No idea. You can google to see if such variety exists. Judging by many warnings on this issue but not any recommendation of getting a prepaid card, I would imagine there is none.

By the inheritant restriction (usage of a PIN), the prepaid card concept may not work with such system.

There is a list of UK prepaid cards here. Most appear to have chips...

http://www.what-prepaid-card.co.uk/f...aid-cards.html

Unfortunately, all of the cards on this link have your name embossed, have to be delivered via mail, and are for UK residents only.

EPC (Europe Payment Council) is mulling a ban on the mag stripe. We Americans should fear not because:

The other question is what are Europeans going to do when traveling in the US?

http://www.creditcards.com/credit-ca...urope-1273.php

I got a pin for my Wells Fargo Visa so that it can be used to withdraw cash if needed from ATMs in France. Was told by Wells Fargo that I would have no problems using my card in France. Don't think that means it has a chip, of course.
Of course, I'm still skeptical because of some of the horror stories I've ready here.

The PIN is for Cash Withdrawal - I assume you understand, using Cash Withdrawal feature on a credit card, meaning you are using CASH ADVANCE, and what that transaction entails?

Using a CC to get cash from ATM should be your last resort to obtain some cash.

Your card can be used in France, not because of the PIN, but because as long as the merchants use readers that can read mag stripe cards. It has nothing to do with the PIN your CC has.

You only encounter issues in France is when the merchants dont have mag reader, or you need to use unmanned services.

well u can always go to moscow, the few places that take cc have no problem with usa cards, no chip and pin there...

how is berlin or poland?

Very good point.

Do these people think things through? :confused:

Firstly, to disclose, I work in the credit card industry, and most of the time on the sharp end of delivering Chip and PIN solutions.

For those of you carrying mag-stripe cards with no chip, both Visa and MasterCard expect all merchants accepting cards with those logos to accept them regardless of the presence of chips, and this expectance is part of the merchant contract with their bank/acquirer.

I recommend a look at the Visa public documents on card acceptance, which is a bit technical:

https://partnernetwork.visa.com/vpn/...3&userRegion=1

and look at the Transaction Acceptance Device Guide. Also have a look at Section 5 of the Visa International Operating regulations at

http://corporate.visa.com/pd/rules/main.jsp

I've posted on FT before about cardholders (you the FTer) reporting poor card acceptance to your bank (the issuer) and if possible to a manager at the place where you had problems.

With the exception of some unattended devices (tolls, gas stations and railway ticket machines), both mag-stripe and chip cards can be processed at a "Chip and PIN" device. All European ATMs will accept a mag-stripe card for cash transactions.

Unattended payment is a much riskier form of transaction, where the verification of the card (real or counterfeit) is more difficult, and so in some cases, only chip cards are accepted. Chip cards are quite easy to verify if they are real - for the full story, check out www.emvco.com.

It was mentioned earlier that some of the problems expressed by the OP and others are more at smaller, non-tourist shops. I'd agree with this.

In France in particular, they've had chips on their cards since the early 1990s, and there has always been some acceptance issues with mag-stripe.

For US card issuers, there is still a decision to be made if they require (EMV) chip technology. Interac in Canada (the local debit scheme) has mandated Chip cards to be in peoples pockets by 2012. In Europe our date was back in2003.

Contactless payment is more advanced in the US than in many other countries, but the underlying specifications are somewhat simpler than the new combination "Chip and PIN" and contactless cards that are being issued in Canada or in Europe.

Personally, I expect to see contactless cards in most peoples pockets by the end of the next decade, and the US will also have migrated most credit cards to chip as well by that time.

FYI, not all chip cards are "Chip and PIN". There are many "Chip and Signature" cards in Asia, and in the UK, people with certain disabilities can apply to their bank for non-PIN card.

"Chip and PIN" is very much a UK term - in many other countries, including the US, Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands, PIN has been part of a normal debit card point of sale transaction since the cards arrived. Chip is just enhanced copy protection.

I'm not excusing the behaviour of particular merchants, they are not card payment experts, but I agree that the training they receive could be better, especially as there are many new types of payment card in the world.

Aidan

Aidan, thanks for all that info.

In the US, there's an additional wrinkle, that applies to debit cards but not credit cards, and is of high concern to FTers (who use debit cards). US-issued debit cafrds earn points/miles/cashback only if used in "signature" mode, not when used in the "PIN" mode, as it's considered a completely different transcation (credit vs debit, even though the card itself is debit).

I don't understand how this discinction can be continued if all signature processing is to be done away with. (Of course, it's not the signature, but the "creidt" type processing which determines whether the rewards are earned. But it's very confusing for debit companies to explain that your card which is not a credit needs to be "processed as credit", and so they use the "signature" explanation.)

I also presume there's no such equivelant with rewards-earning debit cards in Europe. Either they don't exist, or I presume they don't require you to do a specific type of transaction to earn the rewards? :confused:

Americans on this thread need to separate the "pin" transactions that are widely used here (either a debit card, or an ATM transaction/cash advance) from the chip/pin transactions that are being adopted overseas (and Canada). The chip/Pin entry is no different than signing the slip on a mag strip based transaction. Think of it as a secure digital signature.

In other words, the only thing in common with a pin transaction in the US and a chip/pin transaction in Europe is the acronym "pin".

Surprisingly, even travel guru Rick Steve is confused on this subject. Today I read a column by him in the Sunday travel section of local newspaper. I was shocked to read he advised the readers to get a PIN for their credit cards so they can use the cards in European countries where the PIN is required... But then in the same article, he said he tried NOT to use credit card at all due to possible fraud when travel, and only use credit card as last resort or at the end of the trip. He advises his readers to use cash and carries money belt...

Given such an authorative figure on European travel would offer such advice to his readers, no wonder so many are so confused on this topic.

What awful advice, on so many levels.

If you lose a credit card, it's a pain, but you don't lose any money. If you lose cash, you've lost the money for good.

I have been fighting with this for 2 years since the all chip and pin system passed in the UK!!

To answer your question, I haven't been able to find any pre-paid cards for non-UK residents as of yet, but I'm always on the lookout (hence stumbling across this thread). But I have read all those articles and merchant agreements with the cc companies etc.

I don't usually have any problems and after a while got quite comfortable going to places and handing over my card and giving my usual "it's an American card so you'll have to swipe it". In the larger cities it wasn't even really necessary, most of them probably deal with a lot of tourists and know the drill. But so you're in the know with the workers, if they give you any grief just tell them we don't have chip and pin, they just have to swipe it and it will let them print a reciept to be signed like old times. Your only "laws" are that you have to provide a photo ID so be sure you have one on you just in case! If they're not sure what to do then let them know their terminal will prompt them or of course ask for a manager.

The only places I've really had any issues was in Superdrug where everytime I went to the small local shop the girl had to get her manager.
The small local football club shop where she wouldn't try as she didn't want to get in trouble but I had the cash and there was a huge line so I left it.
And then there's Gamestation.... the company that, against their merchant agreement with both MasterCard and Visa, has made it policy that they are not to accept ANY swipe cards regardless of where it was issued and identification. I just wanted to buy a PS3 for my nephews at Christmas and when I was told they wouldn't take my card, there is no swipe reader (which was a lie because I was looking at it) I got into it big time with the store manager and then on the phone with customer service afterwards. I haven't checked lately but I put in a merchant violation complaint so I don't know if they've changed their policy but you better believe I'll be checking when I'm back next month. That still gets me all worked up thinking about it!

However, these were a handful of less than silky smooth transactions from someone who uses their card so much the numbers are unreadable and nearly flat so percentage of issues is low. But absolutely stay away from using ATMs unless it's a dire emergency. The fees are simply not worth it.

Please let me know if you find anything, I will keep looking as well and keep you posted!! ;)

Hi,

There are three different (and unrelated) things at play here.

Firstly, how do you identify the (physical) plastic as genuine. With Chip cards they have a fancy public/private key system which makes generating counterfiet cards pretty difficult. Secondly, the chip "signs" each transaction, so only the issuing bank can verify the signature.

With a mag-stripe card, you're looking at many of the security features (hologram, UV image, micro printing and so on), which many merchants are unaware of or are unable verify. Also, many of these physical security features can be duplicated by criminals. (Lost and stolen cards also come into this area).

Secondly, you have the whole area of how does the merchant ensure that the person presenting the card for payment is the actual card/account holder. In the good old days, this is by signature. Does the signature on the card match the docket. Most of the time, the quality around this is pretty crap.

In some countries, when you spend more than a preset limit (say US$20), the merchant asks for ID. In countries where this takes place, they generally have a domestic ID card, and for tourists, they generally need to show a passport. Moving from a human (signature) to an automated (PIN) cardholder verification, means that there is less chance of an error, or an oppertunistic thief using a recently stolen card. I'm sure in years to come, there will be biometrics introduced into this area.

Finally, and important in light of what sdsearch has asked, is what card product did you use to pay. In the UK people generally have two cards, a credit card (Visa/MasterCard) and a debit card (Maestro/Switch...). These are used from two different accounts and not related to each other.

In other countries, people might have a single card, that has different properties depending on how the card is used. Use it in your home country and it's a debit card, and use it abroad it's a credit card? Are you sure? It's more complicated than this.

What I can assure you is that using a "combo-card" such as this, that is mag-stripe, there should be no problems getting your miles when used at an attended point of sale in places where either "Chip and PIN" is read or at a mag-stripe point of sale. I'd be interested in an offline chat by PM if this is the case.

The "PIN mode" mentioned by sdsearch is more likely to be ATM abroad (cash withdrawal), rather than normal purchases at a point of sale.

"Chip and PIN" is a general effort to automate the verification of both cards and cardholders, and remove any margin for error introduced by retail staff.

Aidan