Just in from the PR Newswire:

SECU (State Employees' Credit Union) becomes 2nd credit union in the US to offer EMV cards

Anyone who qualifies for membership eligibilities of SECU now have the option to be ahead of all other US banks. As with the UNFCU, yet again shows that credit unions are much more customer oriented than any of our nation's top banks.


Tally up so far to the original question of this thread, the answer as of 2/17/2011 is "Yes right now there are three options"

1. If you work for the UN, you can apply for UNFCU's EMV VISA card
2. You can also now buy Travelex Chip & PIN cards for use abroad
3. If you work for the State of North Carolina, you can get a EMV debit card through SECU ← NEW!!

But only if each of those on the card can be updated easily each time one of them changes. You are not likely to renew your Admirals Club status at the same time as you renew (or raise or drop) in status level, nor either of those at the same time that your Citi MC needs to be updated (to a new expiration date, or because of fraud worries, to a new account number).

Is there a technology in existence whereby they can update that stuff in your existing card's chip in some easy way without them having to send you a new card each time any of that stuff changes? Or does the chip not actually contain any of this but simply "pointers" to ("addresses" of) how to find the real information dynamically (with the pointers/addresses able to stay the same as the real information changes)?

I assume the technology is available. Both JAL and ANA has something similar where they just incorporate the several cards into one:

JAL: http://www.jal.co.jp/jalcard/index03.html
ANA: http://www.ana.co.jp/wws/japan/e/loc...anacard/suica/

One single card that acts as a frequent flyer card + credit card w/ Chip & PIN (and mag-stripe on the back for countries like the US) + contactless Suica function + contactless IC chip to just tap and go onto a plane just like a subway.

If JAL and ANA can figure out with their partners on how much cash to deduct on a train fare or give you an online option to convert some of your miles to train ride credits, or know that you just boarded a plane from an online reservation with just one single card, I'm sure there's a way where a hypothetical super AA Citibank card can automatically figure out that you just renewed an Admiral's Club membership without the need of AA to keep sending you a new card each every year.

Likely around the relm of:

AAngel: "Would you like to renew your Admiral's Club today sir/ma'am?"
You "Sure"
AAngel: "I see that you have a super AA Citicard. If you could just tap or Chip & PIN your card there for me..."

<blip or enter PIN>

AAngel: "Thank you! Your super AA Citicard is now updated with the latest Admiral's Club renewal info good for another year. Here's your receipt that we deducted $X for the renewal fee."

I've never been able to change the PIN on a CHIP+PIN card.

Many issuers let the PIN be changed at an ATM and/or in-branch. Some do not allow changes at all. I have cards of both types. At least the one I have that does not permit self-selected PIn does allow the same pin to be retained upon reissuance of the card.

Correct, it depends on the policy of the issuing bank. For example some banks in Japan allow the PIN number for the IC chip to be changed at the ATM machine, some can be done in-branch through a special machine, whereas others make you fill out a form at the branch to have a new one sent to you via registered mail or have it picked up at the branch the next day.

I have a set of these framed on my wall from when I worked at Visa. :)

These are interesting. The bottom two were legacy Bank of America (I.e. prior to NCNB takeover) that were piloted when BofA had card operations on Phoenix, if I remember correctly.

Most of the cards are mondex cards, stored value that used the chip for value storage.

Other than the bottom two none appear to have been domestic US issued credit cards.

Sad it is that we must look this far back to see the US still has not joined the world. Interesting, this was. Thanks.

Here's an article about them.

French Bank Account!
 

Thank you, JMH!

I'm a newbie to FT (first post), and I only learned about the issue of CnP versus magnetic stripe a few days ago, but I've been searching for solutions ever since. After hearing about the limited success with the Travelex card, my SO and I have decided to try to get an account with Le Credit Lyonnais in time for our upcoming trip to Paris and Italy, scheduled for April 3rd-17th.

We definitely consider a CnP card to be a travel necessity, not only for its increased security against fraud, but also because we will be making purchases and using services for which the card is necessary. And then there's the embarrassment factor: this will be my fourth trip to Paris, my heart's home, and I simply can't abide the thought of being so impolite as to present an antiquated card that is difficult if not impossible for many merchants to process. In Italy we are planning to rent a car, as well, and several of the roads on our route from Milan to Venice are toll roads. Not to mention, we'll be arriving on Sunday, a day on which I assume all gas stations will be un-manned in that mostly-Catholic nation.

For all these reasons, it seems imperative to obtain a CnP card before we travel -- or at the very latest, on our first day in Europe. If we can't get a bank card through LCL, we'll see if we can buy a prepaid Maestro card at CDG or elsewhere, and we'll carry lots of cash (in our under-shirt wallets) just in case. But I'm crossing my fingers and hoping the French will come through for me as they have so many times before.

(I speak reasonably bad French, just good enough to understand and be understood, and just bad enough to encourage them to practice their English on me. I have found that it is easier to understand one's native language even if spoken badly, so if I speak my bad French and they speak their bad English, we usually understand each other perfectly!)

I will let you know how things progress as we move along in opening our account with LCL -- and if that fails, what success we have in purchasing/using a prepaid card.

Thank you all for such an informative thread!

-- Claudia

Does anyone know what the costs of the Cash Passport are?

They list some of the fees online (including inactive account & account closing fees :rolleyes:), but not the important ones, like what it costs to get the card and what they charge to add more money to the card (which also seems outrageous; are there any other prepaid cards that charge people to add money?).

There is some discussion of fees earlier in the thread, including the 5.5% foreign currency transaction fee, which suggests that this product should only be used at locations which will not accept a swipe card. Begin reading here:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/other...l#post15361760

The link in post 336 is obsolete. Disclosures are now here:

http://www.cashpassport.com/1/en/us/...ms-Conditions/

Note also post number 371 which mentions that this is wrong type of card to use in some automated machines:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/15538352-post371.html

It is common for prepaid cards to charge a fee to add value.

Reading the article on SECU’s decision makers for their switch to EMV capable cards really shed some insight to how credit unions are far more customer oriented than our nations’ banks.

http://www.digitaltransactions.net/news/story/2939

Considering that the UNFCU and SECU are both credit unions, it’s likely that the first ones in the US to make the switchover will be the CUs than our nations’ top banks. More likely cause is that making the switch to Chip & PIN allows CUs to differentiate themselves with the services offered by big name companies like BofA, Chase, and Citibank who are reluctant to make the change. What better way to lure more CU membership by saying “we care about fraud, that is why we take the initiative to issue more secure cards than the ancient mag-stripe that the big guys continue to rely upon. Plus, with this new card, there’s less likelihood of your card being rejected by merchants abroad.”

If anyone here belongs to a CU or knows one which you may qualify to become a member of, you may want to ask them if they are considering the switch to EMVs.

Thanks for the link. I've read most if not all of the posts in this thread already, but didn't turn up anything on a search.

I agree that it's not the best to use if I don't have to. But it's either get something like this, or carry

I searched again, and looked at the new terms you linked to. But like I said, they don't cover the initial fee to get the card, or to add cash to it.

After an additional search on the interwebs, I found the info I was looking for. For some reason, it's only on the travelex site and not the cash passport site. :td:

http://www.us.travelex.com/US/For-In...es-and-Limits/
http://www.us.travelex.com/US/For-In...ash-Passports/

Attempting to place an order online, it looks like they charge roughly $11 for the intial card, although that's just for the normal cash passport card, not the C&P enabled one.

There is apparently no fee when you add more cash to your card online.

Additionally, they will refund all of the money on your card after your trip with no commission.

Because of the Credit Union discussions it is useful to know that one can only be a member of one if one has a "common bond". One can demonstrate that in several ways.

For SECU one can meet that requirement in several ways:
https://www.ncsecu.org/AboutSECU/Mem...igibility.html
One of those is membership in:
http://www.seanc.org/about/
a union for state employees that explicitly accept non-state employees as members if their board accepts an application.

Many credit unions are not regid in who they accept even those there is some clear evidence in the name or other factors that shows the affinity they seek. In this particular case I suspect one does need to reside in North Carolina to make this work.

More credit unions will be offering EMV complaint cards soon, I am sure. Look for PenFed, USAA (not a CU) and others with large memberships abroad to be the first ones.