For me chip & pin but only for cards issued in countries that let you select your own pin. I have chip & pin cards from 2 European countries and 1 country is a nightmare because the card issuers send you the initial pin and do not let you change/select your own pin. At the end you end up with a ton of number and believe me nobody can remember 10 different pins on ATM, debit and credit cards 
To me safety is only if I can remember the pin and do not need to look up in the mobile phone before I want to pay. When the US changes to chip & pin one day it definitely needs to be with selection of your own pin. Otherwise it will be a big mess... I cannot remember 15 - 20 differnt pin numbers for 15 cards
@lg8302ch wrote:For me chip & pin but only for cards issued in countries that let you select your own pin. I have chip & pin cards from 2 European countries and 1 country is a nightmare because the card issuers send you the initial pin and do not let you change/select your own pin. At the end you end up with a ton of number and believe me nobody can remember 10 different pins on ATM, debit and credit cards
I don't think the US will ever adopt PIN, actually. We were so late to the party that there's not much point in adding it, especially with widespread acceptance of stuff like Apple Pay on the horizon.
@Anonymous wrote:
@lg8302ch wrote:For me chip & pin but only for cards issued in countries that let you select your own pin. I have chip & pin cards from 2 European countries and 1 country is a nightmare because the card issuers send you the initial pin and do not let you change/select your own pin. At the end you end up with a ton of number and believe me nobody can remember 10 different pins on ATM, debit and credit cards
I don't think the US will ever adopt PIN, actually. We were so late to the party that there's not much point in adding it, especially with widespread acceptance of stuff like Apple Pay on the horizon.
October 2015 is when the "liability shift" http://blogs.wsj.com/corporate-intelligence/2014/02/06/october-2015-the-end-of-the-swipe-and-sign-cr... goes into effect. Whichever entity is using inferior technology will be responsible financially if there is credit card fraud.
@Anonymous wrote:
@lg8302ch wrote:For me chip & pin but only for cards issued in countries that let you select your own pin. I have chip & pin cards from 2 European countries and 1 country is a nightmare because the card issuers send you the initial pin and do not let you change/select your own pin. At the end you end up with a ton of number and believe me nobody can remember 10 different pins on ATM, debit and credit cards
I don't think the US will ever adopt PIN, actually. We were so late to the party that there's not much point in adding it, especially with widespread acceptance of stuff like Apple Pay on the horizon.
I am positive that it will come.... it is true that the US is very late in the party but with now finally moving to chip technology it will be a short while and also pin will be used. My oldest chip & pin card from Switzerland is 12 years old and when I looked at an old Amex from Germany it had the chip 10 years ago. Germany moved to chip & pin later on .it was chip & signature for a while. Some lenders in Germany will leave you the option of chip & pin or chip & signature but I did modify all for chip & pin and it is so much easier to use as here the card terminals are with the physical paper slip to sign... a real hassle if it can be done with a simple pin entry.
@longtimelurker wrote:
@NRB525 wrote:
@pizza1 wrote:Thoughts on this topic please, and why, thanks!
Diners Club Premier and Elite come with Chip and PIN... and also MasterCard PayPass NFC Contactless capability. So if the terminal is equiped to handle PayPass, you just wave the card over the terminal and the info goes through with no PIN, or perhaps with a prompt to get a signature.
So both PIN and Signature cards, in my opinion, are the same level of "security": Posession of the actual issued card is required, cloning is more difficult, but the PIN is often a hoped-for security feature that I think will be not so much additional security.
On the same terminal at a local drugstore chain, I've used both the Diners Club Premier with PayPass contactless (it is not set up for EMV chips of any kind), and Apple Pay with other credit cards off the iPhone. Annoyingly, the Apple Pay requires a signature step, even though it requires my thumbprint to authorize the initial transaction. SO I get to use Apple Pay for a $5 charge, then get to sign for the same $5 charge also. Technology will simplify our lives. Or not.
At least in theory, contactless should work only for amounts up to some limit, then you will need a PIN. But I think centurionking, and maybe others, said they were able to make very large charges with just a wave.
The Diner's Club card is hybrid of some type (I'm not sure this is literally, technically, true - an actual hybrid card has two chips - a contact chip and a contactless MSD chip, the card MAY use only one physical chip) - that is it's only EMV for contact, contactless is MSD.
@longtimelurker wrote:
@pizza1 wrote:
@Anonymous... I'm a "she" btw, lol!!!! And thank you for your input! It's all new too me, and I'd like to do what's best. And your right, I've read stories that for instance at Walmart, someone tried to use chip/pin and it crashed their system lol!! Not everyone is on board with it yet I guess.I think Walmart had trouble with the whole EMV thing and have, at least in some places, disabled a vital safeguard, that cards with a chip cannot be swiped. Other countries managed pretty easy transitions to EMV technology, hopefully eventually the US will also manage.
Chip&Sig offers protection against cloning, but not against stolen cards (any more than a non-chip card today: In theory they should check your sig against the back of the card, but with signature pads these days.....). Chip&Pin gives that protection too, like an ATM or debit card, so long as you don't write down the pin on or near the card, unskilled theives won't be able to use it.
In many places, Chip & Pin is the norm, especially outside (US) toursisty areas, and clerks get surprised when a signature slip gets printed out. In many cases, no-one had a pen, it is just so unusual.
What bothers me with Walmart and Sam's club chip and signature. I had purchases of about $275 on each and it didn't require my signature. All I can say about that sooner or later that maybe costly for someone if you lose your card.
Discover IT $17k / US Bank Ace (VSig) $13.5K / US Bank Cash+ (VSig) $13.5k
@nyancat wrote:
@coldnmn wrote:
@longtimelurker wrote:
@pizza1 wrote:
@Anonymous... I'm a "she" btw, lol!!!! And thank you for your input! It's all new too me, and I'd like to do what's best. And your right, I've read stories that for instance at Walmart, someone tried to use chip/pin and it crashed their system lol!! Not everyone is on board with it yet I guess.I think Walmart had trouble with the whole EMV thing and have, at least in some places, disabled a vital safeguard, that cards with a chip cannot be swiped. Other countries managed pretty easy transitions to EMV technology, hopefully eventually the US will also manage.
Chip&Sig offers protection against cloning, but not against stolen cards (any more than a non-chip card today: In theory they should check your sig against the back of the card, but with signature pads these days.....). Chip&Pin gives that protection too, like an ATM or debit card, so long as you don't write down the pin on or near the card, unskilled theives won't be able to use it.
In many places, Chip & Pin is the norm, especially outside (US) toursisty areas, and clerks get surprised when a signature slip gets printed out. In many cases, no-one had a pen, it is just so unusual.
What bothers me with Walmart and Sam's club chip and signature. I had purchases of about $275 on each and it didn't require my signature. All I can say about that sooner or later that maybe costly for someone if you lose your card.
Doesn't make one iota of difference. It only hurts Walmart to not require it (they're liable for the signature verification). Let's be realistic - a signature never gets closely checked anyway.
If pin was required would make a difference was more my point in my post. The world and myself are not perfect and I never will be but I try to help where I can.
