Nick's Travel Tips

Cards with or without chips

An issue that sometimes causes anxiety to Americans is whether they will be able to use their credit and debit cards in Europe, where most countries have adopted new and more secure technology. This article sets out the position as at July 2011.

What are "chip-and-PIN" cards?

The picture shows a "chip-and-PIN' credit card. You can see the electronic "chip" at the left of the card. When I make a purchase with this card in Australia, I do not sign a credit voucher. Instead, I enter a PIN on the keyboard of the card reader. Provided I do not let anyone else know my PIN, this is more secure for me, for the merchant, and for the company that issued the card. This is why the technology is being adopted in most countries.

The card also has a conventional magnetic stripe on the back, so it can be used in countries that have not adopted the new technology, such as the USA. However, cards with only a magnetic stripe obviously cannot operate machines designed to work with chips. So how are chipless cards used (or not) in European countries that use the "chip-and-PIN" technology?

Getting money from ATMs

Any card that can be used to get money out of an ATM, with or without a chip, will have a PIN. Both kinds of cards will work fine in an ATM in Europe, and the ATMs can be set to give instructions in English.

One possible issue is that most European ATMs do not ask what account you want to use. If you have more than one account attached to a card, the money will be taken from whichever account has been designated by your bank as the "primary" account. If this is a credit account, your cash withdrawals could be expensive.

Credit card purchases

Particularly in France, many unattended vending machines require a "chip-and-PIN" card and will not accept one that has only a magnetic stripe. Such machines include automatic fuel pumps, road toll gates, and train ticket machines. Magnetic stripe cards should be accepted for any transaction processed by a person, although some young sales people may be unfamiliar with the process of swiping a magnetic stripe.

The fact that maganetic stripe cards cannot be used in some machines does not present an insurmountable problem. Train tickets can be bought from staffed ticket offices. Toll plazas all have gates that accept cash. Most fuel stations have staff on duty during normal shop hours (remember the long closure for lunch). You just need to plan ahead and accept that some transactions (such as buying a train ticket) will require you to stand in a queue for some time.

Note for Australians: My "chip-and-PIN" cards worked with their PIN in Greece, Italy, Switzerland, Austria and Germany. However, in France the chip worked but I had to sign for all purchases. The card did not work in French train ticket machines, and probably would not work in other unattended machines.