Chip and Pin - USAA

[Anonymous]

FYI for international travellers out there...USAA will now outfit any Mastercard with Chip and Pin Technology upon request.  The representative said their debit cards will be outfitted with them starting in the spring and he believes their AMEX and Visa cards will follow suit as well.  They are sending me a chip and pin version of my existing Mastercard presently.  Note I am not in the military (my father was) so this is available to anyone who wants a card that will work overseas. 

[MissMoni223]

Thanks for sharing!!!

[yfan]

USAA credit cards do have an FTF - though at 1%, it's a lot less than the standard.

[alvon123]

thanks for the info

[haiti222]

Also, since April, USAA has been issuing Chip and Signature priority cards, not Chip and Pin as they did previously. See flyertalk.com for all the details. UNFCU and Diner's Club are the only true Chip and PIN cards being issued in the US at this time. This has a bearing on certain unattended kiosks, toll roads, automatic gas pumps, and such in Europe. 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the updated information!

[Anonymous]

That's not what the CSR told me - they said it is now true chip and pin cards.  I guess they needed to make it so for military folks.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

That's not what the CSR told me - they said it is now true chip and pin cards.  I guess they needed to make it so for military folks.

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I think it depends on what "true chip&pin" means!  So long as they have a PIN, they can work at unattended places and could therefore be called "true", but the pain is signature priority

[Anonymous]

Meaning that, given a choice, they make you sign?  That may be right; but I asked the guy specifically if the card would work at the kiosks where you have to have a pin, and he said yes.  As long as it will work everywhere, I won't mind giving a sig if I have to do so. 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Meaning that, given a choice, they make you sign?  That may be right; but I asked the guy specifically if the card would work at the kiosks where you have to have a pin, and he said yes.  As long as it will work everywhere, I won't mind giving a sig if I have to do so. 

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Right, unless PIN is mandated (because the POS is unattended, or just anyway) sig priority cards will produce a signature slip.   That's not a hassle in itself of course, it's just that it is very unusual for many sales people, and they may not know what to do, slowing up the line.   In my first experience of this, at a supermarket in suburban North London (Whetstone Waitrose to be precise!) none of the staff had a pen, and they had to hunt around for one so that I could sign (no screen signing).  Next time they gave me both copies of the signature slip to keep.   When 99.99% of customers are using chip&pin, anything else slows things down.

I guess places that see lots of Americans will be more aware, but it is at least a little annoying elsewhere, and I would much rather enter a PIN.   Just like we do at ATMs or debit cards.....