I have read that there may be incidents in Portugal when using a VISA or Mastercard credit card for purchasing of items or paying for meals and you are required to provide a PIN number in order for the transaction to go through.
Has anyone experience this situation(s)? And is this a common issue in Portugal?
Thank you in advance for your input.
I’ve never experienced that anyplace except for once about 10 years ago. Most establishments use contactless now unless you exceed the contactless limit in that country, then you insert the card. No PIN needed.
A PIN should only be required nowadays for cash advances.
We were in Portugal last Spring, credit card usage was mostly contactless, no pin.
We had never needed a credit card PIN until surprisingly this past April, getting gas in Sicily (downtown Catania). It was a national holiday, so the gas stations were unmanned. We had to pay at the pump. After driving to several gas stations and countless kind Sicilians stopping to help us, we finally figured out that it wanted a PIN with our credit card. I entered it, and it worked!
