only) in automated ticked vending machines in large cities - most likely you will not be able to use such a card to get ticket in most places at all (at least in Vienna, Austria and many places in Paris, France). RATP (French transportation authority in Paris) is gradually switching all its ticket vending machines to chip-based cards only, same for OBB (their Austrian colleagues, as per March 2011 experience). Talking specifically about Paris, you will also most likely experience certain inconvenience as some of the self-service lanes in grocery stores like Carrefour will also accept chip-and-pin cards only, so if you don't have one, you'll have to go to the normal manned counter (and stay in a queue there probably).

A couple of more insights from my experience - Denmark is excellent in terms of card acceptance, never had problems there with my Visa/MC/Amex (I don't have a Discover, so have no idea about it). I think this is caused by the fact that they have their own currency (not Euro, as some people might think),  so in order to accomodate to the needs of German and British visitors they tend to accept cards even at small food vending locations and almost any stores in any given place in Denmark (I spent three days there and visited 4 or 5 cities, but I never had a chance even to see a Danish coin or note as I was always paying with my card). Almost the same experience in Lithuania and Latvia, with some minor exceptions.

Unfortunately, Germany is almost the opposite. You'll definitely have no problems in airports / large tourist attractions, but you might get surprised by the fact that you can't use any of your cards to buy Subway tickets in Berlin. I don't know if it's still the case, but in April 2011 they were accepting locally issued EC-cards only and none of the major international ones. Germany is also one of a very few countries where I once faced a situation when they were accepting Visa only, but not MC (or vice versa, can't remember) - I've only seen such a situation once at a small gas station in Canada before. I am not sure, but it seems that this is related to a pretty strong presence of these locally issued EC cards, so many merchants don't really see much need to accept any other international cards.

If you plan to go to Eastern Europe, please beware of card fraud. Prague, Czech Republic is especially infamous for its amount of 'carders' and other fraudsters even in pretty decent places like 4-stars hotels in the center of the city - my friend's card was once copied secretly in such a place and the only thing that saved her from lots of troubles was that she has not used this card anywhere else that trip, so it was extremely easy to locate where this fraud actually occured (I know there even were certain arrests of hotel staff following this). Currency exchange scams with cash are also very popular in this country with lots of occurences reported on may discussion boards, so just watch around there. Not surprisingly, card companies try to minimize risks, so some of your cards might not work in Eastern European countries unless you explicitly put a travel alert stating these countries on your account. 

It is probably extremely unlikely that you are planning to go to Belarus, but if you do, just please beware that no Amex is accepted there at all.

Hope this helps a bit. 

[Anonymous]

Hi, Mikka1,

It was great to read your informative post!  Thank you very much for sharing your experience and it helps me a lot!  I do not plan to visit Belarus :-)  However, what is your take in Hungary and Poland if you don't mind? 

[HoahCredit]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Thanks, HoahCrdit!

I have not had any issues with my discover card here in the US.  Most probably, I'd love to try it in Paris once.  Will come back to you guys with my experience.  However, I only plan to travel in May next year so I still have time to do some research :-)

Thanks again.

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You welcome. I must say something that other have said already: you may want to take a Visa, MC or Amex too. Diners Club is widely used in Europe, I've been living in Germany since 2005, and Discover just bought there payment network thus where you can use Diners Club you can use Discover. The problem is that a lot of Europeans don't know about it,  and as good traditionalist as they are, thus say "no" when trying to pay with a Discover card. As a matter of a fact, I took my kids to a very fancy restaurant in Paris. When I called to make the reservation I asked the manager whether they accpet it Discover or not and he said yes. At 8 pm my kids and I got to the restaurant, ate, and when I went to pay the bill the waiter told me that I couldn't pay with my Discover card. I told him that when I made the reservation the manager told me that I could and that I didn't have, even though I did have all of my other cards, another CC. I told the waiter that I wanted to speak with the manager, when the manager came he apologize and told me that his staff didn't not that Discover was, these are his words, "The same as Diners Club". I also encountered the same issue at Disney Paris. In short, give it a shot.

[HoahCredit]

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@mikka1 wrote:

Just one small comment about using non-chip'n'pin cards (with magnetic stripe only) in automated ticked vending machines in large cities - most likely you will not be able to use such a card to get ticket in most places at all (at least in Vienna, Austria and many places in Paris, France). RATP (French transportation authority in Paris) is gradually switching all its ticket vending machines to chip-based cards only, same for OBB (their Austrian colleagues, as per March 2011 experience). Talking specifically about Paris, you will also most likely experience certain inconvenience as some of the self-service lanes in grocery stores like Carrefour will also accept chip-and-pin cards only, so if you don't have one, you'll have to go to the normal manned counter (and stay in a queue there probably).

A couple of more insights from my experience - Denmark is excellent in terms of card acceptance, never had problems there with my Visa/MC/Amex (I don't have a Discover, so have no idea about it). I think this is caused by the fact that they have their own currency (not Euro, as some people might think),  so in order to accomodate to the needs of German and British visitors they tend to accept cards even at small food vending locations and almost any stores in any given place in Denmark (I spent three days there and visited 4 or 5 cities, but I never had a chance even to see a Danish coin or note as I was always paying with my card). Almost the same experience in Lithuania and Latvia, with some minor exceptions.

Unfortunately, Germany is almost the opposite. You'll definitely have no problems in airports / large tourist attractions, but you might get surprised by the fact that you can't use any of your cards to buy Subway tickets in Berlin. I don't know if it's still the case, but in April 2011 they were accepting locally issued EC-cards only and none of the major international ones. Germany is also one of a very few countries where I once faced a situation when they were accepting Visa only, but not MC (or vice versa, can't remember) - I've only seen such a situation once at a small gas station in Canada before. I am not sure, but it seems that this is related to a pretty strong presence of these locally issued EC cards, so many merchants don't really see much need to accept any other international cards.

If you plan to go to Eastern Europe, please beware of card fraud. Prague, Czech Republic is especially infamous for its amount of 'carders' and other fraudsters even in pretty decent places like 4-stars hotels in the center of the city - my friend's card was once copied secretly in such a place and the only thing that saved her from lots of troubles was that she has not used this card anywhere else that trip, so it was extremely easy to locate where this fraud actually occured (I know there even were certain arrests of hotel staff following this). Currency exchange scams with cash are also very popular in this country with lots of occurences reported on may discussion boards, so just watch around there. Not surprisingly, card companies try to minimize risks, so some of your cards might not work in Eastern European countries unless you explicitly put a travel alert stating these countries on your account. 

It is probably extremely unlikely that you are planning to go to Belarus, but if you do, just please beware that no Amex is accepted there at all.

Hope this helps a bit. 

---

I have to agree with you Mikka1. In Paris, you cannot, usually, get a subway card if your card doesn't have a chip. In Germany it depends on the city. I live in Frankfurt and must businesses around the stock exchange accept credit cards. The further away from the stock exchange they do not accept credit cards...hahahahaha. Now the proble also is that Visa charges a 6% per transaction to the business and MC, although I think it uses the same payment network as Visa, charges 7%. Now, Amex charges 8% per transaction and this for Germans is unaaceptable. Being as cheap as they it is unimaginable for the business community to pay that much in charges. The Euro Card, on the order hand, charges 2.5% on each transaction so they took over the market.

Now, I also agree with Mikka1 when she advices you to becareful in Eastern Europe. I went to Poland, Czech Republic, Ukranie, Croatia, Romania and Russia and upon my return home I ended up calling my CCs to fight some of the chargers on them. So, my suggestion is that if you are planning to travel to Eastern Europe use only one card that way it'll be easier for you to track your spending and avoid any "unwanted chrages".... As for the rest, enjoy your trip as much as you can.

[Anonymous]

Thanks again, HoahCredit,

Your points are well taken :-)  Enjoy your staying in Germany. 

[FicoScore626]

Whatever you do, take more than one credit card with you. Don't do what my boneheaded boss did and only took one card to Israel with him and got caught with his pants down when they declined his charge at a restaurant, lol... What a dolt he was, LOL..  His wife also paid the price for traveling overseas with just one card... I won't even go to the convenience store around the corner with just one card, LOL..

[mikka1]

However, what is your take in Hungary and Poland if you don't mind? 

Strengthsfinder1, sorry, can't say for sure for Poland and Hungary as I've never been in neither of them, but based on some feedbacks on traveller's community boards I suspect there aren't any problems to pay with a card in most of the 'tourist' places. Just son't forget to switch your common sense on :-) and, as perfectly noted by FicoScore626, have at least 2 different cards with you, ideally Visa and MC (with all my respect to Amex, it is not as widely accepted in most European countries as in the US). 

I personally prefer to have around $100 (or in local equivalent) in cash deep in my pocket / bagback when I travel just in case if I can't pay with my card for whatever reason... And please, don't consider all Eastern European countries as a source of inevitable fraud - I spent most of my life in Russia and visited many European countries and never had any issues with fraudulent charges to my credit cards despite using them every day almost in all possible places :-) (actually, the only problem I ever had with my credit cards was a strange unknown transaction in the US, but that's another story :-) )

[Anonymous]

Hi, FicoScore626,

Great point and I will do so :-)

Have a fun holiday season!

[Anonymous]

Hello again, Mikka1!

It seems that there are more *smart* people in the US than in Europe in terms of credit card fraud :-)  Thank you for your advise, I will definitely bring some cash with me.

Take care!