Originally Posted by
muji
You mentioned the "chip and PIN" card. On Rick Steves' website he says "Chip-and-PIN cards are embedded with an electronic chip (rather than the magnetic stripe used on our American-style cards). Much of Europe is adopting this system..."
The Chase BA card that I mentioned (which has a silver, rectangular icon on the front) has a magnetic strip on the back (like all my other cards)...so I am wondering if that Chase BA card is in fact what is called a chip and PIN card? (If it is, then I need to get a PIN for it...)
I think that you would know if you had a chip-and-pin card. Banks in the US are exceedingly stingy with them (they cost more to produce) and would make a lot of hullabaloo if they were issuing one to you. In general only their highest-spending customers are able to get them (a few credit unions are exceptions to this). The silver hologram on the front is not an indicator of a chip.
However, if your bank will give you a PIN, by all means obtain it. Ticket machines in at least some countries -- I encountered this in Switzerland -- will accept mag-stripe cards if you can enter a PIN.