Pin needed for credit card transactions in Scotland?

PIN numbers are not required anywhere in Europe if a person is manning the card reader. You can use your US based credit card. Sometimes they will print out a paper and ask you to sign it and sometimes they won't. If your card is equipped with tap pay, this is frequently available.

The problem is at unmanned readers like at gas stations or small train stations. In that instance, your chip and signature credit card may not work. I have found that a DEBIT card with a PIN will work at these locations.

Many posters here say that they use their cash advance PIN number associated with their card and that works, but that has never worked for me.

I used nothing but tap in Scotland.

First, it probably is not worth worrying about unless you have the time and ambition to get a new card, then I would recommend doing so. For your existing cards, if a PIN was not issued specifically for transactions when received or renewed, then at most all that will be available is a PIN for Cash Advance at an ATM.

But as others said, the only time you might need it is for kiosk or unmanned transactions. A PIN does make all transactions easier, and it is standard practice throughout Europe, but your card will either go through with no needed authorization, or spit out a slip to sign (Have the back of the card signed and some type of ID on you).

A silver lining of Covid is that contactless, either using your card or phone/watch, has taken off, and the "dollar" limit for transactions has risen, enough that you could use tap for nearly all transactions. If your card is not Tap enabled (would have a little "WiFi" symbol on it) contact your card issuer and see if you can get one. You can also use either Google Pay or Apple Pay.

We just returned from a three week trip, and I started out hitting an ATM using my Debit/PIN combination. From then on, I was trying to get rid of the cash rather than take it home. Never needed the Debit card again. Taxi, bus, airline, petrol, restaurants, lodging all prefer tap to pay.

Except for two B&Bs and a tour operator (Mousa Boat) that required cash (you'll know this in advance), no one wants you to even offer cash. I used Tap to Pay with my cellphone (for the first time!) and a few places needed me to tap to pay with a credit card as their reader didn't work with a phone. I'm not sure of the economics of merchant fees, but even buying a single postcard needed tap to pay (and no PIN).