Credit card with Europe-friendly chip

Good to know. We may need to get this. We couldn't use our CCs at the train ticket machines nor some grocery stores in Holland last month. Luckily our bank ATM worked at the train ticket machines so we could top up our OV chipkaarts. Nothing worked at some AH grocery stores so we had to use cash. Having a card that works in unmanned stations would indeed be wunderbar!

Our CapOne Quicksilver and our Amazon Visa via Chase (both no FTT) have never failed abroad.

I saw a gentleman in Dublin airport the other day trhat couldn't pickup a rental car because his new credit card wouldn't process. Our Capital One card went through without incident.
I always call the credit card company to tell them where we are traveling. My ATM card only works in my state and the state's surrounding ours. And I always carry two working ATMs and two credit cards.

Chip and PIN versus chip and signature

Chip and PIN is one of the two verification methods that EMV enabled cards can employ. Rather than physically signing a receipt for identification purposes, the user just enters a personal identification number (PIN), typically of 4 – 6 digits in length. This number must correspond to the information stored on the chip. Chip and PIN technology makes it much harder for fraudsters to use a found card, so if someone steals a card, they can't make fraudulent purchases unless they know the PIN. Chip and Signature, on the other hand, differentiates itself from Chip and PIN by verifying a consumers identity with a signature. As of 2015, Chip and Signature cards are more common in the USA, Mexico, parts of South America (such as Argentina, Colombia, Peru, and Venezuela) and some Asian countries (such as Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, South Korea, Singapore, and Indonesia), whereas Chip and PIN cards are more common in most European countries (e.g., the UK, Ireland, France, Finland and the Netherlands) as well as in Brazil, India, Sri Lanka, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

I got an Andrews FCU credit card that was advertised as a "Chip and Pin" card. What I found was it works, maybe, marginally better than my other cards. I still sign in stores and restaurants. I still have trouble with toll booths. I don't think it's ever worked as advertised at a gas station.

Plus Andrews required me to open an account and are hitting that with a small charge quarterly, presumably because of the low balance or lack of direct deposit. I was planning on closing it.

My other cards seemed to do the trick pretty much as well as the Andrews card.

I got mad at Capital One because they double paid a vendor I had a dispute with. I settled the dispute and paid. Capital One later asked if it was settled, then paid again without telling or asking me (and of course the vendor doesn't respond to my request to return the over-payment).

I think I'll try the Lufthansa card. I don't really care about miles as much as having a reliable travel card.

Before traveling is a really good time to review all the agreements on your cards. Fees are changing. One of my cards recently added a foreign transaction fee that used to be free (Capital One or USAA?). Since that's one of the reasons I choose a card, I'll close it.

I think everyone pretty well understands the difference between chip and pin vs chip and signature. What we (US and perhaps Canadians) is a totally reliable US based chip and pin card. That is the 64 $ question.

I think everyone pretty well understands the difference between chip and pin vs chip and signature. What we (US and perhaps Canadians) is a totally reliable US based chip and pin card. That is the 64 $ question.

This list is getting dated, but still is pretty accurate: https://milecards.com/6084/3-full-chip-pin-credit-cards-with-no-fees/

Note that even with a true "Chip and Pin" most are still Signature priority, meaning if the point of sale accepts signatures, you sign.

I have a UNFCU card, it is PIN priority, if used at a POS device, I am always asked for a PIN, even in the US. Some terminals where they take the card and likely scan it by Mag Strip, you still sign.

Just to get it on the record, there are even finer gradations of technology than the OP topic. Last year, in Wismar and Straslund (Baltic Germany), we could not enter local off-street parking lots because our SDFCU chip cards weren't satisfactory to the unattended machine on the entry gate. Even outside Frankfurt, I had an unattended lot refuse my VISA card, but luckily I had enough small bills to pay cash. And in Belgium, I think (haven't been in a few years) that the character of the chip is NOT the reason that American credit cards are unacceptable in the automated rail ticket machines in train stations.

Certainly in places like England and France, hotel and rental car and museum staff seem to be entirely used to having a paper slip printed out for a physical signature. It will be interesting to see if that changes to any degree, now that the major card issuers have almost (I mean, nominally) dropped the USA domestic requirement for the vendor to get a signature. The most nervous vendors can still require it.

As I've mentioned elsewhere, I've had an Andrews card for several years, and I think that the only times it's failed is at toll booths in France (yet last month it worked every time at toll booths). Like almost all American chip cards, its first verification method is signature, but unlike many American cards, it has offline PIN verification, which is probably why it's always worked (with a PIN) at unmanned gas stations.

I know people who have used the Andrews Visa card at unattended gas pumps in France, though I never have. I used mine when I had it in places that my chip and signature cards failed - like at the Amsterdam Schiphol train station ticket machine. I'm not sure why it matters that it still reverts to signature when a person is involved in the transaction - WHO CARES? The need for the card is at machines where your chip and signature cards don't work.

I still have an Andrews ATM card (though I've just been notified that it will be replaced with a true debit card soon so I will have to get a checking account). I have all of about $5.00 in my Andrews savings account most of the time and would only get charged a fee if I use the card less than once a year - I just got a note the other day about an upcoming fee for no activity unless I use it (which I will shortly in Europe). I've never been charged a fee for this card or any Andrews card over several years, even with very little activity.

Frank: Canadians already have chip-and-pin cards, keeping up with world standards. All major financial institutions have moved over to this kind of card. Depending on the institution, they are also tap-and-go up to a certain limit ($100 for my cards.) The magnetic strip usually remains available too, echoing the past. One of my cards comes from Canada's biggest bank and its operators are so secure that I no longer have to send them advance notice of where I am travelling.
We also pay through the nose for service fees. There are a few credit cards with no foreign exchange fees but none is a major bank.

UPDATE : tried the card in.a parking garage in France -- not accepted! Luckily, we had gone to the central payment machine rather than finding this out when the exit arm wouldn't go up (and even more luckily, we had €4.80 in coins!)

Oh my, nothing is 100% reliable across all European countries and unstaffed machines 😬. I'm still tempted to get a Lufthansa card though.