Originally Posted by
fredc84
No, all my Citi AA cards send me a pin even before I even get the card. Some other banks do as well. It is only if you want to use the card in an ATM machine, as you said. Has nothing to do with a debit card and if you do use it at an atm, you will be paying the interest rate immediately on that withdrawal. Do what I do....shred it and forget it.
With some banks, mostly with MasterCard credit cards, that PIN is
not just for ATM machines (which I agree are not good to use with credit cards except maybe in a real emergency). They are also the PIN for EMV purchases in some countries in Europe (where some automated kiosks require a PIN for you to make a purchase).
In those cases, if you are going to be traveling to Europe and possibly using that card at automated kiosks, I would not recommend shredding it, but instead either memorizing it or changing it to a PIN you can remember (but you need the original PIN that they issued to change the PIN to a new one). If you're worried about using the card at an ATM (or somewhere else where it's treated as a cash advance rather than a purchase), request that they lower the cash advance credit limit to $0 (or the lowest they allow, at least).
Having said that, Amex (USA) does not support chip + PIN on any of their cards that's I've looked at with Cardpeek, so for Amex (Surpass) it is indeed shreddable.