<i>You can happily run low on a Sunday in the Massif Central.</i>

You´re taking a big chance that all vendors will dutifully follow Visa and MC´s mandate. All it would take is one recalcitrant station owner and you´ll be spending the weekend parked in front of the fuel pumps.

sarastro...yes, you are correct. All American issued credit cards have had provisions for pins. But the vast majority of these pins are online pins (as opposed to the up till now kiosks which want offline pins and I don't really think I can easily explain the difference). Those online pins, in general, never worked at the kiosks we have been talking about except in some exceptional situations (like the kiosks at CPH airport for local transport media). It is, however, a moot point.

One other point about the American recalcitrance to embrace pins for emv compliant cards. One of the claims of visa based on surveys they have done is many people in the USA tend to have more cards than other nationalities. It is simply a function of tanhe much larger number of banks in the USA that issue credit cards. In Great Britain, only a few banks issue credit cards, certainly no more than 10 I suspect. In the USA, although several banks dominate the issuance of credit cards, banks in every nook and cranny of the country offer cards. It is not unheard of for a person to have 10 or more cards coupled with several debit or ATM cards. The problem is if you go the pin direction, well each card might have a different pin. With some banks, you can change the pin. Withothers you can't. So an infra structure would have to be constructed to select pins. Then the question becomes is it wise to have the same pin for all cards and does that jeopardize security. I know I have a few cards, each with different pins and frankly although I consider myself somewhat intelligent (I know others here might doubt that), it is still a bit of a chore to match up each pin with each card and since I almost never have to use a pin at home, before each trip I have to look up the pin for each card I take that is pin preferred (now it has reached 2). Again, just being the messenger not defending it.

I'm looking at this from First Tech FCU
https://www.firsttechfed.com/CreditC...stercardbanner

It appears to have an annual fee - am I looking at the correct card? Like you I want a card with no annual fees and no FFT and one that gives rewards. I would use this card only when needed for chip & pin so it would not get much use and certainly not enough to refund the annual fee as suggested on the web site.

PS -- not to worry -- I am not worried about this, just would like to get a chip & pin that works as such more as a convenience than a requirement. For now I have managed with many trips with what I have with no problems outside the one event at an unmanned gas station.

They have several different cards...you just have to look but at least one of them has no annual fee and no ftf; I'm just not sure which. I just got the card and like I said it passed the Walmart test with flying colors (namely it asked for the pin).

In France recently, my PenFed Visa defaulted to chip and signature. Used the card a lot, but never needed the pin. It's just as well, because I forgot to carry the piece of paper which had the pin reminder. Hate remembering numbers. Hate remembering passwords. As long as I don't forget my name, signing will always be more convenient for me.

The one time we found ourselves stuck in an un-manned highway toll booth, my sister's PenFed Visa worked. I wrote about it in another thread. I put the card in the slot and the gate opened. Other than that, there was no indication that the card worked. No digital screen, no receipt, nothing.

Our Plan B was to always make sure we had cash. That worked for us until we found ourselves by accident in a credit card only toll booth lane.

Tried my Pen Fed chip and PIN again today during hotel checkout. Again, it was refused. Asked why and was told the message was "mute" (or whatever the French spelling is).

I did contact them before leaving for my trip.

joannyc, for calls outside the U.S., there should be a number on the back of your PenFed card for you to call "collect." I would call that number and report your issues. Sounds like there's an internal problem with your card that may have nothing to do with the contents of this thread.

Meanwhile, for anybody with one of the new contactless cards, the purchase limiit <b>without</b> signature or PIN in France is 20 euros. Most of the candy and drink vending machines have been converted to accept contactless transactions, as well as just about all supermarkets.

Wesleymarsh,

Yes, thank you, I do know that I can call them collect. I'm just using some of the other cards I have with me. I'm on vacation and do not wish to waste my time on the phone with them.

But, thank you!