Credit card technology changes may affect your travel

IMO this is nothing new. I've been going to Europe for years, and American magnetic-stripe cards have never worked in European automated credit card terminals such as pay-at-the-pump gas pumps or automated highway toll lanes. But all you have to do is hand your card to the human attendant, and you're good to go.

After all, what European merchant in his right mind is going to refuse American credit cards?

We ran into this in England last year but it wasn't a problem. The devices in the shops and also the handheld wireless devices accommodated both the chip and pin and our American credit cards. Each device had a swipe slot as well as the means to read the chip and pin cards.

"IMO this is nothing new."

Could be, but it's the first I've heard of it. I've been to Europe several times in recent years and haven't had a problem, so maybe it's not that big of a deal. Still, something to be aware of.

"After all, what European merchant in his right mind is going to refuse American credit cards?"

I think small operations, especially in rural areas, might have an issue. According to the article, that's where most of the problems have been. Of course, many of them require cash only anyway, in which case it doesn't matter what technology your card is built on.

There are apparently some vendor kiosks that take only credit card payment (and require the chip and PIN approach).

Bob,

"I would ask your banks why they are not upgrading to cards with chips..."

AFAIK, none of the U.S. Banks will be adopting "chip & PIN" technology, precisely for the reason mentioned - COST. In the few press releases I've seen, they also don't feel the technology is as secure as it should be so they're waiting for something better.

I'm not sure I agree with their logic though. "Chip & PIN" technology seems to be good enough and secure enough for the rest of the world, including Europe which is usually on the "leading edge" of this type of technology.

Cheers!

It is old news and has even been discussed in threads here before. But obviously news outlets continue to run the story and so it is good to remind folks that their credit cards will, in fact, work in Europe. One thing not mentioned in this thread is that most American CCs do or can have a PIN number. That can be helpful with the handheld scanners, negating a need for a paper slip and signature. But even with a PIN, they still can't be used in an automated machine.

I read the article and then read all the posts here. I'm now ok with the situation. As long as I can get cash a bank ATM's I will be ok. Thanks for all the heads up though.

I would ask your banks why they are not upgrading to cards with chips...

My guess is they don't want to undertake the expense of switching out everyone's cards? Wouldn't surprise me.

to be fair, while this may be old news, the reality of it was news to me when we arrived at gare du nord on the eurostar from london and could not buy a metro ticket. only one machine was working (and there was a crazy long line for the actual booth--CRAZY long) and the machine would only take cards--no cash (which we'd spent a considerable amount of time getting and then cashing in for smaller coins by buying multiple sodas we didn't want)but not OUR cards. there was NO ONE to help--some teenager with an official looking outfit came and tried to fix the one machine at one point, but nothing came of it. we ended up standing in line for a taxi for an hour and a half. this was ALL due to the fact that we had NO idea that our cards would not work at this crucial time. additionally, we planned to use credit for most of our during-trip spending, but we've found that many places don't/can't take non EU cards. so we've almost depeleted our cash supply. i've already discussed with my husband how this fact should be printed in REALLY BIG LETTERS on the cover of all european travel guides.

I would ask our European & Canadian friends this: isn't it true that your chip-and-pin cards also have a magnetic stripe, so that you can use them when you travel to non-chip-and-pin countries such as the U.S.?

"we've found that many places don't/can't take non EU cards."

According to Visa & Mastercard (I called them both), any merchant that displays their logos HAS to have the ability to accept ANY Visa or Mastercard, regardless of country of origin, chip-and-pin or not. If a clerk won't accept your card, you're supposed to ask for a manager.

To Tom in Chicago-- in June my chip and pin Visa was rejected by several retailers in Frankenmuth Michigan. It worked fine in France though.

"...in June my chip and pin Visa was rejected by several retailers in Frankenmuth Michigan. It worked fine in France though."

Andrea, that is because France has the technology to accept chip and pin; the US doesn't.

Tom,

"isn't it true that your chip-and-pin cards also have a magnetic stripe, so that you can use them when you travel to non-chip-and-pin countries such as the U.S.?"

Yes, that's true. Both my "chip & PIN" VISA card and my Bank Debit/ATM card are equipped with both a "chip" and a magnetic stripe. The Credit Union I deal with mostly will be rolling out their cards sometime this year (probably any day now).

I used the VISA card to purchase rail tickets both at Termini and FCO, and the machine didn't request a PIN so it was only reading the magnetic stripe. However, I've used that same card to buy tickets at CDG, and the PIN was necessary in that case. I also used it numerous times on my trip this year to pay Hotel & restaurant bills and almost without exception, the "chip & PIN" method was used.

The only time I had trouble with it was in a Hotel in Lucerne. The Clerk insisted on both "swiping" the card as well as inserting it into the machine. I tried to tell her that you're supposed to use one method or the other, but she said "this is the way I always do it".

The end result was that the credit card machine went into "boot mode", displaying the software version (dating from 2006) and re-initializing itself. After trying it half a dozen times, she finally resorted to using the "old fashioned method", the machine that runs the rollers back and forth over the card. Having trouble with a Bank in Switzerland really surprised me!

Tracy - are you aware that you can buy metro tickets at many - if not most - tabacs? If memory serves, I believe that the tabacs that sell tickets display a "metro" sign.

Tracy, it seems odd that you had so many problems trying to use your card. I've never had a merchant decline to accept my card or even seem confused about how to use it. But I'm sure it does happen on occasion. Is it possible you were trying to use it for small purchases? If so, then the merchants were just annoyed at losing money for such small purchases (studies have shown that many small credit card sales end up as a loss to merchants when profit margins are literally pennies).

As someone else mentioned, next time or for others, be insistent. The cards WILL work with swipe and sign or PIN numbers.

To Andrea in Ontario - if the merchants in Michigan displayed the Visa or Mastercard logo, your card should have been accepted regardless of its being chip-and-pin. At least this is what customer service at Visa and Mastercard told me.

As others have mentioned, I think the problem often has to do with inadequate training of sales clerks.

In a border state like Michigan, you'd think sales clerks would be totally used to Canadian credit cards.

Tracy, what travel guide are you using? The Rick Steves guide book says that you need coins for Metro ticket machines. It's also been discussed on this forum many, many times.

tracy here--we had coins. we found a cash machine, took out euros, found a place to buy soda, made change, stood in line...and the machine was not taking cash (a light was on stating this--in french--but i figured it out using context clues ie no one could make the damn machine work with cash, and darn near everyone was american, so we were all out of luck). so the ONLY way we could have bought metro tickets was with an EU credit card, which we obviously didn't have. and i've read LOTS on here about money belts and what kind of shoes to wear, and i've gotten LOTS of great advice about a great many useful things, but none of that could prepare me for how very many places our credit cards just do not work--or what to do when they don't (like when you need to get on the metro in london and it is early and/or a station without a booth and you don't have exact change that the machine wants...) and in france, there's no asking for a manager. no one cares when things don't work (probably my main culture shock issue with this trip, and the reason my husband's dream of moving here will never come true). today we had to pay for a guided tour at the opera garnier today with the last of our euros--and hit another atm on the way home. and yes, the sign on the window said 'visa', and no, neither of our vias cards worked.

I've never had a problem using my VISA cc or ATM card anywhere in Europe. Just got back from a month in Paris and had no problem anywhere.

Didn't try at ticket machines b/c I know they only take chip cards.

Never mind chip & pin, there are plenty of other ways that new technologies will affect your travel. I called American Express to alert them that I was going to Europe and didn't want them to block my account, and they alerted me to their "new service" in that they can / are automatically monitoring my credit history and spending record (and not just on Amex) and (quote) "would know" if I was traveling abroad even if I failed to inform them. You'll never have to tell us where you're going again, the rep suggested, because we'll already be aware!

@Tom--yes, now i am aware of that, and we also know which stations have ticket counters to buy carnets (we've gone through four in our week and a half here already!). but at the time, we'd just arrived from london at gare du nord, and were beyond overwhelmed, and had no idea of what else to do. so we stood in the taxi line with the hundreds of othere overwhelmed people. there really ought to be a better way. maybe that needs to be a thread? how to get from the eurostar to your apartment in paris without crying? ha ha ha...ha?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1250291/Chip-PIN-flaw-means-stolen-cards-used-security-code.html

I love the last line - "We believe that this complicated method will never present a real threat to our customers' cards".

Really?!? Have they NOT seen the intricate skimmers used at other terminals, like ATMs?!? The lengths people will go to in order to open a garage door from their car - and it's not THEIR garage?!?

Now, the Locals will be trying to look like the Tourists - wearing backpacks, standing at the ATM! LOL (black socks/white sandals, camera around the neck, water bottle)

I also read that researchers at Cambridge University reprogrammed a terminal to play Tetris to prove how badly designed the whole scheme is. Rut-ro!

Unfortunately, I think this problem will get worse. At first I thought that merchants would get used to sliding the magnetic stripe, like they were trained to do (and like they had done for years!). MC and VISA both say they constantly remind them of their obligation to do so. But on my last trip, two different people in two different places in Germany told me they were going to receive (within the month of my speaking with them) new terminals WITHOUT MAGNETIC STRIPE READERS. And there was no language barrier in our conversations. They would no longer be accepting non-chip-and-pin cards.

Great.

I hope Mr/Frau/Monsieur/Madam start twice-a-days at filling up those ATMs with cash; we're gonna be hitting them much harder than before...

But on my last trip, two different people in two different places in Germany told me they were going to receive (within the month of my speaking with them) new terminals WITHOUT MAGNETIC STRIPE READERS. They would no longer be accepting non-chip-and-pin cards.

These clerks are mistaken. One of the first countries to adopt chip&pin was Holland; they've had it for several years now. At first the only merchants that could physically accept magnetic strip cards were hotels; most all other merchants only had the hardware to read for chip cards. Nowadays the situation has completely reversed, most all merchants now have new hardware with two slots...one slot for chip cards the other for magnetic strip. So in my experience the situation has actually improved for those with strip cards. I don't think it's a stretch that the same hardware will be installed in other countries as well.

The rollout of "chip and pin" in Europe does seem puzzlingly haphazard. I was in Germany last year, and I didn't see very many places that had chip and pin, and in fact, the Germans tend to prefer cash in lots of places.

I have a Euro debit card from Citibank in Spain,and it expires end of September. It will be interesting to see if my new card is a chip and pin.

@Tyler - I'll bet 50 euro cents that your new card is chip-and-pin AND that it'll have a magnetic stripe too.

Michael,

I certainly hope so. These two people were fluent English speakers, owned their businesses, and were certain they would no longer be accepting magnetic cards. BUT, they hadn't actually gotten their hands on the new hand-held terminals, yet...And they were already using the hand-held 'dual readers' (c-n-p and mag)...They were certain they were losing the capability to read magnetic strips. Hopefully, they were sent some really bad legalese-info from their banks. Not that THAT ever happens...

As they are popular RS establishments, I'll be watching this website for any 'guidebook corrections'!

Unusable in some places? Yes, but this has been the case for some time. Many POU sales for some time have used the chip and pin system, but many still have accomodation for magnetic credit cards. I think the critical factor will be those services that cater to travellers, will continue to honor all forms if only for their own survival. Many of the places only accepting chips, are places, honestly, that you should use cash, and to use credit would incur a high fee.

Are you sure those pin and chip terminals don't have slots to read stripes as well...or that there's not a central terminal at the store/restaurant that can handle such transaction? Not being able to handle a striped card is a violation of the merchant's agreement with Visa and Mastercard.

Getting gas/petrol in the middle of the night can be important. Or even on a Sunday when there's no staff. Have had this issue in Tasmania but fortunately I had AUD$10 to get me to the next station that was staffed.

It's also been confirmed that some of the newest offline card readers used by merchants and restaurants in Europe DO NOT have a magnetic reader. You won't run into this much until businesses have a reason to upgrade their equipment.

I've also encountered a problem with the ticket windows for the train station at Amsterdam Schiphol - an electronic ticker said PIN required for card transactions and the agent at the window confirmed this.

I understand the huge hurdle for America - can't force merchants to buy new equipment - but you would think with so many travel-based affinity cards that one would issue chip & PIN type cards specifically for their traveling clientele - especially high revenue business travelers especially who go abroad several times a month if not more.

One can only hope. www.fairfx.com is a UK based pre-paid card issuer that gives chip & PIN cards. They've been hoping to enter the US market for some time now but just hasn't happened yet.

"It's also been confirmed that some of the newest offline card readers used by merchants and restaurants in Europe DO NOT have a magnetic reader."
Where has this been confirmed, and by whom? There is no logical reason for such a move to be made. Chip and pin cards are now becoming more common here in Canada....and EVERY merchant that upgrades their machines get one that reads both stripes and chips.

I've also encountered a problem with the ticket windows for the train station at Amsterdam Schiphol - an electronic ticker said PIN required for card transactions and the agent at the window confirmed this.

This sign means that Dutch Rail accepts magnetic strip cards, but a PIN is required to finalize the transaction instead of a signature. When you are issued a Credit Card you are automatically given a pin number for it. But since we rarely have to use it in the US most people don't bother remembering it....thus the "warning". It seems to be a new trend in Europe: We'll accept your old-fashioned magnetic strip card, but we'll need a pin instead of a useless signature.

"It's also been confirmed that some of the newest offline card readers used by merchants and restaurants in Europe DO NOT have a magnetic reader."

According to what I've read on the credit card websites, all the new terminals can handle magnetic stripe as well as chip-and-pin - just like Norm says is the case in Canada.

Some European sales clerks may not be familiar with magnetic stripe cards; according to Visa, if they just swipe the card they will see prompts on their screen telling them what to do.

I live in the U.K. and chip and pin cards are the norm here. Many common card terminals can only take chip and pin cards, although there may also be facilities in computerised cash registers which will handle magnetic cards.

The norm here is for customers to do everything themselves. You place your card in the card reader, and key in your pin when the machine tells you to. The shop assistant does not normally handle your card at all. The supermarket we use has self-scanners, and we also pay by card at a machine without needing to interact with a member of the shop staff at all.

Where there are ticket machines, parking meters, etc, a similar situation occurs. The customer inserts their card and keys in their pin. There is no member of staff available to help, and magnetic strips cards will not work at all.

In some shops and tourist locations, there may be many visitors from the U.S.A., and the staff will be aware of the need to handle cards differently. However, this is very much the exception. Most staff in shops, restaurants, etc will not be used to handling magnetic stripe cards.

I don't know what the situation is in other countries, but in the U.K. the card reading machines are not supplied by Visa or Mastercard but by the bank which actually handles card payments for the merchant.

When I was in Europe recently, I noticed two different types of credit card terminals.

The most common type was similar to the models we have here in Canada, with a slot in the end for the "chip & PIN" cards, as well as a slot at the side for "swiping" older magnetic stripe cards.

The other (and newer) type only had the slot on the end. When the card was inserted, a motorized mechanism pulled the entire card into the machine. When this occurred the magnetic stripe was being read, as well as the "chip". The machine determined which method of payment to use. Presumably, if the card was equipped with a "chip", it would default to that.

I did encounter one location in Switzerland that had an older credit card reader that couldn't handle "chips", but they had a second machine attached that was able to process the newer cards. At the time, I found it hard to believe that anywhere in Switzerland wouldn't have the most up-to-date banking equipment (go figure!).

Cheers!

To add another wrinkle to the growing chip-and-pin story, a friend of mine that works for UBS bank told me that Visa REQUIRES that ALL Visa chip-and-pin cards also have a magnetic stripe. The purpose is to insure continued acceptance everywhere - even in locations (like the U.S.) that have not adopted chip-and-pin.

Don't know if she's right, but it totally makes sense.

On last summer's and this year's trip from May-June 2010, I encountered no difficulties in having my Mastercard with its American magnetic swipe strip accepted in London, Vienna, Paris, Linz, Potsdam, Berlin, Fontainebleau, etc., whether paying at a B&B, restaurant, hotel, pub, hostel, paying for train station point to point tickets and reservations, at certain ticket machines, Pension, train station book stores in Germany, museums, as long as no surcharge for using the card was demanded. This applies to ATM cash withdrawals too...no problems.

I had read on this helpsite about PIN and Chip versus magnetic strip cards before we left. Called out to American Express was told that it should not be an issue. The only problem we had was at a toll booth, where all the booths seemed to require a card and rejected ours. We felt foolish, but pressed the button for help. Someone finally came over(as the cars lined up behind us) and said "I 'don't have change," we said "we don't care!" She took our coins and got us through!

Marilyn,

Just curious, were you using an American Express card at the toll booth?

Many places in Europe will ONLY accept Visa and MasterCard, as the merchant fees are higher with AmEx.

Cheers!

Evidently the chip & pin technology is also unusable in some places. I just read this today in a review on Trip Advisor regarding the island of Tilos, Greece:

One piece of advice for anyone travelling to Tilos. Make sure that you arrive with enough cash as the machine at the bank doesn't accept chip enabled debit/credit cards.

Tracy, you could have become an outlaw, and just jumped over the turnstiles; that's what I "had" to do when my ticket did not work on the Metro in Paris last year.

My wife does not ascribe to that type of behavior, so she stopped, while I was trying to coax her to join me.

Along came a Frenchman who listened to me plead with my wife to perform an illict jump. He then asked, in perfect English, what the problem was.

We explained to him that our tickets would not work. He looked at them, asked if we were using them as to "transfer", we said "yes", and he explained to us that I had bought the wrong type of ticket.

With a big grin he told my wife to snuggle up to him, put his ticket into the machine, and they both scooted together thru the turnstiles.

Tracy--I was in the Gare du Nord area at my usual hotel two star hotel from 3 June-10 June 2010, encountered a ticket machine at the station that would only take cash in coins, even the one cent coin was taken, when buying a carnet for 11.60 Euro. My card didn't work on one machine, still the clerk wasn't willing to help me, told me to get the tickets from the machine, which turned out to be defective. Since three machines were there, I tried everyone of them.

The worst time waiting for taxi at Gare du Nord is at rush hour, 1730-1900, on a Friday in the summer, loads of tourists, lots of Americans, and locals and business people. You're lucky if the taxi is available after waiting 35-40 mins.