tmiw

It's unfortunate that there are still seemingly a lot of unattended terminals in Europe that don't work with signature only cards despite that being a requirement of the card networks. At least Americans still have a choice to get a card that does.

alggag

I wish Chase would include PIN support on the "premium" travel orientated cards such as the CSP and CSR since people using these cards are more likely to actually care about it.

tmiw

Actually, I'm not sure all that many people outside of FT do--and the ones that do already have a card like the Arrival+. (Plus, Chase may be expecting mobile wallets to take off, making the whole question moot.)

oliver2002

Chase will add a pin function to your existing chip card if you call in.

tmiw

My understanding is that this is only the cash advance PIN and not one usable for purchases.

oliver2002

Paging @Xyzzy he got the PIN for his chip.

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.

tusphotog

Just to chime in: no issues with my CSR or SPG Amex during my trip to Italy in May. Was able to use Apple Pay quite frequently too in Milan and Rome too. I ended up paying in cash a bit more than usual, but no issues with my American cards.

Oddly enough I get more annoyed looks in Canada since nobody ever has a pen handy.

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.

It appears to me that Apple Pay is really just contactless payment with the iPhone. I mention this because locations that only advertise Apple Pay basically take my contactless payment credit cards, even if they do not advertise that. Last trip to Canada, I found every place I went accepted contactless payment and I never exchanged any money over a long weekend.

der_saeufer

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.


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.

mia

Wouldn't an American with a Chip & Signature card traveling in a Chip & PIN country have the foresight to carry his/her own pen?

serpens

It sometimes astounds me what people (including me!) fail to anticipate.

tmiw

I'm aware of that. I have heard of it working before, however, but as mentioned that's not really something you'd want to rely on.

I actually wouldn't recommend Andrews. Their service leaves something to be desired in my experience (and I'm not 100% sure they really understand the chip thing, either)--not to mention that the rewards program is poor even by credit union standards. Not that this class of cards are all that great rewards-wise, but it would have been nice to be able to redeem for cash back instead of having to buy stuff from their store.

Anyway, most people can probably get by just with something like the Arrival+; a major bank such as Barclays has fewer hoops to jump through compared to joining a credit union. In the worst case, a debit card will likely work for unattended terminals, even if you have to pay FTF. PIN preferring cards are more of a "would be nice to have" thing and not a "must have" since signature still works for manned terminals; they're also mostly only available from credit unions and thus might not be worth the hassle to join them for most.

BTW I have debit and credit cards from UNFCU as well that prefer PIN over signature and their service seems pretty good so far. I'm not sure how they compare to First Tech or SDFCU, however.

sdsearch

That's the wrong wish.

It's not so much a Chase decision, it's a Visa decision, and Chase uses Visa.

You need an MC for starters if you want chip & PIN. (But while MC is necessary, it's not sufficient. There are still a lot of MCs out there without chip & PIN.)

Some Barclay cards have chip & PIN, because Barclay uses MC.

BMO's Diners Clubs cards (not available for new applications) have chip & PIN, because BMO uses MC.

There is no such thing as a Visa card issued in the US with chip & PIN AFAIK.

So if you want to wish for something, you need to wish for Visa, not Chase itself, changing their minds.

But the practical thing is to get an MC that has chip & PIN.

(Now, I guess you could wish for Chase to add chip & PIN support to their IHG card, since that's their one MC card. But Chase is so-Visa centric, it's hard for them to adopt a different policy for their one and only MC card.)

tmiw

Visa may be discouraging it for credit cards somehow but that's different than an outright ban. Examples of Visa cards that support PIN:

• UNFCU's credit and debit cards (offline PIN preferring for the former, online PIN preferring for the latter)
• BofA's credit cards (online PIN after "no CVM")
• Navy Federal's credit cards (PIN after "no CVM")
• USAA's credit cards (PIN after signature)
• Every other US issued Visa Debit card (online PIN immediately after signature)

More examples here.