On Mon, 31 Aug 2009 09:15:44 +0100, John Geddes wrote in post :
:
> singlemalt wrote:
>> "But make sure that your credit card is of a Chip and Pin type compatible
>> with the system used in France, and avoid arriving too late at night."
>>
>> What is a Chip and Pin type credit card? Does that mean I cannot use my
>> plain ole' plastic American card in France?
>>
>> Thanks, j.
>>
> See http://www.chipandpin.co.uk/consumer/means/cardlook.html for a
> picture of a chip-and-pin card.
>
> The UK is now 100% chip-and-pin; France have been for years.
>
> Visa say:
>
> "Some merchants in Europe have mistakenly refused to accept Visa cards
> issued by U.S. financial institutions because the cards do not have an
> embedded chip that can be read at the point of sale."
>
> "Mistaken" perhaps, but I suspect that this is pretty common. AIUI, in
> the UK, merchants have less protection against fraudulent use when they
> accept a signature-based payment rather than a chip-and-pin payment. In
> shops that don't see a US card often, I would guess that refusal would
> be the rule rather than the exception.
>
> I wouldn't count on automatic machines that accept Credit/Debit Cards
> all being happy with a mag-stripe-only card these days - so that could
> mean problems not only with budget hotels in France, but potentially
> with ticket machines at otherwise-unmanned rail stations, payment
> machines at peage points on motorways and so on.
>
> John Geddes
> England
I've never had to use a PIN with my Austrian Visa card in the UK. Maybe
I've been lucky. The thing is, aIui, a shop accepting Visa must accept a
Visa card from wherever it comes (regardless of whether the UK is totally
Chip/PIN or not). It's part of their agreement.
If the issuing country hasn't changed to chip/Pin then cards from that
country are to be accepted with signature. In effect, every shop should
have the means to accept a card with signature until every country in the
world has changed over. I got sent a letter about this some time ago from
Visa.
--
Tim C. |