Originally Posted by
kebosabi
Do you know whether the PIN change is online (PIN change stored on server) or does it physically re-write it onto the EMV chip itself (PIN change on EMV chip)?
If it's only the former, the US can already do that with PIN changes over the phone, through the ATM or by walking into a branch. Despite what clueless CSRs say, it seems by now through reports that online PIN (the PIN used for cash advance, not some random 0000 or 1234) works with Chip-and-Signature and generally it goes through as a purchase instead of cash advance.
But if there is a need to physically re-write the PIN change onto the EMV chip itself, then there's a problem. The US doesn't have that so that will be an extra cost for the banks to deal with. And from a bank's perspective that's the usual "waaaah, it's gonna cost us money, boo-hoo-hoo, feel sorry for us *sniff sniff*"
In the past all Pin changes had to be at the ATM as the change was hard coded on the chip itself. Some issuers are now supporting remote change, where you change it over the phone or online, enter your old PIN on the next transaction after that the PIN will update for the transaction (Excluding Plane and Rail transactions as these normally process offline) via issuer scripts I assume. The latter is only just really starting to happen though and as some transactions happen offline it can really confuse customers as to whether their PIN has changed. This method works better in other countries that use online pin as priority and then offline PIN as the secondary CVM, this means the offline PIN will update when you use your new PIN on the next transaction (NO having to remember the old one or wonder if its changed yet).
Regarding the PIN causing a cash advance fee, I don't see how this could happen as this would only happen at an ATM or if the transaction was routed through a US debit network which wouldn't be possible outside of the US.