Charlie Plesums
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- Messages
- 1,523
- Location
- Austin, Texas
I have had significant problems using a mag stripe card in Europe. Many places have removed the "obsolete" mag stripe reader from their systems now that everybody (except Americans) use the chip. Many waiters didn't know how to print a form to collect a signature (required with a mag stripe) rather than entering a PIN (the confirmation with a "chip and pin" card), so we spend a lot of time finding someone who remembers how to do it, or moving to a different cash register in a store.
I have done a search for an American bank offering the chip and pin card - the only one I have found is the United Nations Federal Credit Union - and I couldn't find an excuse they would honor so I could join and get the card. WalMart wanted to implement it in their stores, and was thwarted. I suspect that the problem is a different message format that Visa and Master Card would have to implement on verification networks. Europe is scheduled to stop adding the "unused" magnetic stripe on the European issued cards, which will make it interesting when European tourists can't use their cards here in a couple years.
Don't confuse the proximity cards that Visa and American Express are pushing. Those cards have a chip and antenna, so you only have to "wave" the card near the reader. That is not the same as the smart card used in Europe that has electrical contacts when you insert the end of the card in the reader - sometimes called the Chip and Pin card.
I can establish a bank account in France to get one of these cards, but all transactions will be converted to/from French Francs or Euros. I am now looking for a bank in some of the tax shelter locations that can issue a card and do the transactions in US dollars.
If you know of any bank that supports chip and pin cards with dollar based transactions, please let me know.