Non chip and pin credit cards in Europe
 

Has anyone had any recent experience of being American and having to use a non-chip and pin credit card in Europe.

I will be visiting the UK as well as the Netherlands and was wondering if I was going to have issues. I was in the UK in 2010 and in general it was okay but I had a couple of places in London refuse my card. Luckily I was with British friends who live there and they paid. When I got back I complained to Visa and they acknowledged the problem and said they were trying to resolve it.

Most of my cards are non chip although one recently turned up which is chip and signature. I also happen to have a UK bank account which comes with a Visa debit card but being issued in the UK it is a chip and pin card. If the US credit cards fail hopefully I can use the UK debit card.

Does anyone know if Visa debit cards issued in the UK would be accepted in the Netherlands for things like purchasing rail tickets?

Yes your US non-chip card will work fine at any human operated pay point. But not at the automated ones. And your UK chipped card will work at many, but not all automated kiosks. The last time I checked it will not work at the ticket machines in the Netherlands nor Belgium, but you can of course go to the human operated ticket office and use either card there. They sometimes upgrade these machines so give it a try either way. I keep a Dutch pin card in my wallet so I never have to worry. And a French one too. ;)

Thanks for the reply and clarifying. I was last in the Netherlands pre-pin and chip days so had no idea what to expect :)

Yes, UK Visa debit and credit cards work in the NS (Nederlandse Spoorwegen) ticket machines. You do get charged the EUR 0.50 credit card fee.

Some smaller establishments still only take Dutch PIN cards and not others, so don't rely on being able to pay by card in smaller cafes and similar - even if they display a sign like "PINnen graag".

That's interesting - so does that mean even within Europe credit and debit cards do not always work across borders. I was under the impression that within Europe they all worked across borders. I assume that is due to differences in implementation and the way the cards work are slightly different in the different countries?

It depends on the network. Amex, Visa and MC are global networks. But there are regional networks such as Maestro here in Europe that only exist in certain countries.

I guess that makes sense. I believe I used to see Maestro on my UK card but back then I don't think it was a Visa. Now it is a Visa but I don't see a Maestro logo on it.

Sometimes out of habit they will assume your card is chip & pin. Then after your card doesn't "read" they tell you it's no good. I've had that happen and yes, they can still process the card anyways. Even US Cards have chip and pin technology now. Look into getting one from your bank or CC company.

About 5 years ago I tried to buy train tickets at the manned window at Schiphol and was told that they would not process US swipe-and-sign cards. You had to have a chipped card. Don't know if one of the chip-and-sign cards I now have would have worked, but at that time I had to go get cash from an ATM. Other than that, and a few out of the way shops that seldom see swipe-and-sign cards, my experience is like yours. Swipe-and-sign will work at most manned ticket windows, shops and restaurants.

I think you will find that most of the chipped US cards are chip-and-sign, not chip-and-pin. I even got one from my bank that was advertised as chip-and-pin, but it kicked out a signature request every time I used it on a recent trip to the UK.

That said, the chip-and-sign cards worked everywhere that I dealt with a person. Did not get a chance to try one in a ticket or petrol terminal, but others have reported that they will work in some of those in some countries.

Either you misunderstood them or you got stuck at a clueless employee. They have always accepted swipe cards and still do to this day. They process several hundreds swipe cards per day and will continue until all the US cards have been converted to chip.

I'm not sure about the US chipped cards but based on online research it looks like most if not all are going to be chip and sign. As I said in an earlier post the one chipped card I received is chip and sign. I verified this by going to their website where there are videos showing how it works and even videos on how someone is trying to use the card somewhere in Europe and the seller is asking for a pin. The user says they don't have a pin and they only need to sign and the seller immediately obliges and the transaction goes off with any problems.

Of course in reality the could be problems as I already encountered on my last trip to the UK.

I cannot understand why the US banks cannot get in line with the chip and pin system.

Because they are still broke from the Mortgage/Housing market collapsing. Bail them out. Too big to fail!

:)

It's true with many technologies that the US starts out with something new (credit cards) and the rest of the world improves on that technology. But the accountants who control things in the US decided that the cost to upgrade in such a huge market as the US is, would be too expensive. It's foolish, but that's the way it's been in many, many industries.

Very likely - LOL