Bob

I saw someone try chip and pin in Target...seemed to be a much slower processing of the card. Person said that they had timed it against another of their cards and when it worked, it averaged 13 seconds longer to process.

Okay, not a huge benchmark, but still a surprise

petitefrancaise

I have used my chip pin card 2x in Target and both times it's been recognised as a chip/pin and not swipe. Both times I didn't use a pin, didn't sign and nobody checked anything at all. Now that kids are back to school, I'm calling my bank and Target to complain.

jjmb

Was trying to remember where I had used the chip part recently. Seeing your post reminded me it was Target as well, wouldn't allow me to swipe. Totally pointless as they only send you a pin number if you ask for one and as you say Target doesn't require it, so it even less secure than before as I could have been anyone!

Steve_

Yes I noticed that at Wal-Mart as mentioned further back in the thread, seems to be a dollar limit, I did spend a fair bit when I was in there the other day and it did require a signature.

I'm beginning to think all the odd behaviour is to do with the credit card company switching settings around rather than Wal-Mart. The POS terminals can do it any way the card company has set it up to work.

Clearly people are going to walk in from foreign countries with chip + PIN cards so they've got to work with those.

petitefrancaise

it must be quite a high limit - I bought school/college stuff and the total was about $150 the first time.

scrubbedexpat091

I spent 150 ish in WA state at Wal-Mart last fall, our card is Canadian, but is chip & pin but Wal-Mart at this location didn't do chip & pin so I swiped the card, processed it, and gave me a receipt, didn't have to sign anything, and since it was self check out no cashier to check anything.

US gas stations are finicky at the pump with foreign credit cards, but at some putting in 00000 when asked for a zip code will work, other times you have to go in but they never ask for a PIN or a signature, the cashiers never seem to really care.

RICH

I have one chip card (citi/sears). I used it at Paddington for a heathrow express ticket last week and the machine spit out a receipt for me to sign. (>$50)

I used it at my local walmart ($70) the other day, no sig required. I do not have a PIN for this card.

zzrmark

Yup, they just swipe our cards and then ask us to sign the receipt

neill

This. Chip and Pin is shit slow on the interac system. You become normalized to it until you visit the US and stand in line watching people pay with their cards at US Starbucks in 5 seconds, instead of 45 in Canada.

scrubbedexpat091

Luckily more and more places are doing tap and pay now, so helps those of us with cards capable of it get through in about 5 seconds...lol

I'll use my debit chip and pin today at the grocery and time it, I haven't used the pin in weeks as everywhere I go is tap and pay capable, so only takes like 5 seconds if that for that, but never really thought about chip and pin taking longer, so I shall time it.

OhioLiz

We received our Chase debit and credit 'chip and pin' cards last weekend and they are indeed chip & sign. I've used at Target and Kroger and no signature is required if under $50 but it does take longer than the swipe. The cards still have the magnetic strip and the readers will accept that or the chip--in this case both places had readers that I used but it felt odd not to enter a pin.

Sitting in a waiting room this a.m. and someone had the Today show on telly: caught the end of a chip and pin feature. The summary is that by 1 Oct consumers should receive a chip & pin card, although that will really be a chip & sign. From Oct the retailers have responsibility for fraud and so most will update their readers. Fraud experts say it's a start but not as secure as having a true chip and pin. Comment about a pin might be needed for European travel and then the presenter making a snarky comment about having another code to remember.

How safe is the chip in your new credit card? - TODAY.com

Pulaski

Wells Fargo claims to be sending me chip+PIN cards, but the only one I have so far is for my HSA which did come with a PIN, but I haven't used it yet, so I don't know if it really will ask for the PIN.

scrubbedexpat091

I used the chip + pin 3 times and timed each one.

Save On- 23 seconds

Wal-Mart 21 seconds

Gas station- 33 seconds (pay at the pump)


Tap and pay seems to take 3-5 seconds, its really fast.

neill

Yeah, I guess the problem (my problem) with the Interac system is that it is often implemented cheaply, with dialup, and then you've got a line of 10 people just paying for 1 item (e.g. coffee...)... and then it's just ridiculous.

scrubbedexpat091

Yeah, I agree dial up is annoying, and way too many places still use it.

My last job at the hotel, we had 2 machines, one was on dial up and the other was not, and the dial up one took almost a minute to do it's thing, the other one was 15-20 seconds... Owners were too cheap to switch the other one off of dial up.