Credit Card Signatures Are About to Become Extinct in the U.S

Re:Credit Card Signatures Are About to Become Extinct in the... by criddell on Monday April 09, 2018 @09:37AM (#16792843)

I was just looking for a chip-and-pin card that I (as an American) could get for traveling to the UK and apparently there really isn't much out there. I think all of the US cards that support chip and pin prioritize signature over pin.

I also found this Visa page explaining that PIN isn't used in the US because it's too expensive:

https://usa.visa.com/visa-everywhere/security/the-cost-of-pi...

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Re:Credit Card Signatures Are About to Become Extinct in the... by SketchySeaBeast on Monday April 09, 2018 @10:41AM (#16793331)

I recently traveled to the states from Canada and was amazed at the number of places that didn't even have the infrastructure for chip & pin - I was at a popular tourist spot and it was all iPads & Square Readers.

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Re:Credit Card Signatures Are About to Become Extinct in the... by photojosh on Monday April 09, 2018 @08:52PM (#16798203)

Weird. The Square readers we have in Australia support both chip-and-pin and contactless (+pin for purchases > $100). Were they only using the cheaper audio-jack swipe readers in the US? (Not allowed here any more)

I've been using Apple Pay recently, and one annoyance I had was that one store when I paid (for a >$2k purchase) didn't ask for my PIN... it asked for a signature. And then of course I was meant to present my card for verification. And I couldn't... what?

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Re:Credit Card Signatures Are About to Become Extinct in the... by SketchySeaBeast on Tuesday April 10, 2018 @09:53AM (#16801340)

It was the audio jack swipe readers.

Apple Pay lets you spend that much money? I think with Google Pay + my bank the limit is $100 / transaction, after which you have to use your card + pin (which, let's be honest, makes sense.

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Re:Credit Card Signatures Are About to Become Extinct in the... by seanalltogether on Monday April 09, 2018 @10:56AM (#16793464)

Before I moved full time to the UK i was in the same position. The only bank I found that provided true chip and pin was Andrews FCU. https://www.andrewsfcu.org/personal/loans-and-credit/credit-...

I never got one though, I ended up getting married soon after and got a UK bank account.

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Re:Credit Card Signatures Are About to Become Extinct in the... by davepage on Monday April 09, 2018 @10:07AM (#16793040)

FWIW, I set an ATM PIN for a US issued CC and found the PIN worked for retail terminals in NZ. YMMV

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Re:Credit Card Signatures Are About to Become Extinct in the... by malnourish on Monday April 09, 2018 @11:11AM (#16793627)

I hope that didn't count as a cash advance

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Re:Credit Card Signatures Are About to Become Extinct in the... by davepage on Tuesday April 10, 2018 @08:43AM (#16800903)

It did not

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Re:Credit Card Signatures Are About to Become Extinct in the... by hackeyed on Monday April 09, 2018 @09:46AM (#16792895)

Might check some of the credit unions you can join. I know at least FirstTech uses chip and pin for their credit cards.

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Re:Credit Card Signatures Are About to Become Extinct in the... by Maultasche on Monday April 09, 2018 @08:26PM (#16798112)

I can confirm that. I specifically signed up for FirstTech for their Chip and Pin cards. Their Mastercard is quite good for traveling and has Chip and Pin.

It was great when I was traveling in Iceland where pretty much every transaction was made with my card. It's a regional credit union, but I only had to visit a branch in person one time to change the PIN on my card.

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Re:Credit Card Signatures Are About to Become Extinct in the... by nojvek on Monday April 09, 2018 @12:08PM (#16794246)

First Tech security is pretty top notch. For online trnsacations over a certain amount they would ask for password verification.

I just wished online transactions owned it up for optional two factor online transactions, pin card transactions and SMS verifications for all transactions above $500.

That would drop fraud significantly.

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Re:Credit Card Signatures Are About to Become Extinct in the... by lh7777 on Monday April 09, 2018 @09:42AM (#16792869)

FirstTech's credit card is PIN priority. I've only used it in Canada so far, but it works as expected there.

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Re:Credit Card Signatures Are About to Become Extinct in the... by criddell on Monday April 09, 2018 @10:04AM (#16793015)

Do you know if you have to join the credit union to get a card, or do they issue them to anybody?

Edit: I just contact them and you do indeed have to become a member first.

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Re:Credit Card Signatures Are About to Become Extinct in the... by StudentStuff on Monday April 09, 2018 @12:08PM (#16794242)

First Tech's membership bar is quite low, I was surprised how easy it was to get my SO an account. The Zelle integration on the mobile app is pretty slick too!

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