Problems with U.S. Credit Cards in UK/Ireland?

As a general rule, any merchant that deals with tourists on a regular basis will have the hardware to accept magnetic strip cards. Merchants that mostly deal with locals, may or may not.

Ours worked fine last year. There are reports of not working with some automated terminals like fuel stations, etc. But have no experience with that. The merchants always took the card. But it could be changing.

I had no problem using my Visa in November 08. I used it in both London and
out-of-town locations. SOmetimes I had to tell the dalesperson that it was not chip and pin so they could put the chrage through a different way. I used it in shops, at the train stations, etc.

You do pay a fairly hefty fee on each transaction though so sometimes it is worth just getting more cash from the ATM and paying in cash...if you can use an ATM without a fee. I have a BOA card and it is free at Barclays Banks which are everywhere.

Some places wont be able to take it if they arent in the central part of a city. Small shops in England sometimes just have the reader that you stick the card up into (no swiper for the magnetic strip). I went to a cafe in Notting Hill even that would only take the chip and pin. I have a Barclays Visa card on my British husbands account so im lucky in that sense. Try to use cash as much as possible.

OK, this wasn't in the UK, but...

On my trip to Benelux last month, I encountered a few ATMs and merchants that would not accept cards without the chip. Now, none of these were in areas that the average tourist is likely to visit, and with a little effort, I was always able to find a way around the problem. But, after many trips to Europe, this was the first time I had encountered that situation. Does this represent the begining of a larger trend, I could not say.

Matt,
I was in London and Paris within the past 8 months and had no problem with the non chip ATM/Debit card.

However, as some pointed out, the off the beaten path places may not accept a non chip card. That is when you shoudl have some cash on hand.

All merchants will have the machine to accept mag-strip cards - their merchant agreement with VISA/Mastercard requires it. Even the handheld terminals have a place to swipe (either at the top or down one side.)

The issue is a) does the member of staff knows it is there and b) do they know how to use it?

Thanks for all of the great responses!

I had a similar post earlier on here--I was worried about the same thing. Was looking at Rick's latest London book and he says that there may be a problem at the Tube station/railway station with automated ticket machines, but people will be around to help. I wasn't sure if we would be able to claim our rail tickets.

Didn't have any problem using ours.

We will be traveling in August, and I just called Visa to see if they would assign a pin number for my credit card. They would not. They said there should be someone in the shops who would know how to swipe a U.S. credit card. I hope they're right, but we will try to have cash on hand.

You only need a pin number if you're using your credit card at an ATM. Point of sale transactions are handled the same way as in the US: the clerk swipes it through a machine, and you sign a receipt. Assuming the merchant has the hardware to handle magnetic strip cards...most merchants that deal with tourists will.

We had no problems at all with either VISA or MC within the last 2 weeks though neither had a chip. Sometimes the merchant or server used another machine to swipe it, but it never took more than a few seconds or so and we were good to go.

Fifteen days in Ireland North and Republic, no problem anywhere with credit or credit/debit cards in Oct. 2008.

Only problem was with US $100 bills, banks did not want to take them unless you had an account, too many counterfeits according to them

I've been researching purchasing a prepaid Visa or MasterCard from the UK prior to going to London. Alternatively, I was thinking about buying one once I got there. There isn't a grocery store or convenience store in the US that doesn't have racks of these things. I'm trying to see if the UK is any different. There is a Tesco just around the corner from the flat we're renting.

Has anybody tried the prepaid route?

Perhaps I go to the wrong shops, but I have yet to see any pre-paid credit cards in the U.K., and certainly not "racks" of them. What is the point?

If you already have a credit card, you don't need a pre-paid one. If you don't have a card, but have cash, then use the cash. Why exchange the cash for a credit card?

I had significant problems while traveling in London for 2 weeks in Mar. 2009. I tried several different ATMs in multiple locations around London and could not use my VISA debit card to withdraw cash despite the fact I had the 4 digit PIN and the symbols matched (STAR, PLUS, etc.) Very frustrating. Fortunately, for some unknown reason, I discovered the HSBC ATMs worked for me. Also, I had 3 or 4 instances of merchants (including John Lewis department store) not accepting my VISA credit card because it didn't have a chip.

Alot of retailers in London only have the machine where you stick the card chip side up into the machine and does not read the strip on the back. (I have my Brit husbands Barclay visa for "emergencies" and glad because I had to use it a few times since it wouldnt take MY visa.. at least thats my story...lol). Even places like grocery stores, mini marts, etc. Most touristy places seemed to take american cards with no issues. But I was off the beaten path alot, going to Southwark, Whitechapel and Brent Cross, so those places dont see many american Visa cards!

Just an FYI - In Heathrow, you can request that purchases be made in US Dollars instead of pounds so theres no fee on credit cards! I bought stuff that way and i was happy to see no conversion fees on my Duty free alcohol and Chocolate Box crazy whirlwind purchases.. lol

Just got back and had no problem anywhere this trip. In 2008, ASDA didn't take it, but they said it wasn't the chip. I don't know what it was, it worked everywhere else that day before and after. This year, no problems, even in small countryside.

I don't believe I've ever seen this question before: I know that European credit cards now all have a computer chip of some sort in them; Is the same true for ATM/Debit cards? (Do they even use Debit cards over there?)

What I'm wondering is will the problem we likely will increasingly have with our U.S. credit cards begin to affect our use of our ATM cards? In the past we've hit the ATM machines for cash and tried to avoid using credit cards. But if we start to encounter difficulty getting cash, what then? (I don't want to resurrect the need to carry traveler's checks.)

I realize from the posts here and elsewhere this hasn't happened yet with ATM access. I'm just wondering if it is in our future if the U.S. banks don't adopt other security systems, such as the cards with a chip. Of course, given all the fraud and stolen card info, VISA, MasterCard, etc. need to do something to make their plastic more secure.

In Europe both credit and debit cards have the smart chip embedded in them. All ATM machines across the pond are able to accept both magnetic strip and smart chips cards, there is no reason to believe that this will change in the near future, as the chips are designed to prevent fraud when making point of sale transactions...not getting cash. Counterfeit cards are a major problem in Europe, oddly it's never been a problem in this part of the world, so US banks have never had an economic motivation to invest in the technology

I've never seen any real figures that show a significantly higher rate of credit card fraud in "Europe" than the USA. In fact with the lax attitude to security in the US (very rarely is the signature looked at, kids using their parents card etc.) I'd assume the opposite to be true - can anyone in the know provide any hard figures?

As far as anecdotal evidence goes; I've been the victim of (attempted) credit card fraud once. It's impossible to know for sure where my card was compromised but the attempted use was at a PayLess Shoe Carnival in Indiana about a month after I returned from a trip to Indiana where I bought some discount New Balance shoes...

Nowhere in my post did I say that Europe has a higher rate of fraud vs. the US. My point is that it comes in a different "flavor". Europe has a bigger problem with counterfeit cards, we have other types of CC fraud which smart chips won't defeat.

I wasn't questioning you Michael, just saying I've never seen any hard numbers - just statements from posters on website like this. I'm sure you know what you are talking about but I'd like to see some quantitative data - purely for my own interest.

I'd be very interested to see your figures that show a higher occurrence of counterfeit cards in Europe. Thanks in advance.

Just got back from Ireland and had NO trouble with credit cards. We did run it a quirk, one place charged us in dollars not euros and said the "card" required it. Absolutely false, they have to run it in Euros if you ask. Everywhere else was fine.

The "we have to run it in dollars" thing is kind of a scam going on over there. There might be a conversion fee or some kind of fee tacked onto your bill. I read about that a couple times already.

We used credit cards for 2 weeks just last month in England and had no problem. Once in a while it didn't zip through the machine, so they fiddled some keys or did something. It worked... I have the bills to prove it.

We were in London in March and did not have any problems using our credit card - if they have a means to "swipe" it, they seem to take it. Last week, in Munich, one store wouldn't accept it - only one with a chip, but we'd used it off and on for 5 weeks with no problem. We didn't try to use the automated machines (trains/gas, etc). I don't think they'll work in those. I wonder when the USA will start having chips in our cards?

We're just back from 2 weeks touring Bath, Cornwall, and London. Though we'd sent messages to 3 banks about our trip, 2 of them called our cell for verification after we got cash from ATM.

We had no other problems or delays in using our debit and credit cards anywhere. No shop seemed to care that we had cards with no chips.

A Burger King in London couldn't take our card. It was the only place. We just got back 2 days ago.

I will advise you to call your credit card company and let them know you are traveling. I had no idea I was supposed to do that...found out accidentally. Credit unions usually only charge 1%, but regular banks charge 3-5% on every item. It adds up, so I would check on the rates your card charges too.

Don't bring traveler's checks. They charge around 6-7% just to cash them. I just brought mine home with me.