sdsearch

DC cards issued in US/Canada get processed on the MasterCard network (they have a MasterCard logo on the front and card numbers starting with 5xxx).

It's only Diners Club cards issued outside of North America that have to be processed on the Diners Club / Discover network.

(And yes, note I said Diners Club / Discover. Ie, since a year or so ago, any place that takes Discover should also take Diners, at least in theory. Of course, while Discover acceptance is better than Diners alone was, it's obviously still nowhere near MC/Visa.)

This change to MC network for US/Canada Diners Club cards happened about half a decade ago (while Diners Club North America was still administered by Citi).

kebosabi

Citi seems to be sending out replacement cards for the Citi AAdvantage World Elite Mastercard (not the more expensive Executive version) with the chip now.

I received my replacement card yesterday and it came with a short FAQ flyer on what the chip is for.

jamar

Hope they do the same for the Visa Signature cards.

mia

PIN or Signature?

JEFFJAGUAR

Was it a replacement card for an upcoming new expiration date or was it a replacement card you requested because your original card was damaged? I don't see any indication anywhere they are beginning to issue these cards (not that I'm questioning you of course).

kebosabi

It came in the usual envelope that comes with the cards. I thought they just sent me a new card again because of the security issues that's been happening lately; it's like my third time this year for the MC alone so I thought it was going to be the same again.

When I opened it, the card number, expiration date, and the CCV was still same as my previous one except this card came with a chip on it. The back looks a bit different though as if it was produced by a different company.


Seems like Signature.

Should I scan and upload the flyer?

OverThereTooMuch

Of course! (Next time, don't ask, just upload ^)

kebosabi

Here's the front and back of the flyer. Sorry it's not the best scan in the world.

jamar

Interesting how the flyer doesn't feature a specific logo- hope that means they intend on using it for a possible replacement for Visa too.

ArizonaGuy

Chase British Airways Visa with Chip & Signature

Successes:
Berlin Zoo
SNCF kiosk at CDG T2
Electronics store on Boulevard Saint-Michel, Paris

None of those requested a PIN and I didn't sign anything for the SNCF kiosk.


Failures:
Staffed ticket window at Paris Metro station - Opera
McDonald's, Rue Berger, Paris

At the Opera metro, we were buying 72 hour metro passes. There's a card reader mounted flush in the counter on the customer side - no magnetic swipe slot though one may be embedded in the chip reader slot. The ticket agent said his system was telling him the card was invalid. We tried a couple of times. Never a request for a PIN. Ticket agent tried to help (wife speaks fluent French, fortunately) but no luck.

At McDonald's they have automated touch-screen self-order kiosks. Refused to accept the card as valid after two attempts and spat out a receipt to pay cash at the counter.

Note that the chip was read in a chip reader in an electronics store between the two failures so I know it's still an active card.

Heading back to Berlin for Silvester, let's see if I can run into any more failures or successes there.

JEFFJAGUAR

Well, we'll see...I just ordered a replacement card for my citi AA card. Of course, it will not be used in Europe unless I'm in a situation where the merchant insists he will only accept a chip card as I refuse to pay the highly immoral 3% foreign transaction fee (it's immoral because of course citibank has nothing to do with the conversion of the currency; that is done by mc and they have no liability for currency fluctuations which is supposedly the reason for this fee on the part of mc)...

kebosabi

Also the lower right hand corner says "EMVAA" so it could also mean there may be/planning to be flyer inserts for other Citicards as well, not just AA co-branded cards.

sdsearch

While I am not arguing about whether it's immoral or not, your explanation of why it's immoral seems irrelevant. It's a foreign transaction fee, not a foreign exchange fee. Ie, Citi will even assess the same 3% should you get charged (say, in an independent-of-Citi Dynamic Currency Conversion ripoff) in US Dollars overseas. It thus has nothing to do with anyone's currency coversion necessarily!

JEFFJAGUAR

Historically, it was originally a foreign currency exchange fee. 1% was imposed by mc/visa and the other 2% by several of the banks. When asked, they could never give a justification of the fee because as I said, they had nothing to do with the conversion of the currency that being done by mc/visa which did have to bear the possiblity of fluctuations of exchange rate although very rarely do they move 1% on any given day. The fee was imposed because it was just another way to rip off their customers and do you know any bank that ever misses an opportunity to rip off its customers in the name of making larger and larger profits.

Along came dynamic currency conversion and one of its "goals" was to have customers electing dcc to avoid these foreign exchange fees or at least pay them partially to the merchant and to the credit card processors. In retaliaton, mc/visa imposed certain fees that became foreign transaction fees and of course the near criminal banks that imposed the additional fees for foreign currench exchange which they had nothing to do with, followed suit. Again try to get some justirication from them for these fees. They can't give you any because there is none other than it's another opportunity to rip off their customers.

What is most reprehensible about this fee is the fact that in many cases the transaction never leaves the USA and you get hit for the fee. Example go to orbitz and buy tickets on Aer Lingus for a return trip between New York and Dublin. The transacton never leavesthe United States. Yet if you are stupid enough to use the credit cards of one of these near criminal banks, you get hit for the fee because, so they claim, it is a foreign transaction as Aer Lingus uses an Irish bank to process its mc/visa transactions.

I defy anybody to try to defend this fee.

kebosabi

Steering back to issue of the thread instead of forex fees.

Here's also the front (with the EMV chip) and the back (retaining the mag-stripe) scan of the chipped Citi AAdvantage Card; obviously with vital info hidden. Sorry again for the poor quality of the scan



Interestingly, it seems Citi has chosen Oberthur for their EMV card issuance.