Any opinions regarding credit cards? I hate having to pre purchase euros from my bank but Im reading a lot about Europe converting to chip technology versus magnetic swipe cards. Chase has a chip card and no foreign transaction fees which Im considering.

The ATM cards still work without chip and it is cheaper to withdraw from an ATM than to pre-purchase euros.

Pre-purchasing euros from your bank has nothing to do with a cc with a chip. You should be using your ATM card to withdraw cash once in Italy/Europe, not buying euros ahead of time (which will cost you 7%-10%) OR buying them on arrival. If you're talking about a chip and pin card, it's really not necessary except in a few places like unmanned gas stations and some automatic ticket machines. It's possible to get one from a few places like Andrews Credit Union, which also doesn't add transaction fees. I don't know what fees Chase charges or whether it has a chip and pin card, but if it's charging you anything more than 1% or "passing along" transaction fees, I'd go open an account at a credit union.

On NPR business show they said you could ask you credit card company to issue you a card with the requisite chip or whatever security device is needed in it - I never heard of that but try calling your credit card issuer and ask!

and yes like St-Cirq be sure to know about what fees you are being charged and look for another though that may be more a hassle than needed if you will only be going on a short trip - use ATMs and yes most places take credit cards manually without a chip being needed I believe.

Europe may be converting to chip and pin, but not at the same time in all the countries. It consists of many countries more diverse between them than between states in the U.S.

First, it depends much on country. Netherlands, Scandinavian countries, and France, etc. use chip and pin cards but not exclusively at all instances. Italy has not yet to the same degree. The only place I was confronted with having to supply "PIN" in Italy was buying train tickets using credit card only ticket machines at Termini. I looked for other machines nearby that took cash.

Second, it is a Credit Card concept and not yet ATM machine issue using debig/ATM cards. ATM machines still accept magnetic stripe only cards. As mentioned above, Italian merchants where credit cards are still accepted, still accept magnetic stripe only credit cards. This includes buying train tickets from a ticket agent using magnetic stripe only cards.

In contrast, in Netherlands, you cannot buy train trains even from a ticket agent at a manned counter with magnetic stripe only cards. It has to be a chip and pin.

There are many write ups on this subject. As with other internet sources while others are something people just pass to others without doing fact checking and expect someone else to sort gross generalizations from the reality. flyer talks has good set of documentations.

General topic:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/credi...ature-202.html

Chip and Pin vs. Chip and signature card listing. Many news sources list cards without doing fact checking. This one is pretty accurate in differentiating two types of Chip cards.
www.flyertalk.com/forum/17837493-post1.html. Look at column "H" of the google.doc link showing whether the card is Chip and Pin, Chip and Signature, or both.

The Netherlands uses chip and pin exclusively. Most machines here are incapable of swiping a card. They just have a slot for a chip and pin card.
Chip and pin cards are the norm throughout Europe, but in many countries you can still swipe your card.
For getting cash though you need an ATM card, not a credit card and, for now at least, they don't need a chip.

I think the OP is confused re: credit cards vs ATM/Debit cards.

As stated above CHIP and PIN [or with Signature] is for CREDIT CARDS not ATM/debit cards.

DO NOT use credit card to get cash!!! It is very expensive, as it is treated as cash advance. Aside from foreign transaction fees, there is a upfront charge/fee of several dollars or a % and then a very high rate of interest is charged from day 1.

We have never had trouble getting cash from ATM in local currency. Nor have we been charged a fee as we have both Capital One and Andrews FCU cards that are totally fee free.

And take more than 1 credit and 1 debit card [from different accounts] in case you run into trouble.

By October next year this question will be a thing of the past as the US finally changes to chip and pin cards. All US cards will be changed before the end of October next year apparently.
Maybe then we can get rid of the magnetic strip on ours, which is still a security risk.

I think DebitNM is right: The OP might be a bit confused.

Let's boil it down...
--ATM like you use at home to get cash from the bank is what you use abroad to get cash. No tricks. Do look for Plus/Cirrus signs at the banks. And in Italy, if one kiosk doesn't work, go down the block!
--A Capital One or Chase Sapphire Preferred card (and there are others out there) with no foreign transaction fees (make sure the CAp One you get is one of the ones without foreign transaction fees) are good for charging your hotel, restaurant and purchases as long as you...
--Are aware of Dynamic Currency Conversion. If the hotel or restaurant tries to charge you in dollars, say "NO!". Always get charged in the currency of the country where you are at the moment.

We bring at least two ATM cards and at least two credit cards when we travel.

"We bring at least two ATM cards and at least two credit cards when we travel."

Be sure that they are from DIFFERENT, UNRELATED accounts. For example - if you have a joint account with spouse and each has a Debit/ATM card for the account - that only counts as 1 card. IF something happens [lost, stolen, the machine eats the card etc] the other card won't work either as you need to call and cancel the cards.

There are several credit cards that don't charge foreign transaction fees beside the ones AllessandraZoe mentions. Andrews FCU Globe Trek card has true CHIP and PIN and it is free - not even annual fee. Chase Southwest Premier VISA is foreign transaction fee free but does charge annual fee of $99 but it does give you 6000 points upon renewal.

These are just 2 examples.

<i>The Netherlands uses chip and pin exclusively.</i>

Does that mean that a tourist staying at one of the big international hotels (Hilton, Crowne Plaza, etc.) cannot pay with his chipless credit card?

Just a tip Margo: keep the CC number and 800 number in a safe, separate place, in case it's lost or stolen.....it'll be much easier to contact the cc company to report the loss.

Most cards have an international number, collect # which is what you need to call if card is lost or stolen; the 800 # doesn't work from overseas.

Several have clarified the issue of using ATM's which should present no problem even with the antiquated USA magnetic strip cards. As far as crdit cards...

About once a month, the issue comes up here and for no reason at all can get quite heated. Also there is a great deal of misinformation out there. The reference to the flyer talk thread is a good one but currently, it is 238 pages long with well over 1,000 postings so I don't think you want to go through all of them. Also there is quite a bit of mis-information for example the use of the term chip and pin etc. I'll try to be brief because I think I'm well versed in this and do business with several different credit card banks.

The USA has been talking of converting the antiquated American credit cards with magnetic strips to include what is called the emv chip which is in use very much so in Europe (and Canada and Mexico and other places). However, the issue has been sort of put on hold owing to the large size of the US plastic payment card industry, far far larger than most other countries that use credit cards a great deal (some countries have a long history of cash is king of course such as Germany, Holland among others). Not wishing to go through the whole sordid affair, it's a fight about who will pay for conversion. The banks make a fortune on their credit card operations and the amount of fraud in terms of their profits from not having emv chips is simply a small cost of generating these profits. And American liability laws are outstqanding and restrict the exposure of anybody on a credit card fraudulent transaction to $50 and I don't know of a single bank that attempts even to collect the $50. When credit card fraud occurs, the banks remove the fraudulent charges, issue a new card with a new number and you change those merchants with whom you have payment agreements. End of problem. (Note credit card fraud is distinctly different than identity theft; they are not the same thing,)

Now having said that, the Target hacking opened up a lot of eyes and scared people (although due to the liability laws, it's really not a big deal for most customers). Some of the banks had begun to issue cards with emv chips anyway. Some but by no means all and some banks only issue them to their higher paying customers with annual fees and the likel

A good card to start with, relatively easy to obtain is the Travel Rewards card from Bank of America. It has no annual fee, no foreign transaction fee and it might be a good idea to get one just to have the emv chip just in case. However, there is a big however.

The current battle is not whether the USA is going to emv. They are and the October 2015 date has been mentioned here. But for whatever the reason which is discussed quite thoroughly in the flyer talk thread above, the American banks claim, judge for yourself the veracity of this statement, that Americans who tend to carry more credit cards than most others owing to the large number of banks that issue credit cards here, prefer a signature verification system rather than a pin based verification system. The emv chip itself protects pretty well against cloning of cards. Just obtaining the information does not allow hackers to be able to easily produce counterfeit cards (nothing of course is impossible but emv chipped cards are less vulnerable to cloning). So, it is claimed by many of the banks, chip and signature cards will do. We can argue till the chickens come home to roost that signature verification is next to useless against fraud but then again even emv chips are pretty useless against on-line fraud. So it looks like the USA when it converts to emv in October 2015 will be going in the direction of chip and signature preferred cards. Even some of the USA cards marketed as chip and pin cards are really chip and signature preferred cards. If the pos terminal takes it, the merchant is supposed to verify the signature on the card. In unpersonneled situations like gas stations in France on Sunday afternoons, these cards ofteh, but not always, can fall back on pin verification As of today, few credit cards in the USA are available as chip and pin primary verification cards. Most claiming to be chip and pin are either chip and signature and no provision for pi verification or can use pin verification if the pos terminal does not accept signature verification. The Bank of America card referred to above is strictly chip and signature. the Andrews card referred to in the thread is chip and signature preferred (it can work in a chip and pin situation if nobody is present say a gas station) but signature verification is priroity 1 on this card. It looks like most of the American banks that will be issuing emv cards that have not alredy done si will be issuing chip and signature priority 1 cards.

Now again we can argue over all this. As noted, it seems to be a country by country thing. In the UK, for example, where language problems with American visitors is minimal and lots of Americans visit, along the beaten tourist path most merchants will take USA cards without blinking. But the operative word is most. There will be occasions where a merchant, especially in more rural areas, may not be as familiar as to what is going on. Also Brtitish merchants for the most part don't have problems with chip and signature cards as the British banks themselves issue some of the customers who are disabled with chip and signature cards.

I could go on and on and give the usual disclaimer that what is true today may not be true tomorrow. On the whole, for credit card use, as long as you don['t stray too far from the usual tourist spots, even though quite outdated, American credit cards will work. But not everywhere.

Michael...for the most part, the large international hotels chains, as a matter of fact almost all hotels, do take credit cards even in the Netherlands.

<i><b>xyz123</b> on Mar 14, 14 at 3:43pm
Several have clarified the issue of using ATM's which should present no problem even with the antiquated USA magnetic strip cards. As far as crdit cards.</i>

Outstanding post. Thank you.

I have only a couple of add-ons. As you know American ATM cards and debit cards already use a PIN. We only need a chip. I call it a spider because of the design. US Bank has issued a C+P credit card to me. Unfortunately it also has an RFID chip. I don't want that so I leave the card at home wrapped in aluminum foil.

I've lived in Holland and Germany. Your comment about not using credit cards in those countries is spot on. Those people basically do not believe in credit. Germans save up enough money and then buy a car.

C+P is on the Dutch and German "bank cards" (ATM cards) which allows them to act as a debit card. This money comes right out of your account. I don't know if VISA or MC get a cut when their picture is on the cover. Merchant acceptance of "bank cards" is darn near universal in Holland and Germany. Acceptance of credit cards is limited to high end establishments and travelers needs, somewhat.