Yorkieabroad

Just been through my own and my wife's wallets (wonder how she bought lunch today) and found 1 card, (Chase Hyatt) that has a chip. Hadn't realized it had one as it is pretty well disguised in the design, and I'm pretty sure we've never had a PIN for it. Checked other cards that folk have mentioned (citi, BoA) and none of the versions we have are chipped.

wtkp0u

A lot of responses - looks like there's plenty of interest here but few options. I'll take a look at the BofA card mentioned a couple of times, thanks.

FWIW never had any trouble travelling with my stripe cards. Much more likely is "we don't accept Amex"

DebzinUS

I hadn't had any problems with my swipe cards until my last trip in November. I had two instances (both restaurants)where I was told that the restaurant simply did not have the capability to swipe my cards.

Mr Weeze

Well I had to go through and set up a new PIN, along with being given instructions this may be used for payment. I still can't tell you whether it actually works though, as I haven't had to do that in Houston yet.

MidAtlantic

I was referring to cards.

Markie

No it doesn't, it's a chip and signature card.

hungryhorace

You're right. Just read this on BoA's FAQ. Good spot!

Markie

I have one

taffie77

We just received chip & pin cards from Wells Fargo this week. My H called up and asked for them specifically, though it did take some explaining. He was recently in the UK and fed up of having to explain that US cards don't have a chip. Though we've been given the same pin for both our cards, which can't be changed

scrubbedexpat091

Same here in Canada, and many places have stopped accepting non-chip cards as well and no longer have the capability to swipe cards, I know its been catching American visitors off guard.

Yorkieabroad

When I was in HEB last night I had a closer look at their machines...they do have the little slot to insert a chip card as well as the swipe. Well I'll be darned...never noticed that before!

Markie

The Wells Fargo card is NOT a true Chip & PIN card. That is, it has a PIN but will only ask for it at automated machines where a signature slip can't be printed. I have confirmed the upcoming Barclaycards are the same.

Also, why on earth would you use a Wells Fargo card for foreign travel with their 3% FTF? Get yourself a Bank of America Travel Rewards card, or if you want better rewards get a Chase Sapphire Preferred (has an annual fee, but a 40k UR points bonus - directly convertible to airline miles - for signing up, and it earns UR points not cash back).

Really? I didn't see one place on my recent trip to Calgary that didn't have the ability to swipe cards. Two places (one Gap store and one Shell station) didn't have the ability to read EMV (chip) cards. That surprised me, given the liability shift has been in place for some time now in Canada. My friends were travelling with swipe-only cards.

What caught cashiers off-guard in Canada was that I was using an EMV card, yet a signature slip still printed.

scrubbedexpat091

I've seen several places now with signs saying they can now only accept chip and pin and can no longer swipe cards manually, its not widespread yet, but slowly but certainly its happening.

Several gas stations around have put up signs as well.

I am in BC.

Do they have tap and pay in the US? Just tap the card, no swiping or chip and no pin or signature needed.

I dont have credit card, but my Visa debit card from Chase has become basically worthless here, more and more its being declined despite having money in the account, could be a way for chase to make money as well seeing it costs 5 bucks to use the ATM plus 2 fee from the Canadian bank.

Tried to use it at Wal-Mart and it was declined, none of the gas stations will take it now, both at the pump and inside the store and its still declined.

Markie

Those places need to be reported to Visa and MasterCard, they're not actually allowed to do that.

As for contactless, yes, it exists, but it's VERY uncommon because people call up their bank yelling and screaming when they get contactless cards. Quite a few banks used to issue them, but very few still do - most quit issuing them due to consumer complaints.

hungryhorace

They're not? Why not? The merchant is risking taking the hit on fraudulent any non chip & pin transactions, so I can fully understand why they wouldn't wish to take non C&P.