First time here? Check out the site's "greatest hits" or read a random post from the archives. Feel free to ask a question, and consider subscribing to the latest posts via RSS or e-mail. Thanks for visiting!

James Gilden offers a primer for confused Americans who encounter “chip and PIN” credit card transactions when visiting Europe. Since credit cards not issued locally aren’t able to perform these PIN-based transactions, international travelers are commonly forced to fight for their right to the old-fashioned swipe-and-sign. It’s a must-read for travelers to Europe.

But paying with your non-local credit card is not always as easy as asking the waiter for an old-school swipe of the plastic. I faced this myself, and much less happily than James Gilden, when I was in the Netherlands earlier this year.

In Holland, there are a number of locations where it is ONLY possible to make purchases using chip-and-PIN, but *not* with regular credit cards, even when the list of accepted payment forms includes all the flavors of credit you know and love. Two examples come to mind: Train ticket vending machines accept coins or “Chipknip,” the local flavor of chip-and-PIN in Holland. The Dutch transfer money from one of their accounts onto their card’s chip at “Chipknip” stations, making the cards prepaid debit cards.

With a US-issued credit card, with or without a chip, I couldn’t simply swipe it and go. I even had a US-issued Amex card with chip and a PIN for ATM withdrawals, but that didn’t work either. The only solution was to get in line to buy the tickets — and pay a teller-surcharge to boot.

Far more frustrating was the phenomenon of the fully-automated self-service gas station. While I’m a big fan of pay-at-the-pump in the U.S. and Canada, my cards were useless in the Dutch countryside. Our rental car was getting low, so we pulled into a station, only to be denied access to the pumps with each and every card in our wallets. And,with no attendant, and no option for cash payment, we had to trek onward on fumes, looking for a station that accepted cash or “old-fashioned” credit.

It’s not clear if, say, British chip-and-PIN cards would have worked. All I know is that it was a pain in the butt. I understand the benefits of the PIN — increased security over regular credit card transactions. But making a local proprietary payment system that overrides the global Visa/Mastercard/Amex network is a blow to travelers’ convenience.

(image)
tags: travel | credit cards | chip and PIN | Chipknip