Originally Posted by
aidanc
From my own experience, I'm thinking of Sweden here, PIN is required. Again, a normal credit card (Visa or MasterCard) will be accepted for this, but you will need the PIN.
This is counter to what Visa has told me (the ATM pin is just that--an ATM pin) and my experience in Sweden confirms that my CC ATM PINs were useless for all transactions.
Originally Posted by
aidanc
Can I make it clear that while both mag-stripe and chip cards are co-existing, there is a strong policy from Visa and MasterCard to ensure that both kinds of cards are accepted anywhere the brands are displayed.
Yes, the policy is there, and since I became aware of the rules I have not had a face-to-face transaction declined (sometimes a little pushing is required, sometimes pressing the right buttons on the CC customer terminal is required). The real problem is that certain unattended automated paystations are out of compliance with the rules. They should easily be able to recognize which cards have chips and which do not; many, though, simply don't.
My biggest problem with chip/pin was automated ticket vending machines for SJ (rail company) in Sweden.