Credit/debit cards in France

This subject has been beat to death recently. Just search back a couple of days for lots of responses. In general, AM credit cards work just fine in typical tourist places like restaurants, hotels, shops, etc. It is a problem with automated ticket machines, toll booths, parking, some gas stations so carry some cash if you are going to be in those areas.

Unless you're driving through France, it shouldn't be a problem. As a student I had an American credit card over there and didn't have any trouble whatsoever. Some of the machines do only accept the chip and pin cards, but it's no problem because you can go to the ticket window and purchase with your regular credit card. All ATM's accept the American credit cards. For sure the Credit Agricole and BNP and Societe Generale banks accept US cards at their ATMs. A few years later when I lived in small town France people looked at my card in amazement, like it was a dinosaur. I had to help the lady at the cinema enter my card information. You'll be fine.

Thanks for the info. I will be driving in France, which I have done before but the thought of not being able to use credit cards in a pinch for tolls or gas worries. Guess I'll just have to carry plent of cash which I'm not crazy about. Barb

I think Travelex offers a pre-paid credit card with chip-and-pin technology. We're planning to get a couple so we can use them to rent the Velib bikes in Paris. We live in the L.A. area and there are several Travelex offices within a short drive from us. However, Travelex probably has an exchange rate that's worse than an affiliate bank ATM. So for most of our expenses, we're going to use a Bank of America ATM card at BNP Paribus ATMs. We did that using Barclay's bank ATMs in London last year and it worked out great.

We are using a travelex card as well. Exchange rate was only sightly less. Our original plan was to our Bank of America Mastercard/debit as well at those bank locations but were told by BOA that the card would work justy fine we just needed to change to a 4 digit pin, but each time we used it in France we would incur a foreign transaction fee. Doesn't matter if we use to pay for items, restaurants or widthdraw case. In our case the fee is roughly 25.00 per transaction. The fee adds up fast so opted for travelex. Check with your bank first about any possible fees.

Where do you get a travelex card?? Barb

There are Travelex currency exchange counters at most all international airports around the world, you can purchase them there.
Here's their website: http://www.cashpassport.com/ Be aware that the cards sold via their site are not chip & pin. Chip cards are only available at the counter, in person.

"Swipe" cards ( those with just a magnetic stripe) from the US, work fine in the machine in our hotel. We use a standard machine from the bank. However, a US guest had to try FIVE of his cards on the autoroute before finding one that the automatic toll-booth would accept. Bring ALL your cards! :-) Roger