CaptainMiles

Funny, that's exactly what I did. A great excuse to ride the motorcycle on a nice day!

kebosabi

U.S. Bank Global EMV Corporate Card Hits the Market

US Bank follows up their EMV chip solution for corporate customers.

Interest of note:

Sounds like US Bank got it right to do both Chip-and-Signature and Chip-and-PIN for their corporate clients.

sdsearch

I presume the highlighted is a typo? There were no (EMV) chip cards in the US a few years ago!

But I'm curious, what is your goal? Most all Diners Club US members have gotten or are soon getting the chip & PIN card, and you'll have foreign trip reports (in the Diners Club forum "Chip & Pin?" thread as likely as here) before very long. (I have one, and will be trying mine out on a trip to Spain in late April / early May, for example.)

askmrlee

I should have clarified. I tried my original Amex Blue with smart chip and not Expresspay on an AA flight some 4+ (?) years ago. It was still valid. My only goal is to see if the chip card readers already installed in the US can actually read chip cards and to verify that my card works in chip readers.

I've had problems with Amex Expresspay where the RFID chip had some kind of defect even after 2 replacements and my tap transactions would not authorize although swipe transactions worked. It would be nice to know that the Diners Club chip actually works before leaving the US!

kebosabi

It'd be nice if Wal-Mart would provide a list of which stores are EMV live so we can start testing out EMV Chip-and-PIN/Signature over on the stateside without driving over to Canada/Mexico or flying to Europe/Asia.

Anyone have a contact to Jamie Henry, senior director of payment services in Wal-Mart’s corporate treasury department? He seems to be the spokesperson for Wal-Mart's EMV adoption so if anyone at Wal-Mart knows about which of their stores are EMV live, he'd probably be the best one to ask.

mia

The chip which was formerly installed in USA-issued American Express Blue cards was proprietary and not compatible with EMV. American Express did not join EMV until 2009. See this article from 2002:

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/56/wth.html

kebosabi

Interesting read on how US Bank really feels about EMV cards:

Four Key Takeaways from the SEAA

My rebuttal to Ms. Joseph is this:

The key drive to success in the US has always been and still is, based on market competition. And competition is heating up as there are other banks now issuing EMV cards, including Chase, Citi, and even Andrews FCU.

There are choices now for the consumers so the "value to justify the expense" is keeping your most worthwhile customers, especially considering that those that travel abroad frequently happen to have higher incomes, to be happy and loyal to your bank.

If US Bank doesn't want high value customers who want Chip-and-Signature/PIN, I'm sure Chase, Citi, and Andrews FCU would gladly take away your customer base.

The "high cost of issuing chip cards" is a cost of doing business, no more different than the cost needed to install ATM machines at bank branches or hiring bank tellers. Of course if the "high cost of issuing chip cards" is a big deal to US Bancorp, you could always charge an "EMV chip card re-issuance fee" to those that request one. And let's see if other banks follow suit with that idea or see if there are any repercussions from the general public with such an announcement.

mia

I think she has already conceded the value for overseas travel most issuers are likely to issue EMV cards only to customers who travel overseas, and perhaps to rollout chip cards as existing cards expire. The mystery is why choose Chip & Signature rather than Chip & PIN if the target market is travelers. I can understand Chip & Signature if EMV will be a standard feature for domestic use, but if it is a niche market why not implement it for full compatibility with foreign systems (even if you think the foreign issuers made an incorrect choice)?

kebosabi

Good point as well.

While I agree to that Chip-and-Signature is better than nothing as at it brings down the language barrier of trying to make merchants abroad to accept the card in a matter they're more familiar with rather than the antiquated method of swipe & sign via the mag-stripe, it is still a half baked answer.

The reality is that more and more places are becoming automated these days as a form of cost savings by reducing labor costs (i.e. automated gas pumps, toll roads, train ticket kiosks, etc) which require a full Chip-and-PIN solution for authorization.

And it's not like the backend technology is non-existent for the banks in the US to fulfill a full Chip-and-PIN solution either. Both UNFCU and Andrews FCU are credit unions that are based in the US which do full Chip-and-PIN. Why can these two smaller credit unions be able to handle Chip-and-PIN while the major banks can only go half way to Chip-and-Signature?

EasyD

Personally, I just cut my US Bank FlexPoints EMV card in half and closed my account... Andrews FCU FTW! True Chip-and-PIN, and a credit union, I only wish I had found this thread before getting the US Bank card!

sdsearch

Perhaps US Bank is too used to this already? They had a big bunch of high value foreign travelers when Northwest Airlines existed and US Bank had the NW WorldPerks Visa cards, but they lost all that (to AMEX for those who stayed with the merged airline, to other banks for those who went to other airlines). Despite FlexPerks, I don't think of US Bank any more as a bank that's particularly focused on travelers.

I'd be more interested in what AMEX would have to say about the same thing. Talk about a brand that's associated with travel! (They were known for travelers checks before they were known from credit cards.) And yet zilch about EMV from them???

mia

kebosabi

Common rebuttals to use when given inane remarks

Hmm...your suggestion requires a pre-requisite knowledge in conversing with [insert foreign language here]. Or, will I be able to call AMEX Concierge services who is fluent in [insert foreign language here] to translate that to the minimum wage earning cashier when such a need arises and charge my cell phone's international roaming cost to AMEX?

Or, maybe it's just easier for me to whip out my Chase Hyatt card with EMV Chip-and-Signature.

Better yet, I'll just whip out my Andrews FCU Globetrek VISA card; AMEX lost a transaction, VISA just earned 1% in forex fees.


See, isn't competition a wonderful thing?

mia

Customer service representatives do not make policy, which is another reason I prefer to communicate in writing. I hope that written feedback works its way up the decision making chain in summary form.

I acknowledged that there were ways to "work around" the lack of EMV, but that I would no longer consider doing it this way because Citi, Chase, Diners Club and others were already providing a more convenient solution.

PWMFlyer19

Yeh, I have been thinking of "boycotting" AMEX until they at least have a plan. I don't want to necessarily close the account because it is by far my oldest open account on my CR, but at least Chase seems to have a plan. Probably going to pick up the Andrews FCU card...

I tweeted them as well...any specific address your recommend ? I will right a letter....