Chips and pins.

Most all the cards will send you a chip card if you call and ask. I wouldn't go without one. We couldn't buy train tickets in the Cologne station when we were there in 2012. Luckily we had enough cash. I'm sure it must be worse now.

Cap One will have chips, etc, Starting with new cards in October.
Scandinavian countries prefer c/cards and make an effort to accommodate US travelers. Not so much on the continent.

Do you mean that you had a chip card but it was a signature validation? Or were you still trying to use magnetic strip cards?

Almost every US credit card will be chip & signature - that is just the way it will be for the US for now. Some banks will have PINs as a secondary validation and that will aid in cases where the merchant doesn't know how to print out a receipt. Capital One is not currently one of those banks (chip & signature only).

New debit cards with chips will all have PINs and should also work well in cases where a PIN validation is necessary. But most banks won't issue the new debit cards until well into 2016.

I traveled quite a bit in Sweden in the spring and I rarely used cash. My chip and signature card worked everywhere like a charm, including ticket kiosks, so this confuses me. I was in both tourist and non tourist areas, in northern and southern Sweden, in towns with only 500 people, etc. Specifically where was this? It makes no sense to me if it was in Sweden. There must be more to the story.

You missed the important part. Capital One has neither pin or chip. Signatures were required except a few time we used a debit card with the pin. Cap One stated they will use pin and chips starting in October.
We spent a month traveling all over Scandinavia; the pin/chip issue was constant. It was not a big deal because most firms by passed the problem, except three times above the Arctic Circle.
Happy Travels

CapOne is in process of reissuing their MasterCards as chip (but not chip-and-pin) credit cards. Ours are on the way. If you are with CapOne you should have already received an e-mail about this (that is, if they have your e-mail).We ran into the same issue in Copenhagen last summer, and never used our card. Hopefully, with a chip they should work there, even without a pin.

findusifyoucan,
My Capitol One Venture Card has a chip. It is a chip and signature card. It sounds as if you had a magnetic swipe and signature card and that is why you had such a hard time. My chip let me just push it into the machine, not swipe it. You might want to call and get an updated card. My card was heaven. I just wish I could use the chip in the US because it was so easy. Wray

Hi,

In early June 2015 I bought a train ticket going from to Düsseldorf Hbf to Soest/Westf. from a DB machine using a US credit card, a chip and signature, no problems at all, The purchase went through. That wasn't the only time on this last trip...the same result using a US credit card going from Berlin Hbf. to Neustrelitz from a ticket machine, ie, no PIN needed. US credit cards (magnetic stripe or chip and signature) work in Germany at a staffed ticket counter or DB ticket machine....never had any problems in effecting the purchase.

At some point in time maybe American banks will catch up with the rest of the world. When? Who knows? I find it amusing that a business that loves to levy fees on people for things like late payments, can't keep up to date on things like chipped credit cards.

Recent article said that airport shops in Europe are collecting chip charge cards left in the terminal by the customer after inputting their pin and hurrying off. Be careful for what you wish.

"At some point in time...." True, I agree, but I am not going to hold my breath.

The problem with 'chip & pin' in the U.S. is not the banks. The merchants will be required to purchase new equipment to accommodate 'chip & pin' cards. They are the ones doing the foot-dragging.

My CapOne Platinum card has a chip and a pin. I called them up two months ago and requested new Visa cards for my wife and me, and they arrived within a couple of weeks. We intend to use them as our primary credit card. We also got chip and pin debit cards from our bank, Wells Fargo. I ordered them from the local branch office and they arrived within two weeks. But since no shops I've been to here at home in Oakland, CA use chip+pin, I haven't been able to test them. I guess we'll just see how it goes when we arrive in Frankfurt next week.

Here's a question for this list. Some time ago, since I realized that American ccards didn't have pins, I asked Capitol One (my main credit card) for a pin number, which they supplied.

Is this any help at all do you think? The card is a magnetic strip card, not a chip and signature card. I think the answer is: no help at all, but thought I'd ask.

I got a tip (I think it may have been from C.One when I asked) that it may be worth looking for a prepaid debit card while in Europe, putting an amount on it which would cover those expenses you think you'd need a pin for (train tix, etc.). I'm going to Europe shortly and maybe I'll look for something like this and put a modest amt. on it.

Has anyone done this - bought a prepaid debit card in Europe which has a chip and pin?

For Laura, if you have a mag strip card and requested and received a Pin, that Pin is good only for making a Cash Advance on the card from an ATM. Review your card terms for Cash Advance, but many charge a $10 fee or 5% of the transaction, whichever is more, and then interest starts from the time of withdrawal, amounting to about 2% of the transaction if you wait a month to pay off the bill. So is it a help? well it does give you a source of cash, not as good a rate as using your ATM card (~1% if no fees) or doing a Credit Card Transaction (~1% to 5% depending on your card) but better than bringing a wad of cash to either exchange there or exchanges here.

Even if you had a chip and you had to request a Pin, the situation is the same, except you have a chip and signature. In the case of a True Chip and Pin, you will set a Pin prior to activation, though when in Europe, you will likely still be asked for a signature as that is often your primary Credit Card Verification (CCV) method.

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The problem with 'chip & pin' in the U.S. is not the banks. The
merchants will be required to purchase new equipment to accommodate
'chip & pin' cards. They are the ones doing the foot-dragging.

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Not true. The merchants will also be required to purchase/rent new equipment to accommodate the Chip and Signature cards. I suspect most would rather do this only once rather than again when we finally do go to the Pin cards.

My CapOne Platinum card has a chip and a pin. I called them up two months ago and requested new Visa cards for my wife and me, and they arrived within a couple of weeks. We intend to use them as our primary credit card. We also got chip and pin debit cards from our bank, Wells Fargo. I ordered them from the local branch office and they arrived within two weeks. But since no shops I've been to here at home in Oakland, CA use chip+pin, I haven't been able to test them. I guess we'll just see how it goes when we arrive in Frankfurt next week.*

emphasized text

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Try your local Sam's Club. They have had chip and pin readers at our local store for several months. In fact, even some of the merchants at the local farmers market have chip and pin readers. I know, as I have a chip and pin card.

Bob, I was really glad to see you point out that merchants ALREADY will be required to purchase new equipment for Chip and Sign. Do you think that the equipment makers created a system that will convert easily to Chip and Pin or will they all have to buy new equipment AGAIN? I was told by a Chase VP that the card companies don't think Americans are "ready" for Chip and Pin....it is not like we don't already deal with many, many pins already! They are so patronizing.

Merchants are not required to purchase the new chip compatible equipment. However, if they don't, they will now be on the hook for fraudulent transactions, not the banks.

Thanks Bob, for answering my question about the pin I got for my ccard. You jogged my memory. It is indeed just a way to have the ccard work like a debit card. We already have debit cards with pins that worked in Europe as recently as last year, so I assume this will still be the case at ATMs. I will hold my breath and hope that our magnetic strip cards still are useful at most restaurants etc. May still look for chip and pin prepaid card for train tix etc. wish US banks weren't so pokey about this issue!

Oops! Thanks Paul!