I have just read a review in our local paper that says my Visa card needs a chip in London and Paris. In general reading, I thought this was in London but NOT Paris. Will my old style Visa and Mastercard still work in an ATM in Paris?
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Hi,
We recently visited Paris and used our visa to acess ATM%26#39;s allover the city. The only time we found we needed a card with a chip was if we wanted to use the self service machine to buy train tickets at Gare du Nord...but no worries we just queued up and bought them at the counter with our regular visa. there was never any other time our card didn%26#39;t work, and believe me, we used it a lot! :)
We also took a travelex cash passport as %26#39;backup%26#39; if we found the card would%26#39;t work in a certain country or city. We never had a problem anywhere over 6 weeks of travelling.
have a good trip!
j.
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Thanks Haymont.
I used the card in 2002 in Paris without any problem then read a letter in this weekend%26#39;s Herald. We are leaving on wednesday so too late to get a new card now. I have bought Euros for an emergency but not enought for 2 weeks in Paris. You will let me sleep easy tonight.
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a couple.
The chip doesnt come into play in ATMs - but if it%26#39;s a visa credit card you would be foolish to take money on credit. (If you put the account into credit then draw down on it, that%26#39;s OK)
If youre talking a bankcard with the visa sign on the back it doesnt need a chip (and most bank cards don%26#39;t have them). In France, the bankcards have chips, but thats for EFTPOS stuff.
No Matter if your card has a chip or not, it wont work in most vending machines, including ticket machines and self serve at the service stations.
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Thanks, it is a debit card. My mastercard is a credit card but I only use that for hotel bills etc. I knew they would not work in vending machines
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just curious - `(this subject has been discussed before) - don%26#39;t you have Visa-/´MasterCards with chips in Australia and USA ? They are much more secure than the oldfashioned ones.
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The Visa with the chip (smart card) is not common in the USA. In France probably every bank issues such cards. You can use your visa card that doesn%26#39;t have a chip in any shop that takes visa, but sometimes they don%26#39;t have much experience is swiping them, and they might ask for ID, but eventually it works. Visa/ATM cards also work without a chip.
The only time you need the smart card VISA and can%26#39;t use a traditional card is if you want to buy something from a vending machine that accepts visa cards.
One relevant case is the ticket machine in the METRO. Those machines only accept VISA cards with smart cards. But not all visa cards with smart cards are accepted. Maybe they only accept french visa cards with smart cards.
So the moral of the story is, unless you are trying to buy metro tickets, you will probably be ok.
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EXCEPT for most automatic vending machines, your US-issued, analog, %26#39;magnetic-strip-read%26#39; credit cards will WORK JUST FINE and be accepted just about everywhere. Thogh you will not be able to use your card in SNCF, RER or Metro station automatic ticket machines, manned ticket windows can process your transaction as easily as a clerk at you local market or petrol station at home. How does the Australian saying go?? %26quot;..No worries, mate..%26quot;.
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OK, so one additional caveat, just to avoid anybody thinking they can do anything with their none french visa card.
If you are a tourist, what I wrote above and what KDKSail wrote should hold true (but this is Paris, so cross your fingers)... But if you are planning to live in Paris for awhile you will most likely tun into some other problems. certain service providers will only accept Visa cards issued by French banks. Two examples of situations that have frustrated me include DSL providers (only Club Internet will accept payment by a non-French bank Visa card) and recharging credit for mobile phone sim cards by telephone (SFR only lets you recharge by telephone with a French issued VISA card).
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