chff

Got home from Europe this week, used my Chase BA Visa Chip & Sign, and worked fine, always signed (was not at automated POS)

kebosabi

This past weekend, I was able to test out my Chase Hyatt VISA Chip-and-Signature card in Canada and in Japan.

As a test, I tried it 3 ways: 1 place in Canada where they still swipe, 1 place in Canada where they did it via the chip, and 1 place in Japan where I knew they discontinued using the mag-stripe swiper.




Test case 1: A seafood store in YVR where they still used the old swiper. No real change here, all they did was swipe the mag-stripe portion on the back of my Chase Hyatt Card just as like any mag-stripe card issued in the US. Note the entry method is written as "Swiped" onto the receipt.



Test case 2: The YVR airport gift shop where they could've done it via the swipe or the chip, but they used the chip. Being at an international airport where they would expect people from both the US and abroad, they used the terminal that accepted both the mag-stripe and the chip.

The cashier however, noticing the chip on the card, just inserted my card into the chip reader and handed me the pin pad. But being a Chip-and-Signature card, the small LCD screen on the pin pad said "CAD 7.96 press yes/no." I pressed the green button for yes and the terminal printed out a receipt for me to sign. Note how the receipt says "Chip" as authentication method.



Test case 3: A gift store in Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture, Japan.

My friend in Japan has a summer vacation home in Karuizawa. On my past trips here, I knew that this particular merchant had discontinued the use of mag-stripe readers at their store due to past skimming fraud activity that targeted the wealthy Japanese people who own vacation homes here.

Nevermind the VISA sticker on the merchant's door. My CapitalOne card was essentially useless plastic here, which was disappointing since it advertised no foreign transaction fees as their selling point. But what good is that when the merchant has chosen to upgrade their terminals to a chip only reader to prevent fraud?

Then again, by the time this merchant decided to upgrade their POS terminal, almost all Japanese VISA cards were already issued with chips, most foreign tourists to Karuizawa are from Asia which also issues chipped cards, and very few Americans visit Karuizawa, so the decision was understandable. Why stick with using older, insecure mag-stripe swipers when 99% of this merchant's clientele have chipped cards?

As such, it was a bit embarrassing to ask my friend to pay for me in cash on the first time I encountered this several years ago. Ever since then, I made sure to always have extra Japanese yen on hand when visiting Karuizawa.

But this time, it was different as I had my Chase Hyatt Chip-and-Signature card with me. Hence, this was the perfect place to test out if my Chip-and-Signature would work at a store in Japan where they only had the chip reader.

And it worked! The cashier took my chipped card and just inserted into the chip slot. And as with most Japanese electronic gadgetry which amazes me, the Japanese POS terminal even started talking to give instructions to cashier, 「カードをお取り下さい、カード所持者に署名させて下さい」 ("Please remove the card from the reader. Please have cardholder sign the receipt"). The terminal knew that this was a Chip-and-Signature rather than a Chip-and-PIN card, so it actually told the cashier what to do. But then again, Chip-and-Signature seems to be the norm in Asia so I guess the chip terminal was pre-equipped to handle both PIN and Signature authentication.

Interest of note that instead of the receipt printing out "Chip," as the authentication method, the words "(IC)" were written as a suffix after my credit card number. In Japan, chipped cards are more commonly known as IC cards, which is an abbreviation of "integrated circuitry."



As such, it seems that my new preferred international card has become the Chase Hyatt VISA Chip-and-Signature card. Never at once used my CapOne card since it's essentially useless plastic abroad. If both of them have no foreign transaction fees, but if the Chase Hyatt has the chip and the mag-stripe while the CapOne only has the mag-stripe, it's obvious I'm going to use the former as my main card abroad.

APeverell

I used my Chase Palladium and Citi AA Executive card at Japan's chip reader terminal in a convenient shop. All without a problem, and I didn't even need to sign. Just got a receipt.

jamar

Although the curious thing about the Japanese receipt is that it mis-identified your card as a Saison card. But at least it works.

Although

I wonder what of the mainland Chinese tourists that arrive with mag-stripe-only UnionPay cards? I can currently count the number of EMV card issuers here on one hand (excluding the BoC China/BoCHK cross-border credit card arrangement). Or those with mag-stripe JCB cards- they advertise themselves in China as THE card to have when heading to Japan, and no chip.

jbalmuth

Last week I used both my Chase Hyatt card and my Chase BA card, each with chips (Chip-and-Signature technology), in railway kiosks in the U.K. I was surprised, and delighted, that they worked, as the lines to buy a ticket at the window would have caused significant delays.

Is there a thread indicating locations where the new U.S. - issued Chase cards do not work (presumably because they are not Chip-and-PIN)? TIA!

kebosabi

It think it probably has something to do with which processing network the merchant uses for VISA or MC rather than the POS terminal.

My past experiences is that mag-stripe or chip, VISA processing usually goes through SAISON and MC processing usually goes through UC when using them in Japan. Other times they may go through UFJ Nicos, DC, or Aeon. It all depends on which network the merchant(s) has a contract for their processing network.

In either case, the charge showed up just fine as "pending" on my Chase account by the time I fired up my smartphone via WiFi 10 minutes later. Of course I gave myself a heart attack at how much JPY 2994 was ($37.72!!) due to the crappy exchange rate these days between the USD and JPY. Oh how I yearn for the days when 1 USD = 100 JPY...


Now that you mention it, I don't recall seeing an UnionPay sticker on this gift shop's door.

binsbug

I have a Chase BA card with chip and signature. I am currently traveling and can report that I had no problem with merchants (restaurants, hotels, etc) accepting the chip and signature. The hand held machines printed out a receipt for me to sign and an extra copy for my records. Also, today I "topped off" my Oyster Card (London travelcard) with my Chase Visa at a machine kiosk in the underground station with no problem. There was a keypad to enter a pin but the transaction went through with no pin. I just inserted my card and the machine screen reported that the card was accepted.

kebosabi

That's great to hear. In that case, my Chase Hyatt too will be accepted at kiosks in the Underground. ^

mia

There may be "some" London Underground ticket machines that are EMV-only, but in my experience most still have swipe readers.

JEFFJAGUAR

Same with me!

Steve in Olympia

I have not had good luck using swipe cards in the London Underground kiosks, with the Heathrow Underground station being the most recent example. I am thankful that the Chase British Airways card is now available with a chip.

binsbug

Because this was my first time using an Oyster card, I checked out all the ticket machines at every tube stop to check balances and how to top off when needed. I didn't notice any swipe credit card readers, only chip style. Granted it was a small sampling (included Heathrow terminal 5) but it is my observation and I'm glad I had a card with a chip.

JEFFJAGUAR

I hate to tell you this, on the tfl machines, the magnetic strip cards go in the same slot as the chip cards and they read them! Have done it for many years and that's where I insert my mgnetic strip card...I don't swipe it...I put it in and when it says remove card I...remove the card. The magnetic strip cards do work.

Incidentally although I don't know if this has something to do with it. When chip and pin was "mandated" in the UK a few years ago (the UK was a bit late to this dance), there were some out crys raised by some groups of handicapped people say sightless people so it was agreed they would be exempt from the chip and pin rule and allowed to use magnetic strip cards. Whether that means all terminals in the UK have to accept magnetic strip cards I'm not prepared to say. But at least in my travels yes almost all in London, I've never had the slightest problem using a magnetic strip card nor any looks or any hesitation by any clerk of just what to do.

binsbug

Thanks for the clarification. Because previous posts referred to "swipe readers", I was looking for the traditional swipe slots.

mtkeller

Some of them are finicky and require the perfect touch to swipe the card. The only place where I've had a visitor have to resort to cash was Marylebone station where we tried both machines and several swipes (well, insert card/remove card when prompted) but without any luck. It does seem that you need to withdraw the card slower than you might swipe in the US but not too painfully slowly.