USAA and MasterCard Change

Hi TC, this may or may not make a difference for you, but for what it's worth, our REI VISA card was recently changed (not at our request) to a MasterCard - opposite of your situation. Upon receiving the new MC and calling the toll-free number to activate the card, I was told the old VISA had immediately been deactivated, so at least they waited until we had received the replacement MC before cancelling the VISA. They did give us a $40 gift card after we spent $xxx on the new MC to compensate somewhat for the inconvenience.

Neither one offers zero foreign transaction fees, so the REI card has never been our #1 card in Europe. At least the new MC has a computer chip, but it's still a chip-and-signature, not a chip-and-P.I.N. card.

My biggest concern would be if you used the old MC to purchase a plane ticket or car reservation, then showed up at the airport or a car rental counter without that card to help prove you were you. Will USAA provide a letter that you could show anyone to hopefully help prove that your new VISA had simply replaced your old MC?

To keep a valued customer, I would hope they could take special steps to either issue your card in the first round, or at a time you specify. There ARE other cards out there ;-)

This is not uncommon. Costco is in the process of shifting from AmExpress to Mastercard and Sams is going from Mastercard to Am Express. Don't ask me to explain it.

Thanks so much for this discussion and the heads up.

My CU #1 provides a Visa CC and a MC ATM/debit card. CU #2 provides a Visa ATM/debit card. I will be finding out what kind of CC they provide this very afternoon.

All the plastic I have so far has worked almost anywhere I've used it. My next trip is May-June. I hope I can say that then!

I have a credit card compromised and cancelled between reserving for a trip and actually taking the trip. One suggestion I would make regarding ticket pick up is to keep and take the credit card that you used to make the reservation, even if it is no longer active. With this, I had no trouble picking up train tickets at a manned ticket window, though it likely rules out the use of a kiosk. On the plus side, they did say the new USAA visa will no longer have the 1% foreign transaction fee.

And remember you also have to change, again, any payments you have that are pointed to the MasterCard. Been through this too many times.... It's just a bit of administrative hassle.

Our new USAA chip card is chip-and-signature, unlike the previous one which was true chip and PIN. Very disappointing! We have tried to change that but were in Europe at the time so didn't want to call.

Lola,

Call USAA. All the cards they send out are Chip and Signature. If you call they will convert it to Chip and Pin. I went through this 2 years ago when I originally got my Chip card from USAA.

Thanks. We are back in the US now so will give them a call. It was just so disappointing to have the card revert to chip-and-signature after having the chip-and-PIN capability the last three trips ( UK, Italy, and Australia/New Zealand).

TC,

It sounds like the particular credit card you have is changing their affiliation from Master Card to Visa.

I have USAA and hadn't noticed this yet but it's not unusual when their affiliations come up for renewal.

Re: Chip and Pin vs. Chip and Signature

Some cards (Capital One Visa) are Chip and Signature. If you inadvertently use the card as a chip and pin, they will treat it like a cash advance.

My USAA card doesn't charge a fee or additional interest rate for a cash advance - so, in the case of that card, it's six of one, half dozen of the other. Even if they process it as a cash advance, it's treated the same as a purchase. The exception here is USAA cards don't allow you to use the full available balance for cash advances (I've never tested the limit but know there is one). If you plan to use significant chip and pin purchases, you should ask them to change it over.

Brad, The card in question is a USAA branded MasterCard. It is USAA itself that is changing all of it's USAA branded MasterCards to USAA branded Visa cards. I'm well aware of the difference between chip and signature cards and a true chip and pin card. The USAA branded MasterCard they have issued in the past is a true chip and pin if you request a pin. The replacement USAA branded Visa card will (according to the USAA representative with whom I spoke) only be a chip and signature card. Probably the reason so few people know what is going to happen is that USAA hasn't sent anything yet to those who will be affected. So far the only publicity about this began with an article in the Wall Street Journal that was later picked up by several other business news media.

USAA has already sent us two notifications. It says something like, "We have exciting news to share." Maybe we are in the first batch on 10/27.

The USAA rep I talked to said the replacement VISA could be converted to a true Pin and Chip card the same way they did with the Master Card. Two reps, two different stories. Guess we will have to wait and see.

I have a chip-and-signature card from MasterCard through Capital One and a PIN was attached to it by requesting a PIN over the phone. So it's functioning as a chip-signature-pin card, never has been charged as a cash advance.

I just called USAA and was told the new Visa cards will be PIN eligible. You will likely have to set up a new PIN with the new card.

I have received two notices from USAA about the transition from MasterCard to Visa, as well. USAA was not able to supply me with the date when I would receive the new Visa, but assured me there would be ample notice of the transition. If you are on a months-long trip, it may not be THAT much notice. The rep also assured me that the benefits would be at least as good as the current MasterCard, and they're being told even more "beefed up" but they don't have specifics yet other than the elimination of the foreign transaction fees. All in all, I think this is good news.

Hope this helps.
Celeste

Some cards (Capital One Visa) are Chip and Signature. If you inadvertently use the card as a chip and pin, they will treat it like a cash advance.

Actually almost every US credit card is/will be chip & signature. Some will have secondary PINs for purchases when signatures are not possible and almost all can have a PIN for cash advances. A cash advance PIN and purchase PIN are not the same thing.

Trying to use a cash advance PIN for a purchase won't work. There is no "inadvertent" cash advance use of PIN.

I'll have to pay more attention to my mail to look for some notice from USAA.

"PIN eligible" doesn't say whether it will be the type of PIN for getting money out of an ATM, or a PIN used for making purchases with the card. Basically, you still don't know.

Based on Zoe's experience described above, I wonder if it's the merchant-ringing-up-a-sale transaction type that determines whether the P.I.N. will be processed as a retail purchase, rather than a cash advance? Of course, if you get cash back with your purchase, as I've seen others do at the grocery store . . .

During our research about the original post, someone said that the chip itself is "programmed" to be either signature priority or PIN priority. But regardless of the priority, it will work at merchants and be treated as a purchase. Ticket kiosk are another can of worms altogether. Given the conflicting information from USAA, MasterCard itself, and the half a%%ed the American banking system has handled the whole chip and pin issue, who really knows? I guess it will be a matter of wait and see what happens with a particular card from a particular bank. A technical geek friend of ours calls it the "GOK Syndrome" -- God Only Knows.