Questions and Answers

[USER=4]@Lucky[/USER] – I was in Iraq a few weeks ago and had a few problems using my US issued credit cards at merchants there. The cards (both Chase and Citi chip-and-sign enabled cards) were rejected twice at “chip and pin” enabled terminals, despite having notified the banks of potential travel to Iraq. My Candian and UAE “chip and pin” enabled cards worked fine. However, I was able to use my CSP card at the airport while departing on a chip-and-sign basis.

Do you know if the problems I had were due to OFAC compliance issues or due to simple incompatibility with the Iraqi chip-and-pin point of sale technology? Any other areas where OFAC compliance may be an issue using US issued cards?

Hah, Sean, I swear you ask these questions just to stump me sometimes. 😀

Wish I had an answer, that’s an interesting one! I’d go with the former, but certainly could be wrong.

Anyone else have any thoughts?

If the answers were simple, I wouldn’t have had to “Ask Lucky” for advice!

Interestingly, a colleague was in IS controlled Mosul recently and says that some stores are still using POS terminals registered in nearby Erbil over GPRS networks. THAT would definitely be an OFAC violation! 🙂

[QUOTE=”Lucky, post: 4056, member: 4″]Hah, Sean, I swear you ask these questions just to stump me sometimes. 😀

Wish I had an answer, that’s an interesting one! I’d go with the former, but certainly could be wrong.

Anyone else have any thoughts?[/QUOTE]

I have several chip and signature cards with auxiliary PIN numbers, but in Europe they are always used as Chip and Signature. I have had purchases rejected because my card was not Chip and PIN even when I had an available PIN. Anyone know a [B]US issued card that is really chip and PIN?[/B]

Skip if you wish, but the most irritating example was at the Luxury (only) dining in the WAW airport (McDonald’s in Warsaw Poland). Great large touch screen with the menu in choice of languages with supporting pictures. Place your order, enter your credit card, presumably get the receipt to pick up your order, but as soon as the card is recognized as Chip and Signature, the order is cancelled, and you are directed to a teenage cashier who doesn’t speak English and no longer has picture menus.

[USER=1335]@CharliePlesums[/USER] the only ones I know of are Barclays issued cards. The arrival plus has worked for me in chip and pin required locations in the past.

[QUOTE=”Gaurav, post: 11172, member: 79″][USER=1335]@CharliePlesums[/USER] the only ones I know of are Barclays issued cards. The arrival plus has worked for me in chip and pin required locations in the past.[/QUOTE]

[USER=79]@Gaurav[/USER] Barclays says the Foreign Transaction fee is “[B]0%[/B] of each transaction in U.S. dollars.” Do you know if that is no fee for accounts paid in US Dollars, or do you have to convert the sale to dollars while abroad? (The last time I checked on conversion at point of sale, the fee was 4% plus their exchange rate (not a bank rate) and on the card I was using the sale was still subject to the foreign transaction fee). Converting to dollars at POS sure isn’t a good idea!

[USER=1335]@CharliePlesums[/USER] – I just used my Arrival Plus card all over Australia and did not have any foreign transaction fees. All my charges were in AUD.

[USER=1335]@CharliePlesums[/USER] don’t pay in USD when abroad. Always pay in the local currency and you will not be hit with extra fees!

[QUOTE=”Gaurav, post: 11208, member: 79″][USER=1335]@CharliePlesums[/USER] don’t pay in USD when abroad. Always pay in the local currency and you will not be hit with extra fees![/QUOTE]
[USER=79]@Gaurav[/USER] Absolutely agree. I have only found one exception – In Santiago Chile, no 19% hotel tax if you pay in a foreign currency – even on a credit card converting to USD.

[USER=1335]@CharliePlesums[/USER] No foreign transaction fees here for charges in XCD and ISK with the Barclays Arrival+.

[USER=507]@Mike[/USER] Thanks – three examples of no fees suggests that the Barclays terms were just poorly written – in way that could have multiple interpretations. I now am a believer that their terms are like everyone else’s