cbn42

It's probably more expensive than you think. Running a separate production line (or contracting with someone to run a production line) for a small amount of cards is not cost-effective.

You may get that impression here on Flyertalk, but the reality is that a very small percentage of Americans travel abroad, a small percentage of this group goes to countries with Chip and PIN, and an even smaller percentage of this group are credit card aficionados who insist on using their fancy cards everywhere. It is simply not enough customers for the banks to care about. I have a friend in the UK right now who has reported no problems with his mag stripe card, despite the UK being one of the first countries to adopt Chip and PIN. Most staff know how to swipe a card, and if they don't, there is always cash. We may not realize it, but people like us are a small percentage of the population.

JEFFJAGUAR

Given the size of the population, even a small percentage is a lot of people. Of course the European country most often visited by Americans is the UK and after all the language spoken there is reasonably close to the language spoken by most Americans so there really is not that much of a communication problem in any event and lots and lots of tourists in most areas of the UK. Now try the same thing in France.

And as I said, there is one bank (Capital One) that has built its entire credit card program around foreign travellers!

dcrombie

I successfully received both a basic TY card and a TY Preferred card both with "GCC" chips. Found a CSR that knew what she was talking about. At first she didn't think it was available for my cards but found a way. Seems like almost every citi card can be ordered with the chip now (I asked her to read me the list and it was very long). They came within the week in regular mail and included a third-page flyer on chip and signature. The only weird thing is the chips are smaller than my other chipped cards.

I did this more out of curiosity than need as I have a JP Morgan chip/sig and true chip/pin CIBC Infinite and Amex.

km3255

The conversation has been (understandably) US-focused, but just to give you some perspective from a place that has been chip + signature for several years now, I have been able to use my Hong Kong issued cards without problem at automated kiosks throughout Europe. I simply use the same PIN as I would for a cash advance (if I were to be so foolish), but the charge is processed as a normal purchase. Interestingly my HSBC issued card does not work - perhaps because HSBC requires a 6-8 digit PIN.

So I guess what I'm saying is that there should be plenty of precedent for card issuers in chip + signature countries to issue cards that function perfectly well in a chip + PIN environment (I'm assuming HK isn't alone in this regard).

kebosabi

That was the first thing I noticed too when I first received my chipped CitiAAdvantage card. But seems like the size of the chip doesn't matter; didn't have any problems Chip-and-Signing at multiple places in Canada a few weeks ago.

One waiter in Vancouver even commented how small the chip was making it look better than any of his own cards.

pinoymutt

You must have hit the jackpot with a CSR that knew the drill. I called yet again and was told this time my card is "not eligible at this time." I've tweeted @AskCiti as well and no one even gives me the time of day.

Very frustrating, and I guess it's time to give Chase another look and probably my business.

sdsearch

I don't agree. Just because it's made all its cards friendly to foreign travelers in terms of forex fees, doesn't mean they expect that to be a major part of their business. Just look at their ads. Each ad is set in a separate location, but virtually always a location in the US. Capital One has build their Venture credit card program around travelers in general, but not specifically foreign travelers (just foreign travelers as a natural subset).

Btw, you don't need to be a foreign traveler at all to want to avoid forex fees. You can incur those just by purchasing stuff on websites that happen to be run by an overseas company in some cases (even if what you purchase will not result in travel outside the US)!

But you never (AFAIK) need a chip card for online transactions. So a chip card is somewhat different than a no-forex card, in that it only provides benefit to those who travel outside the country (and then want to use credit cards as much as possible, despite many guidebooks saying you should expect to have to pay cash for lots of things).

JEFFJAGUAR

Obviously, we can't quantify it. Every travel board I've come across goes through this issue and the #1 recommendation for foreign travel is almost always Capital One (although some report some negative comments about their customer service)...they and MBNA were traditionally the good guys with foreign transaction fees...that ended for MBNA DBA FIA when Bank of America bought their credit card portfolio. Since Capital One not only doesxn't add a foreign transaction fee, it eats the visa/mc fee which has to cost them some money. Why haven't they duped this program? The no foreign currency fee is their biggest claim to fame

kebosabi

When asked why you want to cancel your Citi cards, tell the account supervisor that Chase, US Bank and Andrews FCU offers a chip card for international purposes.

In all likelihood, that would end up pushing the right buttons for them to send out your chipped card right away as a form of retention.

pinoymutt

Actually tried that (used Chase as an example) and doesn't seem to phase them.

Someone from @Askciti finally responded and asked for my info to see if they can help me, so we'll see if this route works as per what other folks have seemed to have had some success with.

dcrombie

That might work of citi cared but I suspect they do not. And yes, I was very lucky to get a csr who knew what i was asking for but it did take some prodding as she originally said my cards didn't qualify for GCC.

kebosabi

Following VISA and MC, Discover now also joins in the ranks of moving to EMV starting 2013:

Discover Implements EMV Mandate for U.S., Canada and Mexico

Note of interest:

With 3 out 4 major networks in play, the lone standout is AMEX now.

richarddd

Does it work at European railroad kiosks and other unattended stations?

jamar

I think this is a potential point of failure for their international cross-acceptance agreements. Retail card terminals will have to support JCB's and UnionPay's EMV applications on top of Discover's.

gerod

I just received my Citi AA Executive Mastercard with Chip & Sig card - didn't even ask Citi for it.

We'll see how this thing works in Mexico and Europe.