Money?
Sep 7th, 2012, 09:31 PM
#1
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Money?
We are leaving for Ireland 10/3. Am wondering what I should do about money. Usually in England I depend heavily on my MasterCard. Now I'm hearing about 'chip and pin'. What the heck? Should I be carrying cash this time? Please advise. Thanks, Bobby
Sep 8th, 2012, 03:58 AM
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We have been many times and don't take cash with us. (We usually have a few euros left over from the last trip, but not much.). the airports have ATMs where you can get cash. All cities and most towns and villages have them as well. We use the old magnetic strip cards.
Sep 8th, 2012, 04:00 AM
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Always have a plan B. Some have posted that even when they warn their bank to expect transactions from abroad, their account gets frozen due to "suspicious transactions". Those without chip and pin report having been misled too. Ask your bank, but do not rely on what they tell you.
Sep 8th, 2012, 05:12 AM
#6
If you have a phone and willing to spend the money, if any, and you are in an establishment that says your card was denied, I suggest this:
First, ask them to input the card again.
If that doesn't work, call your card issuer COLLECT (hopefully the people in India will still be awake to answer).
First, ask them to input the card again.
If that doesn't work, call your card issuer COLLECT (hopefully the people in India will still be awake to answer).
Sep 8th, 2012, 07:04 AM
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Right now at this precise moment, 1457 gmt on 08 September 2012, the situation in Ireland is status quo, not too different than Great Britain. In urban areas, especially at chain stores, yhou can use your archaic American magnetic strip credit card to your heart's content and not run inti any problems and usually not having to worry about silly things like minimum purchase requirements or surcharges for using your card (although if your card is from the wrong bank, you can get unnecessarily slapped with a 3% foreign transaction fee. Use a card, and there are more and more with no such fee but then again the same would be true in the UK). So you should be fine. (Bear in mind that if you cross the border into Northern Ireland, you revert to UK currency denominated in sterling and the ATM's will dispense banknotes issued by Northern Irish banks which may be difficult to negotiate at many mercdhants in the rest of the UK so try not to leave with very many although banks will exchange Northern Irish bank notes for Bank of England banknotes with no charge in other parts of the UK).
Of course, just like in the UK, rurual areas might (note the word) present some problems with non chip cards, especially off the beaten track but then again the same thing can happen in the UK.
So if you're used to the scene in the UK, the scene in Ireland is pretty much the same although you will be dealing with euro and not pounds.
Of course as we move forward, more and more pressure is being applied to the US banks to enter the 21st century which they are still resistant to for some reason I just can't figure out and at some point, this might change. But I wouldn't sweat it today.
Of course, just like in the UK, rurual areas might (note the word) present some problems with non chip cards, especially off the beaten track but then again the same thing can happen in the UK.
So if you're used to the scene in the UK, the scene in Ireland is pretty much the same although you will be dealing with euro and not pounds.
Of course as we move forward, more and more pressure is being applied to the US banks to enter the 21st century which they are still resistant to for some reason I just can't figure out and at some point, this might change. But I wouldn't sweat it today.
Sep 8th, 2012, 07:31 AM
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One other thing I must add in any discussion of possible problems in Ireland. Ireland was the birthplace of the scam known as dynamic currency conversion or dcc which has now metastasized like a cancer throughout the travelling world. For those not familiar with this scam, if you use a visa or mastercard to make a purchase outside your home country, mc/visa system will convert the currency to yurs using the rate known as the interbank rate and adding a 1% sdurcharge for the conversion. Your bank may then add on its own surcharge. Some banks in the USA even eat the mc/visa 1% surcharge and charge no surcharge and the charge comes through at the interbank rate (Capital One is the best example but there are now several others).
In any event, in this scam the merchant converts the charge to your currency using what is usually a very much larger currency exchange rate claiming it is being done for your convenience. Or they have other lies handy namely they have no control over it, it was done by the terminal, the amount in your currency is jsut an approximation fgor your convenience, it is required by law among others. You are then asked on the sales lip to sign a statement that you were offerd the opportunity to pay in local currency and have declined to do so and the exchange rate is final (some people don't realize what they're doing till they look more closely at the sales slip).
Visa and mc allow this scam only with the consent of the sucker oops the customer (intereestingl enough, Amex does not allow merchants to do this). For years it was a common practice in Ireland to simply do it, present the customer with a sales slip with both the euro amount (before that Irish punt amount) and your currency amount, try to pull these lies as listed above and sometimes if you were insistant enough void the transaction and do it properly.
My recent experiencesin Ireland have been somewhat more positive. They now almost always as if you wish to pay in euro or be suckered into paying in your currency. One of the things you should is that in many cases if you are using the wrong credit card, you get nicked for the foreign transaction fee of usually 3% anyway even though the charge was written in your currency.
If you run into the problem, you will know you are being suckered if there is an amount in both euro and say your currency which just for argument's sake we'll say is US dollars although it can be whatever currency your credit card or debit card is denominated in. Politely ask the clerk to void the transaction and do it properly in euro. If he or she refuses, ask to see the manager. If the manager keeps claiming one of the lies listed above (I especially love the one that they had no control over it when the first thing the pos terminal asks is if the customer wishes to pay in euro or US dollars and the clerk has to push the proper button) then simply circle the amount in euro, cross out the statement and write local option not offered and initial it. When you get home, dispute the charge. Hopefully the merchant will be fined, the charg will be voided and the merchant will have to submit it properly. Have done this several times and in every case the charge was reversed and sent back to the merchant and then it was done properly. In ne case, at a Burger King in Dublin where amounted to about €8 and the scam was costing me around 70¢, visa simply credit my account for the 70¢ and didn't charge it back (too bad, they deserved to be fined).
Do not get into any long argument about this and most of all, do not offer to pay cash. You have every right to charge it and be billed in euro.
In any event, in this scam the merchant converts the charge to your currency using what is usually a very much larger currency exchange rate claiming it is being done for your convenience. Or they have other lies handy namely they have no control over it, it was done by the terminal, the amount in your currency is jsut an approximation fgor your convenience, it is required by law among others. You are then asked on the sales lip to sign a statement that you were offerd the opportunity to pay in local currency and have declined to do so and the exchange rate is final (some people don't realize what they're doing till they look more closely at the sales slip).
Visa and mc allow this scam only with the consent of the sucker oops the customer (intereestingl enough, Amex does not allow merchants to do this). For years it was a common practice in Ireland to simply do it, present the customer with a sales slip with both the euro amount (before that Irish punt amount) and your currency amount, try to pull these lies as listed above and sometimes if you were insistant enough void the transaction and do it properly.
My recent experiencesin Ireland have been somewhat more positive. They now almost always as if you wish to pay in euro or be suckered into paying in your currency. One of the things you should is that in many cases if you are using the wrong credit card, you get nicked for the foreign transaction fee of usually 3% anyway even though the charge was written in your currency.
If you run into the problem, you will know you are being suckered if there is an amount in both euro and say your currency which just for argument's sake we'll say is US dollars although it can be whatever currency your credit card or debit card is denominated in. Politely ask the clerk to void the transaction and do it properly in euro. If he or she refuses, ask to see the manager. If the manager keeps claiming one of the lies listed above (I especially love the one that they had no control over it when the first thing the pos terminal asks is if the customer wishes to pay in euro or US dollars and the clerk has to push the proper button) then simply circle the amount in euro, cross out the statement and write local option not offered and initial it. When you get home, dispute the charge. Hopefully the merchant will be fined, the charg will be voided and the merchant will have to submit it properly. Have done this several times and in every case the charge was reversed and sent back to the merchant and then it was done properly. In ne case, at a Burger King in Dublin where amounted to about €8 and the scam was costing me around 70¢, visa simply credit my account for the 70¢ and didn't charge it back (too bad, they deserved to be fined).
Do not get into any long argument about this and most of all, do not offer to pay cash. You have every right to charge it and be billed in euro.
Sep 8th, 2012, 08:42 AM
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I live in the U.K., and one of my credit cards has just been replaced because it was about to expire.
The new card has a magnetic strip and a chip (for use with chip and pin). It also has an RFID tag, so that in some places, for small amounts, I can just wave the card at the reader.
This is an affinity card, benefitting the Open University, and the issuing bank is MBNA. They tell me they are part of Bank of America.
If Bank of American can achieve this for British customers, why does it not do the same for its U.S. customers?
The new card has a magnetic strip and a chip (for use with chip and pin). It also has an RFID tag, so that in some places, for small amounts, I can just wave the card at the reader.
This is an affinity card, benefitting the Open University, and the issuing bank is MBNA. They tell me they are part of Bank of America.
If Bank of American can achieve this for British customers, why does it not do the same for its U.S. customers?
