credit and debit card problems
 

I have read several articles lately about how our US debit and credit cards have a magnetic strip on them and in europe they have a chip with pin. Some individuals are having problems getting cash using an ATM machine and credit cards are not working. Any problems in Germany with this(say over the last 6-8 months)? If so, options?
Thanks, Marilyn

I have not had any problems in Italy, France, Norway or Turkey, to list the most recent countries I visited. Only ticket machines in French train stations and toll booths refuse American cards. As for restaurants, the wait person must at times be shown how to swipe the card. Their portable machines also has that option.

Most places will have a way to override and accept non-chip/pin credit cards. The main places there are usually any problems are in some automated machines (like station ticket machines, automated petrol pumps, those sorts of things)

98% of the time there is a way to use your cards. Just avoid things like buying petrol/diesel on sundays or late at night when the stations aren't staffed.

You should have no problems at all using ATMs w/ American debit/ATM cards.

No problems at all in Germany when we were there last April.

Hi wpmom,

I live here and frequently get cash from my American debit card -- no problems whatsoever.

s

The only problem you are likely to have is when your bank / CC company forgets that you told them you were going abroad and block your cards. So the overseas contact number for them is essential to have.

Chip & PIN is not (yet) really popular or widespread in Germany. Any point of sale will do swipe & sign, also with portable readers.

Ticket machines can sometimes ask for a PIN, but the card does not need to have a chip. It reads the PIN from the magnetic strip as well.

Only very few gas stations have automated pumps. They are either open and manned or closed. The major chains stay open 24/7 (or at least one station in a smaller town), and are manned 24/7. Only few independent gas stations (e.g. at discount supermarkets) don't take CCs. You can easily avoid those if you don't have cash.

One thing you want to bear in mind is that in Germany, most supermarkets (and some stores, esp at the cheaper end) don't take credit cards but only debit card called EC Karte, which is linked to Maestro (Mastercard debit card system). Also it's still a cash society, so make sure you have enough euro on you and don't expect to be able to use cards everywhere. It's rare to be able to pay admission with a card, or public transport tickets.

These problems are incredibly overplayed. Were I the type to wear a tinfoil hat, I would think that the chip industry is paying for all these articles. In Germany, the bigger issue is that cash is still king and, as noted, many places don't take credit cards at all.

Hi WP,

I recently used US credit and ATM cards in Rome, Athens and Paris with no trouble.

Enjoy your visit.

((I))

We just spent 2 weeks in Germany and had absolutely no problems with our credit or debit cards.

As noted, be sure that you have more than one card just in case and notify all of your card issuers that you will be traveling out of the country.

Enjoy Germany. It is one of our favorite places!

I haven't been in Germany in the last 6 months so can't answer with that experience, specifically (but I've never had any trouble in Germany in prior years with either a CC or debit card), and I've never had trouble in the other countries I've been in more recently.

I would question the accuracy of where you are hearing about all these people who are having all these problems in Germany. It sounds like some magazine article and it could be written by someone who just doesn't know what they are talking about and is fabricating things (not as unusual as you might think, some travel articles are written by freelancers and some are written by people who don't know their topic at all and they write them from second or third hand information) or is exaggerating an occurrence or two that had nothing to do with being a US card, specifically.

Here is an article by Rick Steves that was posted in the San Francisco Chronicle regarding this subject. I am not a big fan of Steves but thought his article might provide some information that would be of interest to some travellers.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...lecfmid243.DTL

All my debit and credit cards have been replaced with PIN and chip versions in the last few months. (within weeks!) Even when the old ones would still be valid for years. Must be more than a dozen new cards. Somewhat annoying. Yet at the supermarkets using my debit card, I still have to sign...

Never been asked to provide a PIN when shopping anywhere using one of my credit cards either, still they all have a chip now.

>using my debit card, I still have to sign...
At ReWe and Tengelmann.
Aldi and Lidl always wanted a PIN for debit cards.

I could have written bettyk's post.

We went to Germany last month and had no problems and we used the ATM machines quite a bit as we stay in smaller places that only accept cash.

LSky, did you write a trip report?

I was in Belgium and France within the last 2 months.

My ATM/debit card worked at all banks.

In Belgium, I had issues using my credit cards at the two parking garages and the airport gas station that I used (rejected the cards or asked for a PIN... I don't know of any PINs that I have on my credit cards). The garages and gas station did accept my ATM/debit card after a few unsuccessful tries (have no idea why it didn't work on the first try).

In France, a non-attended gas station would not accept either my ATM/debit card nor my credit cards. Luckily, I found an attended station because I was on EMPTY!!! I also had a problem using all cards at a couple of parking garages/lots in France. I had to use cash at those machines.

"I don't know of any PINs that I have on my credit cards" I do have the PIN for one of my credit cards and never knew why. Rick Steve stated in the article I posted that one can get a PIN for each and every credit card they have by calling the financial institution that issued the credit card. A good idea it would seem.

Thanks, LoveItaly. I knew that I could request a PIN for my credit cards but have never done so... so it was frustrating when the various machines requested it.

Let me explain something to you....al PIN on a non chip and pin card is totally meaningless. The ideas are totally incompatible. On a chip and pin card, the pin resides in the chip which the terminal reads. A pin issued by a bank for a technologically ancient US magnetic strip card does not reside on the magnetic strip...it is used only for use in an ATM to withdraw cash which you most likely don't want to do anyway given the huge fees on most. The pin in this case resids in the bank computer and is like a gate keeper. When you do an ATM withdrawal and enter the pin, the transaction is sent to your bank and the first thing your bank computer looks for is if the pin is correct...this pin resides in the bank computer, not on the magnetic strip, not on the non existant chip on such a card.

People have reported they have used a magnetic strip card for a purchase and been asked for a pin....in this circumstance you can enter any pin you wish and the transaction will probably go through. Unless you intend to use your credit card for a cash advance in an aTM, and I would carefully check the fees involved if I were you, don't waste your time. It won't help.

The only problem with using my USA credit card in Europe this year was merchants trying to make me accept dynamic currency conversion. Really irritating.

thanks everyone for all your thoughts on this issue- I have notified my credit card company that I am going and am taking several different debit and credit cards
Marilyn