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[Rail Paul]

The NY Times has a short article about the increased availability of ATM/credit cards with international "chip" technology. More US banks are offering cards at relatively low fees (under $100), as more customers demand them.

The future has finally arrived — or at least the first wave of progress. Just before I left on my Asia trip, I got a FlexPerks Visa card from U.S. Bank that has a chip and a magnetic stripe, one of a growing number of American credit cards that now offer a “chip and signature” option. This isn’t entirely a solution because the global standard is “chip and PIN” technology, meaning you enter a PIN, or security code, after a payment terminal reads the card’s chip.

When I called U.S. Bank before my trip, I was told that I could get a PIN, but that any purchase using this code would be treated like a cash advance with 21 percent interest — obviously, not an option! Fortunately, the card worked fine when I used it without a PIN to buy a train ticket from an automated kiosk in Hong Kong. As I later learned, even without a PIN, a chip-and-signature card will work at most automated kiosks around the world because a signature is not required for purchases under $50. And at payment terminals used by stores and restaurants, the chip essentially tells the machine, “This card doesn’t have a PIN, so spit out a receipt for the customer to sign.”

The annual fee on my card is $49. Other chip-and-signature cards with annual fees under $100 include three options from Chase — the J. P. Morgan Select Visa, the British Airways Visa and the Hyatt Visa — and Citi Thank You or Executive/AAdvantage MasterCards. For a more complete list, visit FlyerTalk.com and search for “chip and signature” cards; the frequent fliers who trade tips there keep a running list of these cards and their annual fees.

CHECK YOUR CARD’S FOREIGN TRANSACTION FEE Another consideration is whether your credit card issuer charges a foreign transaction fee — usually 1 to 3 percent of every purchase, including the 1 percent Visa or MasterCard fee that banks pass along to their customers. But now that the government requires card issuers to disclose these fees clearly, some companies have gotten rid of them.

The personal finance site NerdWallet.com lists dozens of cards that do not charge a foreign transaction fee, including all of the credit cards issued by Capital One (which bucked this trend long before other banks). Alas, many of the credit cards that travelers use because they earn frequent-flier miles still impose this charge, like the American Express Delta SkyMiles card, and the ones that don’t often have high annual fees, like the Chase British Airways Visa ($95 per year). But unless you travel abroad frequently or spend a lot on your credit card, it’s probably not worth paying a high annual fee to avoid this charge. Since most of my hotels were billed in dollars with no fees, and I paid cash for most purchases, I paid only $10 in foreign transaction fees during my trip.

Cash for globe trotters

[Rail Paul]

Amex confirms it will convert its cards to chip-enabled by October of 2015. The process begins for other issuers as early as this year...

American Express said it would begin offering credit cards with secure-chip technology in the United States this year.

The company, however, isn’t releasing details yet of when or how it plans to provide the cards to customers, a spokeswoman said.

American Express said last week that it was joining the other major card companies in requiring merchants to adopt payment systems that could accept cards embedded with the new chips, known as E.M.V. chips, by October 2015. Merchants may face greater liability for card-related fraud if they don’t meet the deadline. (E.M.V. stands for Europay, MasterCard and Visa.)

Visa announced last August that it would speed adoption of chip cards in the United States, not only to enhance security when credit and debit cards were used, but also to help prepare for mobile systems that allowed shoppers to pay by waving their cellphones at a payment terminal. (Systems that let shoppers pay with their phones use E.M.V. chips, too.)

MasterCard and Discover this year announced plans to move toward secure-chip technology.

Cards with the chips, which are widely used in Europe and elsewhere overseas, are considered more secure than the older magnetic-strip cards still dominant here. In some foreign markets, the older cards sometimes don’t work, particularly at unattended kiosks that, for instance, sell train tickets. So some United States banks and credit unions have started making chip-enabled cards available to customers, particularly those who travel abroad.

American Express, which has long used E.M.V. cards in some overseas markets, had said last year that it didn’t see strong demand domestically. But the entire card industry is now moving toward the newer chip technology here.

“The payments industry is continuing to evolve rapidly, and American Express recognizes the growing demand for chip-based contact and contactless payments in the U.S.,” Suzan Kereere, senior vice president and general manager of American Express Global Network Business, said in a statement.

Have you traveled overseas and been unable to use your credit card because of the technology? Tell us about your experience?

NY Times