topic Re: Using cards in Europe in Credit Cards

Using cards in Europe

fm92555 — Tue, 04 Jul 2023 15:22:11 GMT

Just to add to the body of knowledge.

Went to Denmark for a week. Took along AMEX, Apple, X1 and a DCU debit card.

Amex is not widely taken accept by the larger retailers and stores. With the Apple card I had to insert the card every time for a purchase (this could just be my card) but was never asked for a pin. X1 I just tapped and went on my way. Never a problem.

I never had the need to use my debit card or to get cash and never was I asked for any pin#.

On both my Apple and X1 I have the notifications set to send a text whenever a purchase is made. For both cards I immediately received a text in the U.S. dollar amount I was being charged. So I knew before walking out the door what the cost was in dollars.

Re: Using cards in Europe

FireMedic1 — Mon, 10 Jul 2023 09:31:54 GMT

Thanks for providing your DP's. Hope you had fun.

Re: Using cards in Europe

firefox100 — Thu, 13 Jul 2023 01:07:25 GMT

The Apple card does not have the wirles connection it does not have tap and go turned on, they want you to use the apple walwallet on your phone.

Re: Using cards in Europe

citymunky — Thu, 13 Jul 2023 01:25:28 GMT

Generally from my travels to Europe, Asia, Africa and the Caribbean, VISA card are universal accepted petty much everywhere, followed closely by MasterCard. AMEX and Discover are not popular outside the states.

Also in middle eastern Asia I noticed most stores and restaurants use a hand holder teller with the most popular way to pay with CC is the Tap (NFC). If I had a card that I had to insert to used the chip, it seemed like I single handly ruined the customer checkout flow by slowing down the cashier.

Re: Using cards in Europe

Anonymous — Thu, 13 Jul 2023 11:51:20 GMT

Just back from the UK and one thing I noticed that I don't remember before: at some supermarkets the card reader has a banner pushing Apple Pay "avoid the contactless limits" (The limit on contactless is 100 GBP) Mobile payments have been working there for ages (started using Samsung Pay there in 2019) so it's not a technology thing, presumably Apple is paying to grow Apple Pay usage.

Re: Using cards in Europe

iced — Thu, 13 Jul 2023 17:52:14 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Just back from the UK and one thing I noticed that I don't remember before: at some supermarkets the card reader has a banner pushing Apple Pay "avoid the contactless limits" (The limit on contactless is 100 GBP) Mobile payments have been working there for ages (started using Samsung Pay there in 2019) so it's not a technology thing, presumably Apple is paying to grow Apple Pay usage.

Or its a security thing. The * Pay technology is more secure than RFID contactless chips, so I wouldn't be surprised if some pay systems may limit the transaction size with the less secure technology.

Re: Using cards in Europe

Anonymous — Thu, 13 Jul 2023 21:11:16 GMT

@iced wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Just back from the UK and one thing I noticed that I don't remember before: at some supermarkets the card reader has a banner pushing Apple Pay "avoid the contactless limits" (The limit on contactless is 100 GBP) Mobile payments have been working there for ages (started using Samsung Pay there in 2019) so it's not a technology thing, presumably Apple is paying to grow Apple Pay usage.

Or its a security thing. The * Pay technology is more secure than RFID contactless chips, so I wouldn't be surprised if some pay systems may limit the transaction size with the less secure technology.

Well, as I said, contactless is limited to 100 GBP. But the "ad" is specifically for Apple rather than secure mobile pay in general, hence my suspicion that Apple is putting some money in!

And as I reported here a while back, at the same supermarket chain my Samsung Pay also hit a store-imposed limit of 250GBP

so while it may overcome the low contactless limit, it's not exactly up to issuer approved limit!

Re: Using cards in Europe

NoHardLimits — Thu, 13 Jul 2023 23:23:39 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@iced wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Just back from the UK and one thing I noticed that I don't remember before: at some supermarkets the card reader has a banner pushing Apple Pay "avoid the contactless limits" (The limit on contactless is 100 GBP) Mobile payments have been working there for ages (started using Samsung Pay there in 2019) so it's not a technology thing, presumably Apple is paying to grow Apple Pay usage.

Or its a security thing. The * Pay technology is more secure than RFID contactless chips, so I wouldn't be surprised if some pay systems may limit the transaction size with the less secure technology.
Well, as I said, contactless is limited to 100 GBP. But the "ad" is specifically for Apple rather than secure mobile pay in general, hence my suspicion that Apple is putting some money in!

And as I reported here a while back, at the same supermarket chain my Samsung Pay also hit a store-imposed limit of 250GBP
so while it may overcome the low contactless limit, it's not exactly up to issuer approved limit!

Thanks for the heads up @Anonymous. I'll be travelling to the UK later this year and was planning to mainly use Altitude Reserve via Google Pay. Will also have SavorOne with a chip as backup.