topic Re: Chip and signature experiences abroad? in Credit Cards

Chip and signature experiences abroad?

Anonymous — Sun, 10 Jan 2016 16:44:21 GMT

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.

Re: Chip and signature experiences abroad?

Anonymous — Sun, 10 Jan 2016 16:52:10 GMT

@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.

Re: Chip and signature experiences abroad?

Anonymous — Sun, 10 Jan 2016 16:56:08 GMT

@Anonymous 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!

Re: Chip and signature experiences abroad?

elim — Sun, 10 Jan 2016 17:13:44 GMT

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

Re: Chip and signature experiences abroad?

Anonymous — Sun, 10 Jan 2016 18:26:52 GMT

@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+.

Re: Chip and signature experiences abroad?

jason86423 — Sun, 10 Jan 2016 18:44:05 GMT

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

Re: Chip and signature experiences abroad?

Anonymous — Sun, 10 Jan 2016 19:02:20 GMT

Awesome, thanks everyone!

Re: Chip and signature experiences abroad?

Anonymous — Sun, 10 Jan 2016 19:26:04 GMT

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

Re: Chip and signature experiences abroad?

UncleB — Sun, 10 Jan 2016 20:54:00 GMT

@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.

Re: Chip and signature experiences abroad?

Anonymous — Sun, 10 Jan 2016 21:20:37 GMT

@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.

Re: Chip and signature experiences abroad?

elim — Sun, 10 Jan 2016 21:42:12 GMT

@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.

My last USAA card was Chip n Sig. I just called up and let them know I was travelling abroad and they asked I wanted a Chip n Pin card. Try it. They will send you new cards.

Re: Chip and signature experiences abroad?

UncleB — Sun, 10 Jan 2016 22:13:58 GMT

@elim wrote:
@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.

My last USAA card was Chip n Sig. I just called up and let them know I was travelling abroad and they asked I wanted a Chip n Pin card. Try it. They will send you new cards.

Ah, that's fantastic!

They should really spread the word that chip/PIN is an option for folks who travel... if you hadn't mentioned it here, I would have never known!

Yet another example of knowledge available on myFICO that's not readily available anywhere else...

Re: Chip and signature experiences abroad?

lg8302ch — Sun, 10 Jan 2016 22:31:52 GMT

I live in a "chip & pin" country and I am doing just fine with my chip and signature cards and was doing also just fine with old fashioned swipe method. All you had to know is where you insert the card as the merchants are not really any help as often they have not seen cards to swipe for nearly a decade.... The reason why I hate chip and signature cards is only because I am very lazy and hate to sign these paper slips as in Europe it is not done electronically but you need to struggle with the paper slips. Instead of thinking about chip & pin or chip & signature you should make sure you get cards with no FTF and on a widely used network like Visa or Mastercard. In Germany you will still find many places accepting MAESTRO cards only which is the equivalent to debit cards and still no credit cards. The best way to get around the chip & signature is to simply use Apple Pay if you have an iPhone ... Visa, Mastercard and Amex work great here but I have not yet managed to use Discover through Apple Pay and constantly get error messages. But often when Diners is accepted also swipe or chip & signature worked. Unattended terminals like grocery self check out or ticket vending machines worked with swipe & pin or chip & pin equally. Only once I could not pay because it rejected the card but it was a terminal that did not take any foreign cards.

Re: Chip and signature experiences abroad?

lg8302ch — Sun, 10 Jan 2016 22:40:43 GMT

@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 hate to say but the Arrival+ is the same as all other US cards and default is chip & signature with option to pin at unattended terminals but that is the same way even with the old fashioned swipe cards I had.

Re: Chip and signature experiences abroad?

elim — Sun, 10 Jan 2016 22:41:41 GMT

Is Samsung Pay exploding over there also?

Re: Chip and signature experiences abroad?

lg8302ch — Sun, 10 Jan 2016 22:51:54 GMT

@elim wrote:
Is Samsung Pay exploding over there also?

Really not sure. in Switzerland it is like 80% Apple mobile phones but there is not a single card issuer here ready for Apple Pay. But the wonderful part is that 99% of the terminals are contactless ready and like this you can combine the best of the two worlds The US has the cards and Europe the terminals and it works great.

Re: Chip and signature experiences abroad?

Anonymous — Mon, 11 Jan 2016 21:10:12 GMT

Greetings,

I just came back from Greece this past Chritmas and all my cards have the chip technology embedded into the card. I absolutley had NO problems whatsoever. When I made a purchase I told them that the chip is in the card and when they ran the card it was approved. They were impressed with this and wanted to know how to get that on their credit cards. The only time I was asked for a pitcher I.D. was when the girl was confused and simply showed it to her and she accepted it. I know for a fact that it works for Visa's, AMEX, and MasterCard. I even was able to purchase some merchandise with my AMEX when I was flying on British Airways over the Atlantic Ocean on the return trip. I basically had no problems with Chip and signature experience abroad. Hope this helps. Enjoy what remains of your day.

Re: Chip and signature experiences abroad?

Anonymous — Mon, 11 Jan 2016 21:50:51 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Greetings,

I just came back from Greece this past Chritmas and all my cards have the chip technology embedded into the card. I absolutley had NO problems whatsoever. When I made a purchase I told them that the chip is in the card and when they ran the card it was approved. They were impressed with this and wanted to know how to get that on their credit cards. The only time I was asked for a pitcher I.D. was when the girl was confused and simply showed it to her and she accepted it. I know for a fact that it works for Visa's, AMEX, and MasterCard. I even was able to purchase some merchandise with my AMEX when I was flying on British Airways over the Atlantic Ocean on the return trip. I basically had no problems with Chip and signature experience abroad. Hope this helps. Enjoy what remains of your day.

Right, but this is where chip&pin isn't established, and then you expect things to work (as swipe if nothing else). The problem elsewhere is where chip&pin is the norm, and US cards don't perform as expected.

Re: Chip and signature experiences abroad?

Anonymous — Mon, 11 Jan 2016 22:54:14 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Greetings,

I just came back from Greece this past Chritmas and all my cards have the chip technology embedded into the card. I absolutley had NO problems whatsoever. When I made a purchase I told them that the chip is in the card and when they ran the card it was approved. They were impressed with this and wanted to know how to get that on their credit cards. The only time I was asked for a pitcher I.D. was when the girl was confused and simply showed it to her and she accepted it. I know for a fact that it works for Visa's, AMEX, and MasterCard. I even was able to purchase some merchandise with my AMEX when I was flying on British Airways over the Atlantic Ocean on the return trip. I basically had no problems with Chip and signature experience abroad. Hope this helps. Enjoy what remains of your day.
Right, but this is where chip&pin isn't established, and then you expect things to work (as swipe if nothing else). The problem elsewhere is where chip&pin is the norm, and US cards don't perform as expected.

Also I'm pretty sure chip is prevalent in Greece, seeing as it's in Europe. I'm surprised at the level of Visa/MC acceptance in some of the European countries though--I remember hearing that a fair number of places in southern Europe were local debit card/cash only before.

Re: Chip and signature experiences abroad?

Anonymous — Wed, 13 Jan 2016 21:47:02 GMT

Was in Iceland for Christmas. Chip+signature cards were accepted everywhere. I used my Venture card mostly because of the no foreign transaction fees. Even the gas stations accepted the pin I setup for cash advances. Only at one place did I have to get my Barclay's chip+pin card and eat the FTF when it denied my cap one chip+signature cards.