So I’d made a whole entry about how I check up on the status of chip and pin (EMV) cards in the US every few months only to be continually disappointed with how incredibly behind we are, and then I found out we do have chipped cards available for regular folks, not just UN workers and multimillionaires. They’re just chip and signature cards rather than chip and pin. (There is a prepaid Travelex chip and pin card available, but the exchange rates are supposedly terrible. I am looking for a true credit card.)
I opted for the JP Morgan Select Visa Signature Card. There is also the U.S. Bank FlexPerks Travel Rewards Visa Card, but you have to request the chip card because they send you a regular one. There are varying reports on exactly where you can use the chip and sig cards (the main issue is whether they work on automated kiosks at metro and petrol stations when there is no human available), but it looks relatively good so far. Better than staring at the ticket machine wondering how the hell you’re going to top off your transit card because your stone age American mag strip card doesn’t work with the machine.
Hopefully this makes traveling abroad a little more convenient. I hate having to carry boatloads of cash on me when I go to Europe (super first world problem!). I will be in Scotland and Italy in January so we’ll see how it goes.
I am looking forward to the day when we have real chip and pin cards readily available from every bank, but for now, this is a great deal better than the last time I was abroad. 15 years behind the times, but it’s better than nothing.
If you don’t know what I’m talking about or why this matters, you need to relax and take a vacation. You’re working too hard. Why don’t you hit some beaches along southern France?
Scotland in January? You’re crazy.
When we went to America the first time we paid in a restaurant felt really really odd, having gotten used to chip and pin (I don’t think I’d paid in a restaurant before chip and pin). Just signing a piece of paper and trusting it to the universe was weird. I think we sat there and had to wait for/ask someone that it was ok to leave (it was my second ‘you’re all set!’ of the trip).
Although thinking about it, it’s not obvious that tapping some numbers into a cheap oversize telephone is any better. There’s a guy called Ross Anderson (iirc) who talks about how evil chip and pin is (because it lets the banks blame everything on the customer and refuse to pay out when fraud happens).
We’re celebrating Hogmanay. Yes, we’re crazy. My friend is doing her Masters in Edinburgh and who knows when I’ll have the chance for an “inside” look at the city after she graduates, so might as well visit on the biggest shitshow day of the year (of course we’ll be there for several more days to hang out and do other touristy things).
I’ve come across an article here and there about the evils of chip and pin. I definitely see his point, but… I just want to be able to buy rail tickets from the automated kiosk, man. :(