FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - USA EMV cards: Availability, Q&A (Chip & PIN -or- Chip & Signature) [2012-2015]
Old Jan 18, 2012, 11:02 am
  #3  
kebosabi
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: LAX
Programs: AA EXP 1.5MM, Asiana Club Silver, KE Morning Calm, Hyatt Platinum, Amtrak Select
Posts: 7,161
Collective report of Chip & Signature usage abroad (as of 2012/8/22)

From the collective reports so far, we have begun seeing a better picture how US issued EMV Chip-and-Signature cards work outside the US:

Live merchants
Tester(s): kebosabi report, Aaron01 report

Pro: No more hassle about wasting 5-10 minutes of your life trying to convey the "you have to take it" "but it's store policy" charade with a cashier who may or may not understand English with a backlog of irritated customers behind you. The less stress, the better.

Con(?): Some are surprised it prints out a receipt to sign because they're not used to seeing machines spitting out a receipt to sign. Usually not a problem though.


Automated kiosks - no authorization under X amount
Tester(s): geohiller report, dyung report
  1. You selected an amount that's within X amount where transactions don't need verification
  2. The kiosk will read the EMV chip
  3. Transaction goes through
  4. No more need of trodding in shame to search of a live human to help you


Automated kiosks - online authorization (using cash advance PIN and going through as purchase)
Tester(s): islandguy84 report, cvarming report, Majuki report, joshwex90 report
  1. The kiosk will read the EMV chip and will ask you for your PIN
  2. You enter your PIN normally used for cash advances at the ATM
  3. The machine will connect with the server and verify that the PIN is correct
  4. Transaction goes through and is posted as a purchase instead of a cash advance.
  5. No more need of trodding in shame to search of a live human to help you


Automated kiosks - offline authorization
Tester(s): inferno10 report, dasubergeek report
  1. The kiosk will read the EMV chip and will ask you for your PIN
  2. You enter your PIN normally used for cash advances at the ATM
  3. The machine will check the chip if the PIN is correct
  4. Since there is no PIN encoded to the chip, the transaction fails
  5. However, there are also instances where four zeroes might work in some places
  6. If that also fails, trod over in shame and look for a live attendant (if there is one) to help you process it manually

Automated kiosks - offline authorization confirmed working with Andrews FCU (Chip-and-PIN) cards
Tester(s): BeeNYC report, RRossi report
  1. The kiosk will read the EMV chip and will ask you for your PIN
  2. You enter your PIN normally used for cash advances at the ATM
  3. The machine will check the chip if the PIN is correct
  4. Since the PIN is hard encoded to the chip, the transaction goes through and is posted as purchase instead of cash advance
  5. No more need of trodding in shame to search of a live human to help you



Country-locked cards
Tester(s): unavaca and cvarming report posts #206-210
Nothing you can do about this unless you have a card issued specifically for use in that country.
Seems to be the case in Denmark.


Consumer Verdict
Having an EMV Chip & Signature card is way better than just having a mag-stripe only card and is worth getting one.

However, Chip & Signature can still fail in offline verification kiosks which is somewhat prevalent in kiosks that aren't hooked up to the acquirer. If you would like to prepare yourself in instances like this, it may also be worth looking into getting a Chip & PIN card via a credit union until the big banks start implementing those as well.

Last edited by kebosabi; May 20, 2014 at 10:10 am
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