US Credit Card - Do I need to get a PIN?

If you're able to get a PIN for your credit card, it will nearly always be just for obtaining cash advances at ATMs. I assume that's not your intention. There are now a few US credit cards that are PIN-priority, which as I understand it means they work like European credit cards, so you'll be asked to enter your PIN (rather than sign a piece of paper) for purchases above a certain amount.

It's really unusual to have a problem with a US signature credit card in Europe these days. It has happened to me two times since 2015 over the course of about 30 months in Europe. If your credit-card company offers PIN-priority credit cards, by all means go ahead and ask for one, but I wouldn't worry about it if the company says that's not an option.

Most likely, you can not get a PIN for purchase verification with the US card you have. You can get a PIN, as mentioned above, for a cash withdrawal (Cash Advance) at an ATM, not bad to have as a backup, but unlikely you will use it, if you do, know your card terms.

One thing to verify though, is that your card is Contactless capable. It will have a symbol something like a Wi-Fi symbol on it. If it does not, call your card company and see if you can get one. The vast majority of purchases under 100 GBP and 50 euro, can be done by contactless, tap and go. In fact merchants prefer tap to inserting the card (I assume they pay a slightly lower fee). You can also do the same with your phone (or watch) if you have Apple/Google Pay.

Otherwise, if you use your chip card, a slip will be printed out for you to sign, it works at any manned point of sale, you may only run into issues at unmanned kiosks, like ticket machines, gas pumps, some toll collections, etc.

I needed a PIN for my credit card when buying gas at an unmanned station in Sicily. Knowing mine was a lifesaver!

That's a good point. Paying for highway tolls and gas at unattended booths/pumps can be a problem. I tend not to think about that because I never rent a car in Europe.

I have a PIN but haven’t needed it In about 15 years. Everything has been contactless or insert and sign.

@AbbyO - I’ve never been able to get any of my cards to work at unmanned fuel pumps, so glad you had success.

the easiest is to use touch pay like apple pay which has built in security and can be used most places. For example in the metro you can use a US chip/sig card without pin for up to about 75 Euro on the machines. But if you need a monthly pass for 85, then the touch pay works fine and the credit card doesn't. Most machines will take the US card, you just ignore the request for the pin and proceed.

Anywhere there is a person managing the interaction the chip/sig card is fine. The difficult case as noted is gas pumps if they don't have touch pay; so you need to seek out gas stations on the high ways that are manned.

Thanks for all the advice. Found out one of my cards was already chip and pin ready, so all I had to do was pick a PIN on the site.
So I have one card that I know has PIN,

Someone mentioned the need for a PIN for a credit card for use at an ATM. If a credit card is used at an ATM, it's usually considered a "cash advance" and carries obscene interest rates and charges. If you must use an ATM, be sure it is a debit card. You might incur some fees, but nothing like using a credit card.

I have not been asked for a PIN when using my credit cards in Europe, and I've traveled at least annually for the past 7 years. I've used them at toll booths in France and Ireland with no difficulty. It's interesting to read about places where a PIN is needed! Hope I don't find myself there with no options at hand.

I've never NOT been asked for a pin -- you are for example expected to punch it in in restaurants on the hand held device or enter it on machines in the metro. In the restaurant, you just make the shove card in motion with the card and they will turn the device around for you to enter the card and sign. On metro machines you just ignore the request.

Likewise I have never been asked for a pin except for self-serve gas stations and other, non-manned kiosks (train tickets, etc.).

Maybe vendors are noticing that you are Americans and so just give you the slip to sign or machine to sign rather than presenting it the other way round to put your pin in.

This is my understanding of the situation:

Card terminals know whether the card inserted or tapped is a PIN-priority card (like Europeans have) or not.

There are some PIN-priority credit cards being issued to US customers. If you have one of those, you'll be asked for a PIN on some larger purchases. If you do not have a PIN-priority card (even if you have been given a PIN to use in case you want to get a cash advance sometime), you will not be asked for a PIN. On purchases above a certain level, you'll be asked to sign a receipt. If you're really unlucky, you'll be in an off-the-beaten-path store or restaurant that either has an ancient terminal or hasn't updated its software recently and cannot print out a receipt for you to sign. In that case, you'll be off looking for an ATM if you don't have sufficient cash with you.

I've never NOT been asked for a pin -- you are for example expected to punch it in in restaurants on the hand held device or enter it on machines in the metro. In the restaurant

Interesting that our experiences should be so entirely different.

That would be because you have different types of credit cards.

Based on last summer's trip with 3 credit cards, none of which had offered me a PIN when I took them out and I was remiss in not getting it then, I contacted these companies and now have a PIN of my own choice (ie, not an assigned one) for any credit card I take to Europe. Whether it is needed or not over there, doesn't matter.

There are very few banks in the US issuing chip & PIN credit cards. Almost all US bank issued credit cards are chip & signature. If a chip & signature card is issued with a PIN, the PIN is only needed for ATM cash withdrawals, something you really would not want to do. It has no other purpose.

When using a chip & signature card at a sales kiosk and you are asked for a PIN, you can use your ATM PIN, enter any 4 digits you like, or do nothing. It makes no difference, as ultimately what you enter has nothing to do with the success of your transaction, even if you enter nothing. Transaction acceptance rules are setup by your card issuing bank, and most valid chip & signature cards will now be accepted almost everywhere in France, PIN or no PIN.

Just to add on to what Tocard said, many on here who have a PIN for their credit card, then are never prompted to use it in a manned transaction, do not have a PIN for what you think you do.

First the good news: Since the growth of contactless during the pandemic, most travelers can use tap-to-pay, even at updated unmanned kiosks, with never having to enter a PIN, for transactions of up to 50 EUR or 100 GBP. You can tap for higher amounts, it may go through, or you may be asked to insert your card and a slip printed. If you have Apple/Google Pay, then amounts will be higher.

Anyplace else you go, for larger amounts, like your hotel or a restaurant, they present the POS unit, you insert, a paper slip prints out. In some stores, you may confuse the younger sales help, but one of their POS units should be able to print a slip. Run into someone at a market that only has a reader device, or an unmanned kiosk not updated to contactless, then you may run into problems with no PIN for sales.

Sometimes when prompted for a pin, especially for low Dollar amounts, punching in your PIN for Cash Withdrawal you were issued, or any random 4 digit number, will also allow the transaction to proceed, but it is not actually verifying the transaction. But mostly, if you are not asked for a PIN, it is because the terminal knows you do not have one.

I do have a card that is Chip and PIN, the UNFCU Visa Elite, it is PIN priority. So when I am in Europe (or the US) and I insert my card (or Tap) for a higher amount, I am prompted to punch in my PIN as a security measure. I have never had an issue with the card, used it in manned, unmanned, and online transactions flawlessly. Online (like for train tickets and entrance fees) I often get a 3D or two factor ID code to enter to verify the transaction.

You may also have a card (Like one of the USAA cards) that has a PIN for transactions, but in the EMV/CVM hierarchy of methods, Signature is first, with PIN second, so for higher Dollar transactions at a manned transaction, you still get a slip to sign, at an unmanned kiosk, you are prompted for the PIN

If you want to know what your card allows, you can look for your card here: https://www.spotterswiki.com/emv/cardsearch.php it shows the EMV/CVM ranking for nearly every US card. If your card does not mention PIN in the CVM column, your PIN is just for Cash Advance.