Credit cards rejected from US

When I had that issue, on one occasion I called the CC company to let it know a charge for xx€ would be coming through and that the charge was legitimate. More recently when purchasing from overseas, I get a text message from the CC company with a code. I enter the code at the prompt on the website to authorize to charge.

Just managed to solve it, in case someone in the future has this issue. I have a Barclay's Mastercard through American Airlines that works: the card has to be able to generate a code to be sent to your phone or email.

Really surprised Chase Sapphire does not provide that option.

I had an issue with Chase Sapphire not working on gas pumps during a road trip in France. It was extremely frustrating.
Our Capital One MC worked with no issues.

So always have a back-up.

Ironic that you posted this today. I tried to pay yesterday the balance of our apartment rental but couldn't get my Chase Sapphire to work. Rental company says it's on our end while Chase has no record of my attempts to pay. I used the same card to pay back in July so I don't know what's changed.

I would have to dig back to find the details, but the root of the issue is, I believe, a security feature common to cards in Europe that is just not common in the US.

Basically what the OP figured out, is that in order to validate the transaction, you need to respond to a code request, much like two factor authentication when logging into some financial websites. If your card is not set up to accept this, the transaction fails.

Europe handles CC fraud a bit differently, in the US if there is fraud, it is all on the card company, in Europe, the merchant is on the hook for a great deal of the cost if they fail to use proper processing and implement control measures (the driving force behind Chip and PIN) so you will run into extra measures and more checks (Only in Europe would they ask to check my ID or look at the signature on the back of the card, never in the US)

Several times my US cards haven’t worked for online purchases in Europe, but they do work in the store: IKEA, electronics store, etc. It’s the card processing company rejecting the cards, as Paul said.

We use Chase and have never had a problem but have always called them preceding our trips to let them know we would be charging a Europe trip and when we would be there so that charges are not blocked for security reasons (on their end). Knock wood

I would have to dig back to find the details, but the root of the
issue is, I believe, a security feature common to cards in Europe that
is just not common in the US.

I think so. It is called 3D-secure and basically means that if you use the card to buy things online, there will be a 2nd step where you confirm the purchase. E.g. by entering a code you recieve by sms, or the way my card works I have to enter a code on my phone.

That’s true using EU issued cards, Badger. Two-step is an EU law, at least that’s what my French bank said as I received yet another layer of security.

What’s happening here is the European processing company, used by some European merchants, reject US cards outright. They are unable to process, or have chosen not to process them. One example I’ve run into is IKEA. They’ll take my cards in the checkout line but not online. Badger, could you talk to your Swedish compatriots about this.

We use Chase and have never had a problem but have always called them preceding our trips to let them know we would be charging a Europe trip and when we would be there so that charges are not blocked for security reasons (on their end). Knock wood

This was a thing to do before (travel notifications)....but Chase doesn't do it anymore.

Source: https://www.chase.com/personal/credit-cards/travel-notification

It’s interesting to hear that some things haven’t changed, despite, or perhaps because of tech advances. About 20 years ago, on a Portugal/Spain trip, we had no problem getting cash with our Wells Fargo atm card in Portugal. As soon as we arrived in Spain, it stopped working. Each call to WF gave us the response. “There was no reason for the card not to work. “. We wound up getting cash by using our cc’s to pay for things like restaurant meals and having our travel companions give us cash for their shares. The irony was that they also had WF cards, but theirs worked.
Lesson learned. Always carry cards from 2 different banks.

When we traveled to Italy and to France on different trips I found that I needed a cache of credit cards to transact for tours, etc., from the US in advance... CapitalOne Venture, Chase United, and -- curious to me -- the one that seemed to be most readily accepted was my Amex Costco card. I packed all three for the trips but never got a rejection of any card while we were in either country.

@gbrennan - your experience is interesting because Amex is the least accepted card over there.

Edited: you all have obviously had better luck with Amex than I did. I got rid of mine after Costco switched to Visa in 2018 or so. We ran into too many places that wouldn’t accept it. More power to you.

I mainly use my Amex in Europe, too. It's pretty widely accepted despite the outdated perception. My Visa is the back up.