Chip and Signature

Maybe. According to others.

USAA Master card. According to me.

Our Chase Chip & signature card has given us mixed results, working in some machines and not others in Spain and Italy. Ours charges no foreign transaction fees and is working for us so far, but if you want true chip & pin usability, then definitely get one of those actual chip & pin cards.

I've been using my Chase chip and signature card for a couple of years now and never had a problem till the other day at the train station in Santa Maria Ligure. The ticket machine asked for a pin. But that's the only time that has occurred. I've used it at various train station ticket machines in several countries.

The new chase sapphire card is a chip and pin visa. No international transaction fees but does charge a fee if you use it like an ATM which it considers a cash advance. However Charles Schwab offers an ATM which has not ATM fees and can be opened without a minimum balance. They refund any ATM charges to you on your bill. With both cards you should be great

This doesn't answer the question, but we just returned from our first trip since we got Chip-and-PIN Visa cards from State Department Federal Credit Union. To my surprise, every time the card was inserted into the "chip" reading P.O.S. terminal in England and in Italy, the transaction produced a paper slip which I had to sign with a pen. When I tried a 5 Pound "top-up" of my Oyster Card in a vending machine (just to see what happened), I wasn't prompted for a PIN, and I didn't, naturally, sign anything at a wall-mounted machine.

When I called SDFCU upon our return, the phone rep didn't have to ask for a supervisor. She had this answer ready: Sometimes the vendor has the option to make a chip and signature transaction, and does so. It may be possible to ask for a PIN transaction in advance. She told me (I cannot evaluate her statement at this time!) that their card is a true Chip-and-PIN card.

I'm not contradicting anyone or making some sort of blind-faith statement of what is the truth. I'm just reporting what actually happened to me this month.

Joh,

welcome.

Ive been doing some reading on the subject since i only have one credit card to my name and think i should have a 2nd just in case.

To answer your question and from what I've read your Chip and Signature (CnS) card "Should" work in a ticket machine.

Just to give you some info regarding our new cards. the USA is resisting (if i can call it that) going to a strictly Chip and Pin (CnP) card. Some of the reasons is that the big bankers say "Americans love to sign things" (i think this shows how out of touch they are) and some others (more realistic) is that our system is based on real time transactions and the infrastructure is in place for that system. Also (anther more realistic) response is that the banks "eat" the cost of fraud by getting tax breaks and so forth. (my opinion is that where theres $$$ to be made either by profits or tax breaks the banks are first in line).

the CnP system is suppose to move the liability from Banks to merchants.

Back to your card. most of OUR chip cards have 3 order of "verification". I didnt see who makes this decision, but from what I've read the order is:

1. CnS
2. ?
3. CnP

im not sure if the EU cards have the same options of "verification" or not.

What its suppose to come down to is that if there is a person behind that card reader. If there is a person manning that card reader as in a restaurant, then your card will default to a CnS. If you are out in the boonies trying to buy gas at an unmanned station, then the your card should act as a CnP. Note that again, from what i read, people have had different results.

if you want to read about 7 years worth of posts, let me know. I think its real interesting to see how things are changing.

just so you know, about the liability of the merchant using CnS cards, there were some people reporting that some merchants would NOT take their card since they felt a signature would open them up to a loss if the card was stolen.

to answer your CnP card question, at this time there is only ONE true CnP card according to that article. also there is a spreadsheet with cards, transaction fees and such linked to that thread.

for me. I like to experiment, so I'm going to get the one (at this time) true CnP card and take it with me this fall and give it a good test run.

happy trails.

I used a chip and signature card for pizza in Sofia, Bulgaria last week. They were confused by fhe card an insisted I enter a pin......so I entered 4 random numbers and the machine spit out a receipt and the sale was completed. Amazing

The feedback this forum has gotten in the past is that some machines will work with a chip & sig card and some will not. It seems to depend on the machine and how it conducts the transactions. Always worth a try and works far more often than with just a magnetic card. Also, all cards can have a PIN, you just sometimes have to ask for it. Even magnetic cards. But even with a PIN, the chip & sig card still might not work in certain machines.

All chip cards have a magnetic strip too, otherwise Europeans couldn't use their cards here.

And most cars still have raised numbers to allow really old fashioned swipe and sign a carbon copy...