artsnletters

Hi all,,

What's the current state of chip and PIN and contactless card paying in Italy these days? All my cards have chips, and my debit card obviously has a PIN as well so can that be used as a chip and PIN card?. I'm not sure if it's possible to get a PIN for my credit card, but I'm going to call and ask. What about contactless? For both methods of paying, I'm most interested in gas stations, but I guess it comes up elsewhere as well.

J62

Two years ago I found contactless payment (apple, samsung, google, or NFC card) ubiquitous, but not neccessary. I rarely used my actual card. I did use cash as small shops (eg pastry, ice cream, coffee, pastry, ice cream, followed again by ice cream, or farmers markets, but other than that mostly used my iphone to pay for things.

I had no problem buying gas with my mag striipe card or chip card at a gas station regardless of self service or full service. I tried different cards (2), payment techniques (iphone) to see what worked. That doesn't mean every station uses any option - I just made sure I never got that low on gas that I couldn't find another option if needed....

Every grocery store I went in had contactless, and it seems as though contactless cards were common there before at home in the US.

Traveler_Nick

My guess it'll depend on your card. I can't tell where you're from but Italian cards work fine. European cards mostly work fine. You may find different transnational limits or daily limits. For example the Italian banks during Covid have increased the contactless limit I think twice but it might be different than what you have at home.

North American cards? No idea for contactless. If they're chip and pin they likely will work fine.

Gas pumps the big issue is the limit. I'm allowed €100 but your card might be different.

artsnletters

I'm from the US. I don't have a card that specifically is a chip and PIN card, although my debit card seems to meet that criterion.

bilboburgler

Pretty much normal in Europe. Certainly no signature system left. In odd places the machine "will not work" as they want cash. In these places pay cash but you need to receive a receipt. For local reasons you'll find you get receipts with everything.

Heimdall

Western European countries are miles ahead of the USA with Chip & PIN and contactless payments. I’m an American who lives in the UK and has a mixture of US and British credit and debit cards. None of my US cards have the contactless symbol, but I get around that by having the cards loaded into the wallet on my iPhone. That’s actually better than using the card, because there is no limit on Apple Pay charges. Not sure about Italy, but in the UK the contactless limit with a card is currently £100, while only a couple of years ago, before the Covid pandemic, the limit was only £30.

if you don’t know what the contactless symbol looks like, check out this link:
https://www.cnbc.com/select/what-is-contactless-card/

The other problem I’ve found with using a US chip credit card is that it usually defaults to requiring a signature when used in a merchant’s POS. This is only a minor annoyance, but I would prefer entering a PIN to a signature. Again, I avoid this by using Apple Pay, and I understand some US banks will give you a true Chip + PIN card if you ask for one.

I seldom use my debit cards except to draw money from ATMs, as I don’t want my checking account to be exposed to card fraud.

Traveler_Nick

I think the current contact limit is €40. Too much risk having it higher. We're already seeing people stealing cards and going on shopping sprees of €39 at a time.

Not that it's a huge issue to punch in your own PIN and get around the limits

Heimdall

I agree with Traveler_Nick about the danger of high contactless limits. It wouldn’t take long to run up a huge amount with a stolen card in a shopping centre or high street, even with a limit as low as €40.

Same goes for the US chip + signature cards. When I’ve used them in Europe many store clerks don’t check the signature against the one on the back of the card, and some, being used to the PIN, don’t even ask for a signature. PINs are much more secure.

J62

At home I rarely use just my card for contactless but during the height of covid I was more conscious of avoiding even touchpads.

It will be interesting to see how US banks respond to that threat as they currently eat any fraudulent charges. I have seen some points of sale (eg gas stations) require a zip code as secondary authentication for chip cards but in a town like mine where everyone has the same zip code it's not a unique security feature if I lost my card...

PINs just make much more sense - not sure why they aren't used here.

mjs

I have had a pin for my Chase reserve card for a few years. You have to request it. Got one after trying to pay at a French toll both with a regular US credit card and failing. On the other hand I could not use that “metal card” for a parking lot in San Sebastián a few days ago but a regular US credit card worked.

artsnletters

I have an Android. I haven't used Google Pay before, but I can figure out how. Can Google Pay be used in Italy?

Traveler_Nick

Yes but I'm not sure if for everything.

https://pay.google.com/intl/it_it/about/where-to-use/

Hopefully the link isn't geolocalized.

Heimdall

AFIK Google Pay works the same as Apple Pay, but I’ve never used Android so don’t know for sure. What I can tell you is that Apple Pay works for me anywhere I see the contactless symbol on a POS terminal, including the portable ones brought to the table in restaurants. I love not having to take the card out of my wallet, and the extra security it provides.

J62

We found in Italy that whereever Apple pay was accepted so was Samsung Pay, Google Pay, and any NFC card but ours is far from an exhaustive search.

We have found that some bank cards work with one or the other - we can't add our primary card to Google Pay for some reason, and we can't use our business card on either A or G.... hopefully that will change.

annw

Great info here, and thanks for the link Heimdall!

artsnletters

Thank you, everyone!

Heimdall

Starcmr0, I agree it is annoying, but not the end of the world. I live in the UK but have US cards with the bank where my pensions are deposited. Your debit card will work in ATMs just as it does at home. A bit of advice here: if the ATM asks if you would like the amount calculated in $ (Dynamic Currency Conversion) decline and settle the amount in € or the local currency outside the euro zone. If you want to know more, Have a look at this website from The Points Guy:
https://thepointsguy.com/2015/06/dyn...cy-conversion/

I never use my debit card for anything other than cash withdrawals from ATMs, as I don’t like the card to be exposed to possible scams. These days I use my credit card for everything else, and pay off the balance online each month. My bank has no foreign transaction charges for its Visa credit cards, and gives me 1.5% cash back on every purchase. I’ve saved a lot of money over the years by doing that.