PIN for credit cards - still need in Europe?

No. Contactless payment has mostly taken the place of PINs and Signatures, especially for the smaller, unmanned transactions like train tickets where Americans found themselves stuck without PINs. Larger transactions may still require you to sign the slip, but that would almost certainly be staffed.

I agree with Scudder. I almost exclusively used ApplePay in Sept/Oct in Italy.

I've never rented a car in Europe but was that where CC PINs were needed?

Otherwise, I've never needed a PIN for a CC transaction even before contactless. I've traveled 3 times since the pandemic and a number of times before lockdown.

Need a PIN? no. Better to have one? Yes. Can you get one for your card? Not likely, you would need a different credit card.

Basically, the PIN is an authorization, just like you signing something when you use your card in the US. However, most cards allow transactions up to a certain Dollar amount with no authorization, and Europe strongly implemented Contactless Pay due to the pandemic, which also does not require a PIN or Signed authorization for smaller amounts (50 euro in many cases, sometimes more, 100 GBP in the UK. You could probably tap your way through your trip using a card or phone.

If you need to insert your chip, if it is over the magic amount, a slip is printed out for you to sign.

The places you might have problems without a PIN card are at unmanned kiosks that are not contactless capable. These are usually for things like Gas, Tolls, and Tickets, but they may work for you if it is a low Dollar transaction.

I have one US credit card that has a PIN and could actually not get it to work on recent trip to Croatia and Slovenia in October, even though I'd used it in Europe before. But my other US cards worked fine just by tapping or inserting without any PIN e.g. at grocery stores. I don't recall even having to sign anything either (maybe once), which was new - three years earlier, I had to sign a receipt in most cases where I didn't use the PIN credit card.

You would certainly need a PIN for your inserted CCs, at least that's
the protocol for Canadian issued DCs and CCs. You would not require a
PIN while using Contactless Pay up to the allowed Tap limit.

But an American card inserted in Canada wouldn't need a pin, you would sign for the transaction. Same deal in Europe.

I needed to use my PIN number today as the contactless terminal didn’t work. I had to use it a couple of weeks ago too.

The U.K. contactless limit is £100 per transaction - it was €50 in France, Spain and Belgium earlier this year. Above that and you need to insert the card and use your PIN number. My U.K. cards have a 4 digit number.

I haven’t seen a machine to be able to sign instead for years other than an American paying by card at the museum in Bayeux in France earlier this year.

In recent trips to Switzerland and Austria, when i inserted my credit card, i had to sign a copy of the receipt. No pin was requested/needed.

I have a pin first credit card. This is not all that common United States. You may have a credit card with a pin, but mine works just like a debit card. For example, if I put it in at the gas station, I have to put the pin and it works great in Europe, and I did use it a lot on my last trip. I also did use a contactless payment a lot. I do not pay with Apple pay simply because I’m not really, that technologically savvy.

We were in Italy, The Netherlands, London and Spain for a month earlier this year. Less than 10 transactions were cash; the rest were US credit card and we never used a PIN. Oddly enough, one grocery store in London printed a receipt and had us sign; everywhere else was tap without a PIN.

Since you are from New Hampshire, as in the USA, more than likely your credit card issuer does not offer a pin for charging. Not to worry.

You've already been told about contactless. Make sure your cards have this. If you don't use contactless, when you insert your credit card into the machine, a slip will come out that you have to sign.

That's all. Nice and simple.

By the way, many of the people answering here are from outside the U.S. where they are issued pins. Why don't US banks offer pins? That's one of those unanswered questions of life.

My bank does.

In Italy and the UK this fall and also in 2021, used our Visa credit cards and never needed a PIN. We were occasionally asked to sign, but not most of the time. Tap-to-Pay contactless was much more prevalent in 2022 than it was in 2021, so more and more merchants are getting the newer devices, it seems.

Although our credit cards offer having a PIN (mostly for use at an ATM, I imagine), and I set one up for each, I’ve never needed to enter one. I only withdraw ATM cash using a debit card.

Debit card at ATM, that’s another story. I use (and want) a PIN for that.

The PIN offered by U.S. banks for their credit cards is usually for cash advances at an ATM machine. Although, you are better off with a debit card.

Actually, last night clothes shopping in a european mall I tapped my card and it asked for the pin, and I had to sign on top of that. First time I have used my pin in years; but did happen. Signing about one in 20 times and usually only the really big purchases, but I have made big purchases where it wasnt required.... and little purchases where it was ... so no assurances either way. I may run into more of this sort of thing because most of my purchases are out of the tourist zones ...

Actually, last night clothes shopping in a european mall I tapped my card and it asked for the pin

My experiences are different from most on here, since I do have a credit card with PIN priority.

In Spain, I would tap, and on higher euro purchases, I would be required to put in a PIN. Whether a chip and sign card would need to sign? I can't say. The authorization schemes (Cardholder Verification Methods or CVM) are multiple and dependent on your card issuer, the merchant and their processor, and governmental regulations, so different people with different cards will get different results.

I do expect that as the pandemic wanes, some of the measures to loosen non-contact, non-authorized purchases will scale back out of fraud concerns. Maybe the one method benefiting will be Device-Non-Contact, like a phone, since that is supposed to include some type of authentication in the process (bio-metric or pin to operate the phone and app)

Why don't US banks offer pins? That's one of those unanswered questions of life.

I used to get PINs with new credits card but haven't gotten one in a long time. I just read this interesting article about the history of credit cards and why they don't issue PINs in the US (most of them). https://budgeting.thenest.com/credit-cards-dont-pins-31179.html

My US bank will assign a pin when asked, I asked. No reason not to and it paid off with a new sweater and skivvies last night.

That reminds me, I was in Romania about a dozen years ago, no tap card, no pin. The machined demanded a pin. I put in four random numbers and wala, I had new tennies.

This past summer I spent a total of 5 weeks in the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Wales and a few hours at Heathrow enroute to Dublin and one night at a Heathrow hotel before my flight home.

I have credit cards from 2 different credit unions. Both have pins that I have never used because I use debit cards to get cash in Europe. However, compared to my last trip in 2019, cash was hardly needed this year. I only used the few € and £ I got for coin-operated laundromats, round-up tips and tips for housekeeping staff.

Both CCs are tap cards. Their tap limits are the same as their charging limits. I tapped my way across the Republic of Ireland in € and the UK in £. I only had to sign once and that was at my 1st hotel in Dublin because the bill was over the hotel's limit for charging an American card without a signature. They used the CC info I'd provided when I made the reservation, but I still had to sign.

I haven't graduated to using my phone to pay yet, but I found tapping to pay very convenient -- just like at home. As I mentioned on another thread, I was able to tap to pay at both small and large restaurants, at shops and grocery stores, in taxis, on local buses, for train tickets and at tourist sites.

Although some might say that tap and pay (or other forms of contactless paying) are too easy, my experience was that it made the whole trip much more enjoyable than having to sign for every purchase.

As an American who has been living in Canada for the past 18 years, I'm baffled at the US's reluctance to get on board with PIN cards since it seems to be much more secure. I remember traveling to the UK in 2007 and having issues with a credit card that wasn't PIN-enabled. Canada moved to PIN cards soon after that. We actually have the most issues with our cards traveling to the US (which we do all the time to visit my family) - our cards require us to put in a PIN over a certain $ amount and the card readers often are either programmed to automatically bypass the PIN requirement or the clerk bypasses it without asking us - both of which cause our card to be declined. It's such a hassle. No issues traveling to Europe at all. Whenever my dad (American) comes to visit us in Canada, he always comments on how much nicer it is to pay by a credit card in a restaurant in Canada since they bring the card reader right to your table and the credit card never leaves you, where in most places in the US they still take your credit card away to go scan. We have started to see that a bit in the US now, but it's been commonplace in Canada for over 10 years.

Yes, a PIN is still required for credit card transactions in Europe. :)

For future potential readers (on this resurrection of an somewhat old post - sorry, Lois), I do have to disagree with nitronetmarelyn’s post. While a pin may randomly be required (or certain specific circumstances) , I haven’t been asked for one for a credit card transaction in years for any of my four cards - maybe ever. For debit card transactions, yes. But it doesn’t hurt to get a pin just in case.

For future potential readers

Probably also worth noting that most US cards cannot use a PIN for Purchases, if you were issued a PIN, it is for use at an ATM only to get cash. As most people on here have stated, they have not been asked for a PIN, well, of course you would not if your card does not have that option, and Signature or No Verification is accepted by the merchants point of sale device. Like I mentioned above, the only places you will run into needing a PIN would be an unmanned kiosk that does not accept a No Verification transaction. You may however, if you get off the tourist path, run into a POS device that does not have the capability to print a slip for you to sign. Sometimes they have to go get a different device, or your card is just declined.

I have 2 mastercards from Canadian banks. Both are chipped and can be used for tapping. I also have a PIN for both cards, if required. Prior to my trip to Spain, I contacted both Mastercard to let them know when I would be travelling. Both times, Mastercard advised me to make sure that I use my PIN for my first overseas transaction for security reasons. I told them that would depend on the vendor and their credit card machine. Sure enough, my first transactions were all on contactless machines with no PIN required. Fortunately, there were no issues with not using a pin.

Because there are no guarantees on any of this, put some cash in your pocket.

when I was in the Netherlands for the last several days, most places where I tapped my card - as I always do no matter where I am in Europe, home here in England or elsewhere on the Continent - I was asked for the PIN too. Small or large place, small or larger transaction.

Not in France, Luxembourg, or Germany in the week before. Not once, just like in the UK.

so, heads up....

In Belgium, we are asked for a PIN for transactions over € 50,00 - and I thought the same applied to some other countries (although the maximum allowed without PIN can be different). A PIN can also be requested when frequent transactions are done within a short time span. These are security measures to protect the cardholder against fraudulent use.