US based credit cards suck because they aren't chip encoded. Example: go to a French train station and try to book just a short train commute 15 miles away. Everybody else with normal european credit cards, just goes to the ticket dispenser machine/pays with the redit card. This takes about 1 minute. But, if using the old-fashioned, US based credit card you can't use the same ticket dispenser machine---you have to go and wait in long queue with a bunch of other dumb tourist-looking people. This often can take a very long time just to reach the window. By this time, you've already missed one schedule and the whole operation ends up costing you not only possibly 20-30 minutes wating in a stupid line, you end up having to take a later scheduled train. So, go ahead and get an old-fashioned, third-world, low-tech US based credit card. The only credit cards you can get issued in the US are all low-tech, and often don't swipe/work in other countries that are more advanced. It truly sucks. I supposed if you're in a country that doesn't require the chip encoded credit cards you will be okay. Oh well, I remember the times when the USA was cutting edge, always had the new technology.