Regarding “Hands Tied as Credit Limit Exceeded” (Sept. ’10, pg. 26), about a cruise passenger at sea unable to communicate with his credit card company, several years ago we converted all of our credit card bills (AmEx and two Visa cards) as well as other recurring charges, including utility bills, to auto-pay, by which each bill is automatically deducted from our checking account(s) on the due date.
I have traveled extensively overseas and have never run into any problems using my US credit cards. I usually use my Capital One Visa, as I think I get better rates with it. I never use debit cards.
I read the subscribers’ experiences with chip-and-PIN cards (Aug. ’10, pg. 16). My wife. Jean, and I were in London in June ’10, and the only times that we could not use our magnetic-stripe credit cards were when using machines to purchase train tickets or upgrade our Oyster cards.
In both situations, we were able to go to the ticket office and make the purchase with an agent, who swiped our card through a machine and had us sign the charge slip.
I read with some interest Patricia Russell’s letters concerning credit card foreign transaction fees (May ’10, pg. 14 & July ’10, pg. 11).
In Europe, my husband, Jim, and I use our US-issued credit union debit card to make withdrawals from ATMs. We seldom use charge cards and mostly operate with the local currency.
When traveling, I have always depended upon getting funds in the local currency by using my ATM card, a debit Visa card with a local credit union.
The May edition of ITN had five pages of letters from subscribers’ telling the difficulties they had using magnetic-stripe debit and credit cards from the United States in Europe.
I spent six weeks traveling in India in February-March ’10 (June ’10, pg. 27). Here are some tips based on that experience.
I did a feature article about my cruise on Elegant Cruises’ Monet (March ’03, pg. 22), so I was sad to read in the subscriber’s letter that the company is in such bad shape (“Awaiting Refund for Canceled Cruise,” May ’10, pg. 24).
In Europe, Canada, Latin America and parts of Pacific Asia, the Middle East and Africa, retailers use an “EMV” credit card verification system that requires a computer chip embedded in the card. The cardholder must enter a Personal Identification Number (PIN) to complete a purchase. This EMV (aka “chip-and-PIN”) system is being increasingly used because of its effectiveness in combating fraud. ITN confirmed with MasterCard, American Express and Visa that, currently, no financial institution in the United States is issuing credit cards that use chip-and-PIN security technology.