Originally Posted by
uklevi
I just found out that I can't join USAA in any way. I will be without a chip and PIN card and I live in the UK. Great. I can't get any credit here whatsoever.
State Department FCU offers a 'prepaid' chip-and-PIN Visa card. I used this card extensively in Europe a year ago, and it worked everywhere from the local buses in Lund, Sweden to the SNCF ticket machines in France. Unfortunately it carries a 1% FTF, but so does the USAA card you can't get any longer.
https://www.sdfcu.org/prepaid
Note that you'll need to set up a checking account as well to be able to load the card from the web site. However, loads take effect immediately, so you won't need to carry a large balance on the prepaid card.
EDIT: Good news RE: UNFCU expanding eligibility. Hopefully this will be a hassle-free US source for a chip-and-PIN card.