Are you insinuating that I would post something on Flyer Talk without knowing what I'm talking about?

I wasn't insinuating anything. I was asking pretty straight-forward questions at to whether you have a foreign account :confused:

No need to go to go all the way to the UK. Canada is chip and pin friendly. The only issue is getting to Canada to open the account. Not possible to do it online.

Most of the Canadian Major banks have US subsidiaries, passing money back and forth is a snap. I'm with Royal Bank (kept my account open from when I lived in Canada). I'm really glad I did, as my chip/pin client card (atm card) arrived last month. :)

Re-read my messages; there's nothing to be confused about. It's not hard, and it costs about $100/yr.

Just a thought but...

what are the chances of Americans who have had trouble using their non-chipped credit cards that are supposed to be "accepted worldwide" to file a massive class action lawsuit for false advertisement?


One thing that always strikes me as odd is how the US financial institutions likes to pass along the share of responsibility to retailers and merchants in forms of "the billions necessary to upgrade POS terminals" yet totally obscuring the fact that many of these EMV cards are backwards compatible as they already have magnetic stripes on the back of the card.

If not, we should be hearing issues with Europeans, Canadians, and Asians who have EMV chipped cards from their countries' banks when they buy stuff from our stores. But we don't because when those visitors whip out their chipped Barclay's VISA or PNB Paribas Mastercard or Scotiabank VISA debit card or Mizuho Financial Mastercard at BestBuy, McDonald's or Target, what do US merchants do? Swipe and sign!

No merchant or retailer in the US has to be forced or coerced to change or upgrade their POS terminals; they can continue to use the swipe and sign method through the backwards compatible magnetic stripe on the back of the card until their POS terminals gets old or they choose to do so themselves. However, it is the US financial institutions responsibility to ensure that they provide their customers with a card that has BOTH the chip to be used abroad AND the mag-stripe on the back for backwards compatibility. Issue solved.

Heck if you think about it, before magnetic stripes were present on credit cards, what did credit cards use? The embossed number and the metallic "kaching" type imprinter. Did the embossed numbers go away with the intro of the magnetic stripe? No, it remains there and some old timer retail stores still use that imprinter which is still valid today as it was fifty years ago. Same with the EMV chip; the magnetic stripe doesn't have to go away, it can remain there as a vestigial part of the credit card which can be used for backwards compatibility for swipe and sign POS terminals.

I believe some countries have already announced a phase out date for magnetic stripes.

Implementing Chip & PIN isn't merely a matter of upgrading terminals and replacing the cards. The card issuers' databases also need to be linked to the Chip & PIN authorization system and dispute resolution policies need to be revised. (In a signature based system someone must judge whether a signature is forged, but in a Chip & PIN system the possibility of unauthorized use is effectively disallowed as matter of policy.)

I have, and I'm lost. Are you talking about the FiarFX UK travel card? Its not global yet. For HSBC Premier, not interested in parking $100K at 0.75% for chip/pin. I didn't see anything else...

If you follow the link in post 162

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/14098240-post162.html

...it points to post 78

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/13102008-post78.html

...where jmhayes suggested opening an "offshore" account with a UK-based bank.

Last month, I was at the airport in Marseilles and needed to buy a train ticket. The only way to buy a ticket was to use a machine that would only accept chip-and-pin cards. I was dead in the water, no way to get a ticket without taking a long ride into Marseilles to go to a train station with a human.

Fortunately, a kind French guy offered to buy me a ticket on his credit card in exchange for cash.

While I was traveling, I ran into problems several times with machines that would only accept chip-and-pin cards. In general, if you're at a place with a human, your card will usually be accepted, but kiosks, etc., frequently will not take a US card.

I am really looking for a US credit card company that will provide a MasterCard or Visa card with a chip. I'm willing to pay a fee, if necessary for such a card. I am amazed that with millions of Americans traveling abroad every year, none of the credit card companies has stepped up the plate on this.

Thanks mia. I was having trouble reconciling milepost 78 where it was described as "hard", and milepost 169 where it was described as "not hard" and thought I had missed something.

It depends on what you mean by "it" -- the original question was "How hard is it to get an account in some other country?" and the answer remains "In general, hard" ...

However, an offshore account isn't the same. And that's what is not hard ... get it now?

I agree completely and it's getting ridiculous every time I visit Europe. It'd be ok with my swipe card one year but the next year none of the merchants or kiosk would accept my magstripe only card. I'd be willing to pay an extra $100 for an option for any US financial institution to provide me with a chip-and-pin card.

Plus, I have to wonder how much US financial institutions are losing out on forex transactions from credit card use abroad. Accoding to the CDC, approx 60 million Americans travel abroad every year. Even if each one charged $100on their cards while travelling overseas, that's still a whopping $6 billion being spent by Americans each year in international transactions alone. US financial institutions should start looking at the bigger picture of losing longterm revenue instead of worrying about costs to implement the chip-and-PIN.

If the US financial institution won't get off their rear end to get this moving, I say it's time for a major class action lawsuit for false advertisement ("accepted worldwide," "the only card you need to carry" yeah, right). That'll wake them up fo'sho.

Any lawyers here willing to take this potential class action to court? :D

No. Sorry.

Since FT is all about help, can you tell me where, for $100/year I can easily open an offshore account and get a foreign currency (or USD) chip/pin card?

I know that with some sweet talking you can persuade a Canadian banker into opening an account for you, but that requires a trip to Canada.

Where you referring to HSBC? They offer offshore banking, but they require a £5K min balance and a £25/month fee or a £25K min balance and a £15/month fee. Neither fit the $100/year criteria.

Not only can I, but I have already several times ... post #78 has two such answers.

Nevermind then. "Easily" and "Be prepared for big hassles getting it set up" don't reconcile in my mind.