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It'll probably be a while. We tried them before but they ended up becoming such a scandal that most people would demand cards without that feature if banks just started issuing them again en masse. Even now people buy the RFID shields for their non-RFID chip cards because of the bad reputation.



Not really. Only a few banks issue them now, and they tend not to by default (or well, at least AmEx doesn't anyway) because of what I mentioned above.



Most countries are actually going away from chip entirely, at least for smaller purchases. I went to the UK a few months ago and everyone assumed I was paying with contactless/Apple Pay. Which was nice because nearly everyone supported it.

Considering that and the upcoming EU mandate for contactless support at terminals, I'm not so sure PIN's necessary anymore, at least in Europe anyway.

BIB: not sure about other countries but here in the U.K. Visa, MasterCard and I believe AmEx have started to process contactless transactions online when they’ve previously been authorised offline.

Was in the news half way through last year whereby people were reporting these cards lost/stolen but said cards could still be used for contactless purchases (until the terminal asked for PIN entry).

Can understand why people are wary but unless you’ve been negligent then the financial institutions cover any fraud losses anyway.
 
There are cards that come with that. For example you can set up a PIN for a BoA Travel Reward credit card so that it could be used online or abroad at POS requiring a PIN.
I have that card actually. I’ll doublecheck what you said because it might be something new I don’t know about. AFAIK the PIN is only for getting a cash advance at an ATM. But I’ll check again
 
It'll probably be a while. We tried them before but they ended up becoming such a scandal that most people would demand cards without that feature if banks just started issuing them again en masse. Even now people buy the RFID shields for their non-RFID chip cards because of the bad reputation.



Not really. Only a few banks issue them now, and they tend not to by default (or well, at least AmEx doesn't anyway) because of what I mentioned above.



Most countries are actually going away from chip entirely, at least for smaller purchases. I went to the UK a few months ago and everyone assumed I was paying with contactless/Apple Pay. Which was nice because nearly everyone supported it.

Considering that and the upcoming EU mandate for contactless support at terminals, I'm not so sure PIN's necessary anymore, at least in Europe anyway.

BIB: not sure about other countries but here in the U.K. Visa, MasterCard and I believe AmEx have started to process contactless transactions online when they’ve previously been authorised offline.

Was in the news half way through last year whereby people were reporting these cards lost/stolen but said cards could still be used for contactless purchases (until the terminal asked for PIN entry).

Can understand why people are wary but unless you’ve been negligent then the financial institutions cover any fraud losses anyway.
 
UK takes tips yet no signatures. Just tap or PIN#

When I use Apple Pay in the UK with my US credit card the POS machines never asked me for a PIN or a signature, just like how it works at 70% of the places I use Apple Pay in the States. I guess it's more a merchant requirement than a bank requirement then? I imagine Visa didn't put in this requirement, but is taking the lead to get rid of it.
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I have that card actually. I’ll doublecheck what you said because it might be something new I don’t know about. AFAIK the PIN is only for getting a cash advance at an ATM. But I’ll check again
I think you need to have the chip card, though.
 
When I use Apple Pay in the UK with my US credit card the POS machines never asked me for a PIN or a signature, just like how it works at 70% of the places I use Apple Pay in the States. I guess it's more a merchant requirement than a bank requirement then? I imagine Visa didn't put in this requirement, but is taking the lead to get rid of it.
Depends on the amount of purchase and the amount that triggers a signature varies by the store. Sometimes it’s over $100, sometimes over $75. You never know until it happens.
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When I use Apple Pay in the UK with my US credit card the POS machines never asked me for a PIN or a signature, just like how it works at 70% of the places I use Apple Pay in the States. I guess it's more a merchant requirement than a bank requirement then? I imagine Visa didn't put in this requirement, but is taking the lead to get rid of it.
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I think you need to have the chip card, though.
I have the chip card. Let me call BofA right now.
 
Depends on the amount of purchase and the amount that triggers a signature varies by the store. Sometimes it’s over $100, sometimes over $75. You never know until it happens.
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I have the chip card. Let me call BofA right now.

Ah that makes sense, better than in some countries where you have a hard max limit for contactless payments.
 
Capital One is doing it for their Venture and Quicksilver cards. My Costco Visa card issued by Citibank also has the logo but for some reason my card hasn't worked when I've tried it. Doesn't really matter to me as I have it loaded in ApplePay.

Noticed that about my CostCo card as well and was wondering if it was broken somehow - sounds like it just isn't enabled.
 
There are cards that come with that. For example you can set up a PIN for a BoA Travel Reward credit card so that it could be used online or abroad at POS requiring a PIN.

I have that card actually. I’ll doublecheck what you said because it might be something new I don’t know about. AFAIK the PIN is only for getting a cash advance at an ATM. But I’ll check again

Most US cards that have a PIN feature have it as a secondary check. If your priority is signature, it will still print out a slip if the terminal is manned. The card falls back to PIN only if it is an unmanned terminal. But that failed on me a few times when traveling through the EU even at unmanned terminals. Barclays has Chip-sig-PIN cards and it wasn't as seamless as I hoped. My UNFCU & First Tech Fed cards are PIN priority and work perfectly.

You can check here which one your card is: http://www.spotterswiki.com/emv/index.php
 
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Most US cards that have a PIN feature have it as a secondary check. If your priority is signature, it will still print out a slip if the terminal is manned. The card falls back to PIN only if it is an unmanned terminal. But that failed on me a few times when traveling through the EU. Barclays has Chip-sig-PIN cards and it wasn't as seamless as I hoped. My UNFCU & First Tech Fed cards are PIN priority and work perfectly.

You can check here which one your card is: http://www.spotterswiki.com/emv/index.php

Was checking on the database you provided, and the CVM somehow confuses me. The priority is signature, no CVM, and then PIN for some cards? Wouldn't it fall onto no CVM and then stop there?
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I've had a few times where not only have I had to sign they have required photo ID as well when using Apply Pay.

Wow, would you mind sharing approximately how large your purchase was?
 
Considering that and the upcoming EU mandate for contactless support at terminals, I'm not so sure PIN's necessary anymore, at least in Europe anyway.

PIN is usually required above €25 (varies by country). Also, cash withdrawal is not possible without PIN.
 
Completely getting rid of the signature doesn't work as well in a country where paying tips is ubiquitous. A lot of other countries either don't have this in their culture or they include standard service charge with the bill.

Works pretty easily actually.

Staff brings over the portable card machine, it shows you your total bill and prompts you on the screen for how much you want to tip. You can choose to tip by dollar or percentage and the machine does all the math and displays you your total charge.

Great system as your credit card never even leaves your hand.

Guess the waiters and waitresses will not be happy. Here in Europe if you tip you put cash on the cable...

As for happy waiters & waitresses? Most restaurants set default tip percentage amounts, so I imagine that goes a long way to higher tips.
 
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Signatures are so worthless.

Never even bother signing my name, just swipe a line & of course no one cares.
 
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Works pretty easily actually.

Staff brings over the portable card machine, it shows you your total bill and prompts you on the screen for how much you want to tip. You can choose to tip by dollar or percentage and the machine does all the math and displays you your total charge.

Great system as your credit card never even leaves your hand.



As for happy waiters & waitresses? Most restaurants set default tip percentage amounts, so I imagine that goes a long way to higher tips.

Yeah that's how they do it in many parts of Europe and China. Not sure why I rarely see portable POS machines in the States. The waitress taking away your credit card is indeed kind of risky. They could easily copy the magnetic strip. Indeed I've experienced credit fraud of this kind, when my card was mysteriously used at a Home Depot in Vermont when I was in NYC...
 
Welcome to the year before i was born america!

I was shocked when i went to Miami and Orlando last fall that not a single store i have tried supported tapping to pay. Thats literally all i use. Even in Germany who loves cash!
 
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I think you need to have the chip card, though.
There are cards that come with that. For example you can set up a PIN for a BoA Travel Reward credit card so that it could be used online or abroad at POS requiring a PIN.
ok. Just got off the phone with BofA. At first she was like “yeah no problem you can pay anywhere” then I pushed harder (nicely) told her how I have been blocked at machines and asked her if she knew the difference between chip and pin and chip and signature. Also whether she had ever travelled in Europe. She hadn’t. So she looked in her reference and said “oh, the card IS chip and signature”. But there’s a new entry that says if a machine requires a PIN, we can use our cash advance PIN to complete the transaction. She said it had a newer date on it and it was something she didn’t know about so she thanked me for educating HER . So in summary, looks like B of A fixed my problem with buying tickets at a machine. Thank YOU for bringing it to my attention so I could look into it!
 
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I *have* a credit card from PenFed that supports Chip & PIN. When I used it up in Canada to do things like pay for gasoline it accepted my PIN without any problems. But any time I used it in a restaurant, etc. they'd still print out a receipt for me to sign for some strange reason...

Of course they do, and they will continue to do so after April.

With just a bit of thinking, folks will know why....

think...

They need you to add the tip. - They really could care less about the signature.
 
Thank God. It's so embarrassing being anywhere outside of the US, when everyone else just pays and walks away, but all the Americans have to sign a slip, and the clerks have to dig out a pen. Some countries are better sports about it than others. But it definitely emphasizes who's an American and who isn't at a time when the US international reputation isn't exactly at it's best.

I guess in that situation the Pen truly is mightier than the sword ... and could lead to a pending bullet in the worse places to be an American. I cannot imagine just how unconfortable a situation like that can be.
 
Some retailers have been asking for a zip code after using Apple Pay.
That’s a customer research thing. Knowing where their customers are coming from, how far they travelled to shop, etc. so they know where to send ads in the mail to get the best bang for their buck,I bet
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Thank God. It's so embarrassing being anywhere outside of the US, when everyone else just pays and walks away, but all the Americans have to sign a slip, and the clerks have to dig out a pen. Some countries are better sports about it than others. But it definitely emphasizes who's an American and who isn't at a time when the US international reputation isn't exactly at it's best.
It really sucks when you are trying to get on a subway in Barcelona and can’t buy a ticket because they only have machines that require PINs and you don’t have any cash. I had to leave and walk until I found a station with a manned counter. After that experience, I always made sure I had cash, a ride pass or pre-bought tickets. In Berlin, I ran out of coins and had to buy a donut first to get on a train, lol. I don’t have the guts to just jump on and take a chance I’m not getting caught. And that only works in stations without the entries that require a ticket to get to the train platform. Definitely can’t jump over the barrier like I saw young guys do in Stockholm!
 
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