CC or Debit card issues in France?

As long as you notify your card company where and when you will be traveling, the only place that you might encounter problems is at unmanned gas stations or ticket kiosks. Otherwise, just about anywhere can also process the magnetic stripe cards.

And any merchant displaying a Visa/Mastercard decal HAS to accept your card. Those are Visa/Mastercard's rules. (Of course the rule doesn't apply at unmanned electronic terminals, as Norma says.)

Have heard of absolutely no problems with debit cards and local ATMs other than an occasional malfunction not related to type of cards. Automated ticket machines, toll booths, gas station, bike rents in Paris, where you do not have a live attendant will not accept Am credit cards. For us that is not a big problem since we used cash about 99% of the time. If you are the type that wants to charge everything, then you need to be more careful of where you use the card.

Will you be driving? If so you might want to think about logistics - besides unmanned gas stations and maybe toll booths ( mixed messages on that one as to whether there are any completely unmanned booths), a travelr on another board reported being unable to get out of a parking garage because of his american credit card. Had to rely on the kindness of strangers to use their card while he gave them cash. Anyway, we leave soon for France and will be driving some of the trip. While I do intend to keep a close eye on the gas tank, especially with a sunday or Monday approaching when many regular shops are closed, so perhaps more unmanned gas stations as well, I broke down and purchased a travelex chip and pin card for 150 euros as the price last week of $246. We had no problems at all last year in Spain, but my understanding that at least in France there are some potential problems.

Yes, we will be driving through Normandy and Brittany. Where did you purchase the chip card? Thanks

Lorebee, you should search this forum for some previous comments this summer. There have been comments on both swipe credit cards and Travelex Chip-And-PIN cards. Just because VISA says a merchant should accept your card does not mean that they will successfully do so. While most of my experience this year was in neighboring countries, I certainly have never had trouble getting cash checking account withdrawals (with no fixed fee charge) from BNP Paribas, which has an agreement with Bank of America in France. Do keep your ATM/Debit card handy because there are machines that will sometimes accept any card with a PIN, even if they don't accept American "swipe" credit cards that you would "sign" for. If the vendor's machine has two slots, one for swipe, one for insertion, make sure they swipe your swipe card! They may not get many of those transactions. They might also try typing in your account number, if they are feeling cooperative, which should work at a terminal without the swipe slot. The problem is charming them to do this extra work.

It is available online for a mailing fee as well as at airports and some city locations. There was one at a mall very close to us so I at least saved the mailing fee. Note- I have never used these before and don't normally suggest buying euros in advance as you can see from the rate they charged that it is higher than what you get from your ATM card overseas. But the few things I've heard made me think it was worth the extra money to keep for driving expenses. I'll report back after our trip as to whether my fears were warranted and how I used the card.

Unattended toll plazas on French autoroutes have automatic payment machines which accept both euro coins and notes and which give change. You slide your ticket into the slot and the machine reads it and shows you the amount owed. It's always a good idea to carry a decent amount of cash when driving the autoroutes. Another thing to note: gas stations on the autoroute rest areas are always manned.

Thanks everyone, appreciate the feedback. In my years of travel, I have not run into any real issues however I was hearing France was troublesome for some reason. I was in Croatia last year and had no trouble at all. I am inclined to most likely carry extra cash for the tolls.

Thanks everyone, appreciate the feedback. In my years of travel, I have not run into any real issues however I was hearing France was troublesome for some reason. I was in Croatia last year and had no trouble at all. I am inclined to most likely carry extra cash for the tolls.

CC and Debit cards work fine with a person on the other end. However, if you are driving on a Sunday, be sure to have enough gas to get you out and back if you are doing other than A roads. I did not find a single station in a 125 mile run on a Sunday with an attendant. You will have to go to the A road stations (services) to get gas. Other than the gas issue, my cc and debit card was taken everywhere I wanted to use it. Cash also works well, except when in need of gas on a Sunday. Cash will actually save you money because of the extra cc card charges that are added on now days.