Traveling abroad with credit card? You better bring cash
American travelers prepping for their late summer (or increasingly common September) trip to Europe might consider the above items as standard for their pre-departure list. But there's something that they may not have packed, and that item has become quickly the norm as the worldwide trend towards cashless consumer purchases continues to rise.
When it comes to the debatable necessity of smart cards, some travelers heading overseas are receiving mixed messages from their banks. To ensure that his magnetic swipe credit card would work abroad, Daniel Hayes, an English teacher from Fort Myers, Florida, called Chase Bank before his summer trip to Europe.
"They said I could use the credit card anywhere, or at least in 99 percent of places-there was no mention of chip and PIN," Hayes said as he strolled along a shaded canal in Amsterdam's tourist-packed Red Light District. Yet Hayes and his friend, David Thorpe of Cape Canaveral, reported that their ability to use their credit cards while traveling cross the European continent had been inconsistent at best.
Anyone heading abroad will likely notice that smart chip cards are quickly becoming the worldwide standard. According to the Smart Card Alliance, 99.9 percent of European terminals are chip-enabled. The United States significantly lags behind other continents on EMV technology, too: more than 86 percent of terminals in Africa and the Middle East are chip-enabled. In Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean, that number is nearly 85 percent.
The phrase "chip and PIN" may draw a blank for American consumers long accustomed to the traditional "swipe and sign" credit cards, in which account information is contained on a magnetic strip on the back of the card. Chip and PIN cards take advantage of EMV "smart chip" technology: data is embedded within a chip, and transactions are verified through a PIN, or Personal Identification Number. Because encrypted chips are hard to counterfeit, smart cards enabled with chip and PIN offer superior security to magnetic strip cards.
Contrary to appearances, American financial institutions have long been aware of the merits of EMV technology. After all, JPMorgan Chase originally developed it. One reason U.S. banks have been slow to launch smart chip cards is their expense: EMV technology remains a pricier option than the status quo of magnetic strip cards.
That's despite an upswing in well-publicized credit card fraud crises that have recently swept the news, including Target's notorious December 2013 security breach. In Target's case, the payment information of more than 40,000 cardholders was compromised when it was "skimmed" from the magnetic stripes on the back of the cards, leaving some experts to question whether EMV technology might have prevented such a debilitating assault on a secure customer data.
No chip? No burger and chips
One country that has fully embraced the Chip and PIN system is the Netherlands. While local businesses tend to take cash, they are less likely to welcome traditional magnetic stripe credit cards. For the Dutch, PIN-enabled cards are such a part of life that a relatively new verb has firmly entered the lexicon: "pinnen" means to pay by PIN-enabled card.
On a Thursday evening in Amsterdam this summer, customers ordered exotic-sounding pumpkin and beef burgers at the Jordaan neighborhood's popular burger joint De Burgermeester. Most paid with chip and PIN cards; a few paid with cash. Sorry, the cashier apologized in perfect English, no "American cards" taken. In the same neighborhood, De Pizzabakkers, a popular local pizza chain, declined to take cash at all: waiters circulated with hand-held portable electronic card readers. At the end of their meals, diners paid table-side by inserting-not swiping-their cards and entering a PIN. Tourists desiring to leave a tip at either Amsterdam establishment must still bring cash-the card readers aren't set up to add tips.
Where should travelers headed across the Atlantic expect to find chip-and-PIN cards required, yet without an alternative to pay with cash?
Automated points of sale remain the most likely culprits: think ticket machines at parking lots, rental kiosks, and public transportation hubs such as subway, train and bus stations. In Amsterdam's bustling Centraal Station, for example, this forlorn sight is familiar: the tourist struggling to buy train tickets from an automated ticket machine. While fluent English-speaking agents offer assistance at the ticket counter, many frustrated travelers end up heading to the ATM to withdraw cash before returning to wait in line: the ticket counters accept cash, but not magnetic stripe cards. Continue reading... ā
Traveling abroad with credit card? You better bring cash
American travelers prepping for their late summer (or increasingly common September) trip to Europe might consider the above items as standard for their pre-departure list. But there's something that they may not have packed, and that item has become quickly the norm as the worldwide trend towards cashless consumer purchases continues to rise.
When it comes to the debatable necessity of smart cards, some travelers heading overseas are receiving mixed messages from their banks. To ensure that his magnetic swipe credit card would work abroad, Daniel Hayes, an English teacher from Fort Myers, Florida, called Chase Bank before his summer trip to Europe.
"They said I could use the credit card anywhere, or at least in 99 percent of places-there was no mention of chip and PIN," Hayes said as he strolled along a shaded canal in Amsterdam's tourist-packed Red Light District. Yet Hayes and his friend, David Thorpe of Cape Canaveral, reported that their ability to use their credit cards while traveling cross the European continent had been inconsistent at best.
Anyone heading abroad will likely notice that smart chip cards are quickly becoming the worldwide standard. According to the Smart Card Alliance, 99.9 percent of European terminals are chip-enabled. The United States significantly lags behind other continents on EMV technology, too: more than 86 percent of terminals in Africa and the Middle East are chip-enabled. In Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean, that number is nearly 85 percent.
The phrase "chip and PIN" may draw a blank for American consumers long accustomed to the traditional "swipe and sign" credit cards, in which account information is contained on a magnetic strip on the back of the card. Chip and PIN cards take advantage of EMV "smart chip" technology: data is embedded within a chip, and transactions are verified through a PIN, or Personal Identification Number. Because encrypted chips are hard to counterfeit, smart cards enabled with chip and PIN offer superior security to magnetic strip cards.
Contrary to appearances, American financial institutions have long been aware of the merits of EMV technology. After all, JPMorgan Chase originally developed it. One reason U.S. banks have been slow to launch smart chip cards is their expense: EMV technology remains a pricier option than the status quo of magnetic strip cards.
That's despite an upswing in well-publicized credit card fraud crises that have recently swept the news, including Target's notorious December 2013 security breach. In Target's case, the payment information of more than 40,000 cardholders was compromised when it was "skimmed" from the magnetic stripes on the back of the cards, leaving some experts to question whether EMV technology might have prevented such a debilitating assault on a secure customer data.
No chip? No burger and chips
One country that has fully embraced the Chip and PIN system is the Netherlands. While local businesses tend to take cash, they are less likely to welcome traditional magnetic stripe credit cards. For the Dutch, PIN-enabled cards are such a part of life that a relatively new verb has firmly entered the lexicon: "pinnen" means to pay by PIN-enabled card.
On a Thursday evening in Amsterdam this summer, customers ordered exotic-sounding pumpkin and beef burgers at the Jordaan neighborhood's popular burger joint De Burgermeester. Most paid with chip and PIN cards; a few paid with cash. Sorry, the cashier apologized in perfect English, no "American cards" taken. In the same neighborhood, De Pizzabakkers, a popular local pizza chain, declined to take cash at all: waiters circulated with hand-held portable electronic card readers. At the end of their meals, diners paid table-side by inserting-not swiping-their cards and entering a PIN. Tourists desiring to leave a tip at either Amsterdam establishment must still bring cash-the card readers aren't set up to add tips.
Where should travelers headed across the Atlantic expect to find chip-and-PIN cards required, yet without an alternative to pay with cash?
Automated points of sale remain the most likely culprits: think ticket machines at parking lots, rental kiosks, and public transportation hubs such as subway, train and bus stations. In Amsterdam's bustling Centraal Station, for example, this forlorn sight is familiar: the tourist struggling to buy train tickets from an automated ticket machine. While fluent English-speaking agents offer assistance at the ticket counter, many frustrated travelers end up heading to the ATM to withdraw cash before returning to wait in line: the ticket counters accept cash, but not magnetic stripe cards. Continue reading...
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