kebosabi

Well noted. If you reside or happen to be near the MD, NJ or Washington DC area with Andrews FCU branches, it might be easier to just show up in person and open an account there.

weave

Hat tip to you kind sir. I live about two hours away from a branch. I'm going to do this as well, on a nice day when I can ride my motorcycle down there!

PWMFlyer19

It is 1% forex, not 3% for the Andrews FCU card and you do earn some sort of rewards points, though not straight miles.

I think for a lot of people, it is a great backup option when you run into a situation when you need a chip and pin such as automated gas stations, train stations, you get the 1 employee who does not know how to do the "swipe", etc, etc.

CaptainMiles

How does your quick argument go with the metro ticket machine?

Andrews FCU card earns CU Rewards points, which are worth about 1%. You pay 1% forex fee and get back 1% in rewards, so it's a zero net sum.

I think the point is that the chip-and-PIN cards enable some transactions that are otherwise impossible, and speed up transactions that would take an argument with a clerk. When the transaction amount is small there is no point even starting the argument. The time it takes to even start the argument, at a traveler's hourly rate, exceeds the value of the reward. Might as well cut straight to the chip-and-PIN to avoid wasting time.

Now for large transactions, I agree with you, swipe for the better reward. But those are typically done at merchants where you could swipe anyway and who are used to swiping.

kebosabi

Both the Andrews and Hyatt cards earn rewards and have 0% forex fee (net 0% on the Andrews considering the rewards rate). The former has $0 annual fee and the other has $75 annual fee.

Besides, if it's something like a subway ticket on the Brussels Metro, a EUR 4,00 ham-and-cheese sandwich at a French supermarket, or trying to pay a JPY 2000 cab fare in Fukuoka, earning rewards and forex rates are the least of my concern. I'll give the mag-stripe a shot, but as soon as I find it doesn't work, it's going to the bottom of my wallet and out comes my Andrews FCU or Chase Hyatt card.

That being said, you can say that my biggest concern in these instances is the quickness of having other options in my wallet. As soon as I find that I can't buy a subway ticket using the machine using my mag-stripe, out comes my Andrews FCU Chip-and-PIN card. It's the point that I need to buy the ticket as fast as I can to catch the train instead of finding an open kiosk and dealing with a live person at a manned station over the language barrier, in which I may not even know that the window hours may not be even open on that hour/weekend.

As for the supermarket, I'm not going to waste my time arguing with the minimum wage earning cashier to swipe the card for the sake of a ham-and-cheese sandwich. My biggest concern is getting out through the checkout stand quickly without creating a huge backup of irritated customers behind me. Rather than dealing with the irritations and embarrassments that would cause by that, I just whip out my Chase Hyatt Chip-and-Signature card.

As for the cab in Fukuoka, I'm not going to waste my time sitting in the cab trying to put my point across with the Japanese taxi driver who's unable to accept my CapOne mag-stripe card because the cab isn't equipped with a swiper. For the sake of JPY 2000 worth of cab fare, earning Venture Rewards or trying to push the CapOne card because has no forex fees is not worth my time or effort. I can either just pay cash or whip out my Andrews FCU or Chase Hyatt card instead.

Now if I'm buying a $500 Fendi wallet in Paris as a present for my mom, then my priority jumps to earning rewards and forex rates. I'm fairly confident that Fendi stores in Paris will accept mag-stripe cards and are staffed with people who know what mag-stripes are for the sake of lots of American Express cardholders shopping there. But for the small things in life like a subway ticket, a ham-and-cheese sandwich, or a simple cab fare, I'm not wasting my time or effort pushing the "you need to accept the mag-stripe" argument, moreso when the easiest solutions to those minute problems in life already are in my wallet in the form of two chipped cards. And cards that provide me the solutions to these minute problems in life are the ones that I tend to view as cards that offer better service that fits the needs of the international traveler; which in the end, persuades me to prefer using chipped cards as my main cards outside of the US.

FoxCrane

nevermind!

EasyD

I've applied for, and been approved, for an Andrews FCU chip-and-PIN card. I received the PIN about 8 days later, but have not yet received the card... Been about 10 days. How long does this usually take for Andrews?

Thanks!

kebosabi

I have to wonder how much of an increase in clients Andrews FCU is gaining for being the sole provider of true Chip-and-PIN cards in the US.

sdsearch

You mean as the sole provider of true Chip-and-PIN cards to new accounts in the US.

BMO/Harris is providing true Chip-and-PIN cards in the US, but only to people who've had the Diners Club card for at least a few years (since they last took applications for new personal accounts).

Thus without factoring in the "new accounts" issue, Andrews is not the sole provider of true Chip-and-PIN cards in the US.

Still, who knows about this? Has there been an article in the WSJ or someplace explaining Andrews FCU and their true Chip-and-PIN cards? Or is it just our little collection of folks here on FT that know about it?

BeeNYC

I just returned from a two week stay in Nice, France where I was able to successfully use my Andrews FCU Chip and Pin in the ticket kiosk at the train station and at the automated ticket machine at the tram stops--many times. A big thank you to FlyerTalk for alerting me to the availability of this card.

It was especially satisfying to successfully use it in the Nice train station in spite of a warning sign on the kiosk stating that American credit cards will not work--yay!!

FoxCrane

nevermind!

kebosabi

Thank you for reporting back on your experience in using the Andrews FCU Globetrek Rewards Chip-and-PIN card abroad. I have added the note to the Google Docs spreadsheet that you have confirmed it works at automated kiosks and train ticketing machines that only takes chipped cards.

If anyone wants to report how this card worked at automated gas pumps and toll booths, that would be helpful too. Sounds like Andrews FCU is clearly becoming the best backup card Americans can get for international travel to this date, especially when Chip-and-PIN transactions are necessary.

CaptainMiles

I have been testing my Andrews Globetrek VISA, and so far I am not thrilled.

4/3 in the US I charged $5 at a regular merchant. Regular swipe and sign, of course. The charge did not appear in my Andrews account online and it's been 3 weeks already. If it stays that way my only regret will be that the charge was not $5K.

4/21 in Switzerland I charged 1 CHF at Coop (supermarket). Inserted the card in the chip reader, terminal prompted me to verify the amount, and then a paper slip came out for signing. No prompt to enter PIN. Again, charge did not appear in my Andrews account online.

4/24 in Portugal I charged 1.xx EUR at Pingo Doce (supermarket). Exact same experience as in Switzerland, had to sign. At this supermarket I also tried another charge for 1.yy EUR with an EU-issued chip&pin VISA, and then the terminal prompted me for PIN. So the terminal prompts for PIN, but not when using the Andrews card. Ugh.

I have not yet found any unattended machine that takes VISA. There are machines that take local cards, but not VISA. When I find one, that will be the acid test.

Has anyone tried the Andrews Globetrek VISA and been prompted for PIN?

wco81

the advantage of a Europe-issued card vs a US EMV card would be that the former is more likely to work for online payments from European vendors of train tickets, SIM top-ups, etc.

I might do Andrews. I'm leaving for 2 weeks in Italy in a month. But hopefully Visa pushes this through as they talked about.

RRossi

I just returned from a month in France, and I'm glad I took the time to get an Andrews FCU chip and pin card before I left. I used it principally at gas stations and metro/train stations in Bordeaux and Paris, plus the toll motorways a couple of times. A high percentage of gas stations are at supermarkets (which have the cheapest gas by far in France), and pretty much all of them were unattended. Plus I sometimes needed gas when no attended stations would be open anyway. The card was never rejected. The only thing that surprised me was that sometimes, particularly at shops, the machine didn't ask for a PIN and just approved the transaction, or else it required a signature.