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Europe — and the rest of the world — is adopting a new system for credit and debit cards. While handy for locals, these chip-and-PIN cards are causing a few headaches for American visitors: Some machines that are designed to accept chip-and-PIN cards simply don’t accept US credit cards. This news is causing some anxiety among American travelers, but really: Don’t worry. While I’ve been inconvenienced a few times with automated machines that wouldn’t accept my card, it’s never caused me any serious trouble. Here’s the scoop
Today, outside the US, the majority of all cards are chip cards. These “smartcards” come with an embedded security chip (in addition to the magnetic stripe found on American-style cards). To make a purchase with a chip-and-PIN card, the cardholder inserts the card into a slot in the payment machine, then enters a PIN (like using a debit card in the US) while the card stays in the slot. The chip inside the card authorizes the transaction; the cardholder doesn’t sign a receipt. My readers tell me their American-style cards have been rejected by some automated payment machines in Great Britain, Ireland, Scandinavia, France, Switzerland, Belgium, Austria, Germany, and the Netherlands. This is especially common with machines at train and subway stations, toll roads, parking garages, luggage lockers, bike-rental kiosks, and self-serve gas pumps. For example, after a long flight into Charles de Gaulle Airport, you find you can’t use your credit card at the ticket machine for the train into Paris. Or, while driving in rural Switzerland on a Sunday afternoon, you discover that the automated gas station only accepts chip-and-PIN cards. Most lodgings, eateries, and shops that serve Americans will happily acknowledge your US Visa. Amid the exchange, they may request that you write in your PIN as opposed to sign a receipt. A few agents in destinations off the beaten track may not be acquainted with swiping a charge card; either be prepared to give them a brisk lesson, or even better, pay with money. In a couple cases, you may need to get imaginative; drivers specifically should know about potential issues when topping off at a mechanized corner store, entering an unattended parking structure, or leaving a toll road...you may very well need to proceed onward to the following service station or utilize the "money just" path at the toll court. The individuals who are truly concerned can apply for a chip card in the US, however I think this is needless excess. Real US banks, for example, Chase, Citi, Bank of America, US Bank, and Wells Fargo, are starting to offer Mastercards with chips — however the greater part of these accompany a strong yearly charge. Actually, these are "chip-and-mark" cards, for which your mark checks your character, not the "chip-and-PIN" cards being utilized as a part of Europe. While the American cards have chips, they are not designed for all logged off exchanges (in which the card is safely accepted for use without an ongoing association with the bank). The cards will work for most European exchanges, for example, in Paris Métro or the London Tube stations, yet they won't not work at an off the beaten path service station in Provence, where the gas pump is presumably disconnected from the net. In the event that you truly need a chip card, inquire as to whether it arrangements to offer one soon, and see whether the card is "chip-and-mark" or "chip-and-PIN." With either sort, make sure you remember the PIN for your card on the off chance that a card peruser requires it. Some credit unions are starting to take off genuine chip-and-PIN cards that work for all exchanges, online or logged off. One appealing no-charge card is the GlobeTrek Visa, offered by Andrews Federal Credit Union in Maryland (open to all US occupants). Later on, chip cards ought to wind up standard issue in the US. Visa and MasterCard have asked US banks and shippers to utilize chip-based cards by late 2015; the individuals who don't do the change may need to expect the risk for extortion. There's been bunches of resistance, as the transformation may cost up to $8 billion. Be that as it may, organizations and buyers are feeling the torment as worldwide hoodlums misuse our outdated attractive stripe innovation to hack into and bargain a great many US accounts each year. At the point when your bank next reestablishes your charge card, it's probable there will be a chip it PLAY VIDEO |
Labels: DEBIT CARD, LOANS, USA LOAN
