trafaelwyr

This will be of great interest to everyone.

Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC), the U.S. bank with the most branches, is testing microchip-embedded credit cards with frequent travelers to address complaints of customers who have trouble using their cards abroad.

Go here for the full story:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-0...d-clients.html

kerouac

What fantastic news! Will people stop whining here?

*quickly runs away before being mutilated by the other members*

november_moon

People stop whining on Fodors? NEVER!

greg

I want to whine.

As usual, it seems it is only when banks realized that they have lost "$447 million in revenue" that they are starting to do something about it.

TPAYT

I also want to "wine"! Will it be red or white?

Michel_Paris

I feel superior as a Canadian with a chip...and fish.

P.S. Was in Africa last week and could not pay a hotel bill because I had forgotten the PIN for my chip'ed VISA card. Africa...chips...

xyz123

It's a pilot program at wells Fargo and Chase has since announced they would make chip and pin cards available to their emerald card holders or is diamond card holders who pay an annual fee of $595 and maybe within a year they will extend it to all cardholders. Of course both Wells Fargo and Chase are members of the near criminal banks that impose an asinine 2% fee on foreign transactions even though they have nothing to do with the foreign currency conversion. When Caital One comes to its senses, then it will mean something.

J62

The $447M lost revenue is peanuts compared to how much US banks make on point-of-sale transaction fees in the US - revenue that will shrink a lot if the US swipe fee structure is changed, as proposed by some in the US Congress.

Swipe fees have generated a lot of press lately with the US Gov't proposals to change them.

btw, I pay 0.0% foreign transaction on my Visa issued by Chase.

trafaelwyr

I've noticed that at Central Market here in Texas that their credit card swipe machine also has a slot for cards that have a chip. But really, why are we so behind with this sort of technology?

Dukey1

For the same reason we are "behind" in relying on a bunch of gas-guzzling cars rather than public transport

tomboy

An empty bus still gets 4 miles per gallon, but costs more per mile than autos.

xyz123

Actually, since this thread was active, more information has come to light. In reality, Chase and Wells Fargo and I believe US Bank also are issuing cards with chips but they are not chip asnd pin cards but rather chip and signature cards. You put the card into the chip slot and out comes a receipt which you are required to sign. In many, I daresay most, situations where conversion to chip and pin has taken place in many of the unmanned and unwomanned kiosks such as automated gas stations, parking garages and bike rental racks, the chip and signature cards are just as worthless as the magnetic strip cards. Again why the YS banking system is so resistant to chip and pin, and once again they need not convert all the terminals here for the time being, rther they simply make chip and pin cards available at cost, probably about a dime, to those who request them for foreign travel. It's such a no brainer that it just makes one wonder just what is going on here.

Dukey1

It's such a no brainer that it just makes one wonder just what is going on here.

Which convinces me more than ever it is all about the banks making even more money

Dukey1

"btw, I pay 0.0% foreign transaction on my Visa issued by Chase."

Great. I get a whole bunch of frequent flyer miles with mine, do you?

MaineGG

U.S. Bank is now issuing a card with a chip. It's the FlexPerks Signature Travelcard Visa.

More info here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/hom...Issue-Dual-EMV

xyz123

...again not to belabor the point (I guess I am though), the US Bank card is not chip and pin, it's chip and signature and there have been many reports on other forums that these chip and signature cards are just as worthless as magnetic strip cards in the places mentioned above where magnetic strip cards do not work. Why these banks are going to these lengths and not issuing chip and pin cards is beyond me. From what I've read elsewhere, visa is pushing chip and signature claiming that is the norm throughout mucvh of the world and when you call visa and/or your bank to ask why and complain about not having a chip and pin card, you get the claim by clueless customer servicde reps that visa regulations require merchants to accept all visa cards. Right; does a lot of good when your fuel tank is on E and all you have in France on Sunday mornings are automated gasoline pumps which require a pin.

The whole thing is just ludicrous and nobody can give me or any of us any sort of explanation of this reluctance to at least issue chip and pin cards by US banks. I can buy the argument that it would be very expensive to convert all the terminals immediaely. Terminals are constantly being replaced, of course and many merchants in the USA if you look closelyh now have terminals that take chip cards; for example Wal-Mart. Yet, as I said two or three posts earlier, how they can continue not issuing chip and pin cards for use outside the country at cost just doesn't make any sense. It's as if it's the usual we do things differently in the USA and our way is better. It sure isn't.

MaineGG

xyz - According to their representatives, the U.S. Bank card is chip and pin. We hope to have one soon for our trip in September and will report our experiences with it.

Here's another article about the card:

http://www.pymnts.com/u-s-bank-first...-travelers-br/

Here's a statement from that article:

"EMV® is a global standard for credit and debit payment cards based on chip card technology with enhanced security. Embedded in the card is a microprocessor containing the necessary information to make a payment. Over one billion card users outside the United States are currently utilizing this technology."

As I understand it, this card will work where chip and pin are required, where magnetic strip swiping is used with a signature, and where contactless pay/wave technology is in use. We're hoping it will work for autoroute tolls, gas pumps and ticket machines in France.

If it doesn't work, I'm sure we'll survive and have a wonderful trip. If it does, it will have made things a little easier. No whining, just hoping.

xyz123

Mainegg...I'm not saying you're wrong but rarely do representatives you speak with at most bank have a clue as to what you're talking about. On several forums I visit, all the talk is how ludicrous it is that the US banks are introducing chip and signature cards and not chip and pin cards. There is a credit union associated with the UN in the NYC area that has issued chip and pin cards. I won't stake my reputation on this but I do have a feeling the US Bank card is chip and signature. From my read of the forums, it is visa that has been pushing them to issue chip and signature cards and not chip and pin.

xyz123

...just for the record in reading your excerpt from the statement, nowhere does it say it's going to be chip and pin. Yes chip but no pin. As I said on other forums, say flyertalk, there are all sorts of complaints that the chip and signature card does not work in many of the same places that magnetic strip cards do not work, the ones that have been listed here several times.

daveesl

Oh boy, something else that we have decided to do a decade after the rest of the world. I'm sure they'll work as well as the latest release of Windows always does (NOT). In other words, it will take about 5 years of lost transactions, fried cards and other foul ups before they work properly. By that time, everyone else will be using telepathy for transactions.

dave