Clearly, it has been a while since I have traveled in Europe. Last night, my dad - who is also going to Europe this summer - told me that he just got in his new chip-and-signature card to use when they are over there. Wait. What?!? He went on to tell me that many countries now have chip cards and are getting rid of or have already gotten rid of magnetic strip cards and readers. That means that US credit and debit cards won't work in the new chip readers.
Needless to say, I was quite stressed to hear this news. I felt like my entire trip had been planned and at this point, I really just needed to pack in two months and get on a plane. Now I worry that my debit card won't work in Europe. Generally, I have used my debit card at ATMs to get cash and then used it as a credit card for everything else. This puts a bit of a kink in those plans.
I started doing research last night about these cards. The general consensus of the online community is that you can still use your debit card at the ATMs and anywhere that still has magnetic strip readers. However, they will not work in the chip machines or at automated kiosks - like at train stations or other ticket machines. You can't exactly explain to a ticket machine that your card doesn't work and ask that it manually input the numbers. The good thing that came out of this research is finding out that many restaurants and small businesses in Portugal either don't accept ANY cards or they strongly insist you pay in cash.
It is very clear to me at this point that I need to have a chip-and-pin card. There are two kinds of chip cards: chip-and-pin and chip-and-signature. One requires a pin and the other will give notice to the merchant that a signature is required. I read in one location that the chip-and-signature card might not work in automated kiosks because there won't be anything to sign and it needs a pin. You can request a pin from your bank, but will that work in the kiosks? My parents ended up getting the signature card and are getting a pin from the bank. That makes me nervous enough that I think I had better get the chip-and-pin card.
I called my credit union this morning to see if they might be able to get me a chip card. While their debit and credit cards are not using the chip technology just yet, they do have a new preloaded chip-and-pin VISA card available. I took the information home with me to go over it further, but it seems like a really good option. I should be able to use my debit card to get cash out of the ATM for food and small souvenirs and then use the chip card to pay for my hostel, local trains and any other activities or souvenirs that will take cards. I think this plan just might work and I'm a bit less stressed now.
