Source for chip/smart credit cards

The only US card that has the smart chips is American Express. But the catch 22 is that not many merchants across the pond accept AE. Another option is to purchase a prepaid debit card once you arrive in Europe, These will have smart chips.

larry,

Yes, the Canadian Banks and Credit Unions are slowly starting to "roll out" the "chip" Credit Cards this year. I was able to obtain a "chip" VISA card in May just before my trip to France, Italy and Switzerland which proved to be very useful as some of the ticket machines (especially in France) will ONLY accept chip cards. From what I observed, most Europeans already have these.

I checked with my Credit Union recently and they advised that "chip" Debit Cards will be issued starting sometime next year (which isn't that far off). They're being tested now, I believe.

Cheers!

Yes, Canadian banks do use chip cards, but as mentioned it is mostly for credit cards. Only two major banks have started experimenting with chipped debit cards.

I realize this is a common topic on this forum, but it's really not an issue. Standard mag strip cards are fine and technically it is against the vendor agreement for a company to refuse to swipe a non-chipped card.

Pete

Most automated machines that accept credit cards (e.g., Velib kiosks in Paris, transportation ticket machines) are set up to use chipped credit cards only (Velib machines accept non-chipped American Express cards, but that's an exception). I agree that when a human is present a magnetic striped card has always been good enough for me. But generaly for transportation tickets there's no line at a ticket kiosk and a long line at a staffed ticket window - that's why having a European-compatible chipped card would be a good thing in the eyes of many.

In Holland,Dutch Rail ticket windows will only accept magnetic strip cards (with pin number) at Schipol Airport. All other stations in Holland (including supermarkets)will only take chipped cards. The Velib machines in Paris Accept AE because AE has the chip in them.

We were very close to running out of gas in rural France last year and it was Sunday; gas stations were not manned and the credit/debit card machines at the pumps ONLY took chipped cards. We eventually found a single pump that was manned in a very touristy town that charged an arm and a leg. We've also been inconvenienced by not being able to use ticket machines. I would love to have a chipped card and I hope US companies get on this soon!

"The gas pumps and train station ticket machines do not work with chipcards either. They only accept cards issued in France. I have tried several times with a credit card with chip issued in Denmark, it doesn't work. It is very common that ticket machines don't accept cards issued abroad."

Interesting. Here in the United States, you can also buy gas at a pump with a credit card, but when you swipe the card, it asks you for your US Zip Code (postal code, such as 94111). If a tourist from Europe with a rental car was buying gas with a credit card, might he/she also have his card refused?

Yep, I've had that problem in the US.

The gas pumps and train station ticket machines do not work with chipcards either. They only accept cards issued in France. I have tried several times with a credit card with chip issued in Denmark, it doesn't work. It is very common that ticket machines don't accept cards issued abroad.

Cristophe,

"The gas pumps and train station ticket machines do not work with chipcards either."

That hasn't been my experience. I haven't tried gas pumps, but I have tried train station ticket machines in France, and they work just fine with my Canadian "chip" VISA card. However, the machines do appear to be somewhat "problematic" as occasionally one ticket machine won't work, but the one next to it will work fine.

Cheers!

It's a few years ago since I tried the SNCF ticket machines, maybe they work now. But from my experience, the gas pumps do in general not work with chip cards issued abroad. I have tried on two occasions this summer and three or four times last year. Never got one two work in France with my chip card. Always got the response "paiement refusé"

Tyler - Just a quick response to your question about Zip Codes for US Gas.

If you are from out of country you can't use the cards at the pump but they can pre-auth them inside the station, found this out last week in California (I am Canadian).

"The Velib machines in Paris Accept AE because AE has the chip in them."

There's no chip in my US Amex card and it worked fine without it. I understand that there's a specific agreement between Amex and Velib to accept the chipless Amex card.

Don't know about Danish chip and pin, but I have British issued debit and credit cards which work fine at self serve stations throughout France (I find Champion is good quality and cheap) and Switzerland and Belgium, too.

There is no chip in European issued American Express cards either. (Well at least not in mine, which was issued last week).

Only AE's "blue" card has the chips in them.

Hi all Canadians that want to buy gas in the U.S. and pay at the pump with credit card. We learned from the gas attendant in California this March that if you plug in the 3 numbers in your postal code and then add 2 zeros it will work for you. We tried it and it does work. Doesn't address the original post but hope it helps some of you. Sherry

I was in DC and NYC last week, and everywhere I used my debit or credit card, I needed to tell the cashier my zip code in order to finalize the transaction; it's something I've never encountered before. Which got me to thinking, does this also apply to folks from overseas using their plastic, are they not allowed to use their cards without a US zip code? Or is there some way for the cashier to override this?

I have now found out what the problem is with Danish issued Visa cards: it's because of the way the PIN is authorized. There are two ways of PIN authorization with a chip card: online and offline. France and the UK primarily use offline PIN validation at Point of Sales terminals, meaning that the PIN is validated in the chip itself and not by the means of the terminal calling the card provider. Danish issued so called VISA/Dankort do not support offline PIN validation, therefore you have to sign for all PIN transactions using offline validation in the UK and France when using this card, even though you use the chip. And therefore the card does not work at self service ticket machines and gas pumps in France because they require validation of the PIN of course. This is quite annoying, but so it is.

Christophe: How interesting. I have always read that the reason Chip & Pin cards were used was because online validation was very expensive in Europe so some means of offline validation was necessary. If your cards do offline validation, they really add little (if any) protection to what is already present in the magnetic strip system.

The chip card itself is much more secure than the magnetic strip card regardless of validation method since it can't be copied the same way as the magnetic strip card can. It's very easy to copy the magnetic stripe from one card to another.

Travelex sells one in Euros as a prepaid card. You can purchase them in Pound Sterling or Euros. I got one with a few hundred euros for incidental purchases that I know may be troublesome with my US based Visa card (trains, small shops and vendors at art fairs and such) .

Hey- we just returned from Europe. You can actually buy reloadable cards w/ chips in the airports in the US.. at the currency exchange. We bought one in case we ran across somewhere that wouldnt take our normal VISA check card. Out of 5 countries- we only ran across 1 place that you needed a card w/ a chip. They seem to have signs on the doors of stores/restuarants that say what the accept- if you see the regular VISA sign.. they take it. The chipped VISA has something else written on the sign. Maybe something like Europe card VISA.. anyway.. you get the point.