FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Lack of PIN-enabled Chase CHIP card impacts acceptance in Italy?
Old Aug 3, 2017, 5:37 am
  #25  
der_saeufer
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: DEL
Posts: 1,053
Originally Posted by tmiw
It's not that one can't get a PIN at all, it's that it's officially for cash advances only (and in fact is how the chips on Chase credit cards are set up). Some unattended terminals may ask for a PIN despite this and they may work with the cash advance PIN but I wouldn't rely on that working 100% of the time.
I have a cash advance PIN for my CSR. It simply does. not. work. in terminals set up for PIN-based purchases. The chip is not coded to support PIN, online or offline, for purchases.


Originally Posted by LAXRuss
I recently obtained a State Department Credit Union Visa 1% Rewards card, now open to just about anyone, because they will issue a primary chip & PIN card on request. I like to have that available overseas and appreciate that US locations such as Home Depot will default on the PIN in lieu of the signature with that card.
SDFCU is good, as is First Tech on the West Coast, whose credit and debit cards are always chip-and-PIN. I don't know how SDFCU codes their cards, but First Tech cards prefer PIN over no CVM, so you have to use your pin to buy a pack of gum, even when the terminal would normally waive the signature. Andrews cards (at least when I had one) prefer signature but still support both online and offline PIN. They work in gas pumps and ticket kiosks but clerks overseas have to go looking for a pen.

Another often-overlooked advantage of these credit union cards is that they generally (definitely in the case of First Tech and Andrews) have no cash advance fee, so they can serve as a reasonable backup if your ATM card gets lost, stolen, or eaten by an ATM. Interest accrues immediately, but you can also pay it online before the statement closes and pay only a couple cents in interest. Andrews saved me easily $50+ in fees when I stupidly went on a month-long trip with only one ATM card and it got eaten by a malfunctioning Balinese ATM on day two.

tl;dr: everyone who travels should have a credit card from SDFCU, First Tech, or Andrews.
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