Is it true that in Europe, credit cards operate on a chip implanted on the card and not

[raccoon]

on a magnetic strip?


I've heard that.

[cbayer]

1. Apparently that is true pretty much everywhere except the US.

Here in Mexico, the cards have a chip. They are much harder to pirate. People with US cards experience high rates of piracy of their accounts. Those with Mexican cards, very little.

[PoliticAverse]

2. See the following Dec. 2013 NPR story...

http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2013/12/19/255558139/outdated-magnetic-strips-how-u-s-credit-card-security-lags

[Lydia Leftcoast]

3. When I was in Scandinavia, I found out, at the suggestion of a train ticket seller in Copenhagen,

that my Capital One card worked as a credit card with the ATM withdrawal PIN.

I was afraid it would count as a cash advance (which is a mess when it comes to paying off your balance), but it registered as just an ordinary credit card transaction.

[mainer]

4. That's why I use my American Express abroad

It has a chip. Unfortunately, not every merchant accepts AmEx.

[raccoon]

5. It is hard to get a credit card with a chip in the Empire. I have 3, have asked all of them about

issuing me a credit card with a chip--and they all say they can't do it!

Here I thought we were #1......

Anyway, some have told me you can still use the magnetic strip CC in Europe most places. I will
be in Paris, not in some place off the beaten path, so I figure that must be right.

If any of you have experience to the contrary, please speak now!

[Nay]

6. In Brazil they all have a chip. nt

[cbayer]

7. It is true. The US is so far behind and some merchants in europe don't even

want to take cards from US banks.

[cbayer]

8. Lol, did not realize I had previously posted to this thread.

oldtimers.