We'll be in France for a few weeks this fall and I've wondered if I could get a prepaid chip and pin card for most expenses. We've only had a few occasions where our chip and signature was a problem, but I'd like to avoid even those situations if I could. Has anyone done this? Is it a reasonable solution?
Thanks,
Harry
You can look, but you may need to do some work to determine if the PIN is just for use at an ATM for cash, or can be used for transactions. Unfortunately the random customer service rep you get ahold of won't know, or just tell you something from a script. Given the very, very few credit cards in the US that offer a PIN for transactions, I would be surprised if the prepaid cards offer one. Maybe one that is more of a debit card might work at POS devices, a question to ask.
Of course the drawbacks of prepaid cards is you pay to load them, pay to use them, then pay to get any unused money back, and they determine any exchange rates.
One thing in your favor now, with the pandemic, contactless payment, with your card or phone has taken off in Europe, using contactless for purchases negates the need for a PIN for purchases up to 50 euro, maybe higher in some places, I know the UK is 100 GBP. Some kiosks and unmanned POS may not yet accept contactless yet, since machines needed to be upgraded. Your credit card will have a wi-fi looking symbol for contactless.
Open a Charles Schwab online checking or savings account which gives pretty good interest and charges nothing anywhere for ATM or debit card use.
Or just use your regular working credit card and pay off the balance right away upon return. Contactless pay has basically rendered chip and PIN moot, I only had an issue with that in a taxi going to CDG.
Prepaid cards have a lot of hidden fees, particularly when you spend in a currency other than that of the card prepayments.
Contactless is fine, but the transactions are generally limited to 50€, and you may still need to sign a receipt. The only real advantage I find to contactless is that you don’t touch anything, which is good, but contactless does not solve the problem of a card not being accepted for amounts greater than its default value.
If you want a card that is accepted everywhere, a chip & PIN card (PIN for transaction authentication, not ATM withdrawals) generally will do just that. However, outside a few credit union offerings or maybe Charles Swab, it is almost impossible to find one in the USA.
I went through the same thought process before my trip in June and I could not get a satisfactory answer from any company that their card would 100% work as a chip and pin card in France. I ended up just chancing it on my Chase Visa working most of the time, planning gas fill ups in advance during times when an attendant would be around, and then having cash plus (hopefully) the grace of strangers if there was a problem. There was only one occasion at a single metro station in Paris (Concorde) where I was unable to use my Visa. Even with automated machines, between contactless pay or just hitting enter on the keypad when asked for a pin, there was almost always a way to make my card work (including gas stations, toll booths, multiple metro stations, etc.).
I was buying Metro tickets at Gare de l'Est using a standard US credit card, it came to a point where it wanted my PIN. As I stood wondering what to do the transaction just kept going and completed itself. YMMV, of course.
I also used my "regular" credit cards all over Paris and Strasbourg with no problem, it's funny how businesses find ways to accept your money.
