Two weeks ago I posted about the troubles American's were having when traveling overseas with their credit cards. "Credit Card Useless Overseas? PIN it With HomeATM's PIN My Card
Yesterday the Boston Globe did a story on the same subject.
As I stated in my post from two weeks ago, the problem is easily solved with HomeATM's patent-pending "PIN my Card" technology .
"PIN my Card" a technology created by HomeATM, assigns a PIN number to a credit card (or any card for that matter) in order to make the transaction both more secure and become a Card Present (CP) vs. Card Not Present (CNP) transaction in the case of online payments.
It occured to me, in theory at least, that HomeATM's "PIN my Card" technology would also be useful in overcoming problems American cardholders are experiencing when traveling globally. Since PIN's are required with the new Chip and PIN technology being rolled out across the globe, HomeATM's "PIN my Card" could be rolled out across America to solve the SNAFU's American's are experiencing when traveling overseas!This recent flurry of publicity concerning the problems American's are having overseas creates a huge opportunity for HomeATM to, at the very least, garner some major publicity for their technology itself and quite ostensibly be the driving force behind it's launch. Stay tuned!
Here's the article from the Boston Globe:
US travelers face credit snafu
New global system declines the cards Americans carry
Much of the world - but not the United States - is switching to a new type of credit card. "Chip-and-PIN" cards, as they are called, have an embedded ID chip that requires users to enter a unique code before the transaction is approved. The procedure is similar to that for ATM cards, except that the latter draws money from a cash account, while chip-and-PIN cards charge credit systems such as Visa, MasterCard, or
Nearly all the credit-card terminals in Britain, Ireland, Denmark, France, and Spain have been changed. Canada is scheduled to convert in 2010. And as many as 50 other countries around the world are converting.
The reason is obvious: A credit card requiring a PIN code is useless to a thief. European officials report that the system has significantly cut the credit-card fraud that grew after former Soviet bloc countries joined the European Union.
- But US consumers cannot get these cards. (Editor's Note: Yes they can, they already have them, they just need to "PIN their Card"
- No US card issuer offers them, ("PIN your card and it's a "non-issue") and according to the American Bankers Association,
- there are no plans to adopt the technology. (well let''s call the ABA and let them know about our PMC technology)
"It would be costly to change all the transaction terminals in the US," says Don Rhodes, director of risk management policy at the ABA, "and right now the industry doesn't seem to feel the level of fraud justifies it." (Editor's Note: Last week in the very same Boston Globe, the CEO of TJ Maxx said the US should switch to a Chip and PIN system)
In theory, overseas merchants are required to accept US cards (which are called "mag-stripe," for the magnetic stripe that identifies each card) if the cardholder can offer a suitable picture ID to authenticate a signature. "We have been quite clear that there are instances where a signature rather than a PIN should be accepted," says Sandra Quinn, a spokeswoman for the British payment processing council APACS, about a procedure called a PIN bypass. "But I have heard of problems."
Problems, indeed. Even Rhodes ran into trouble on a trip to London last winter.Visa cards are rejected about half the time, and never accepted at automatic pay points where there was no live cashier. (Officials at Visa International, the world's largest payment network, declined to comment.) So what can US travelers do when they are in chip-and-PIN countries?
Editor's Note: Just for the record...if they PIN their Card before they leave the problem is a non-issue.
Cash usually works. But carrying large amounts comes with the risk of theft or loss and forces travelers to bear costly foreign exchange fees. Also many businesses such as car rental agencies will not accept cash and require a credit card imprint before handing over the keys to a car, though such companies are the most likely to still accept mag-stripe cards. Depending on the country, travelers checks are accepted in many places. Scandinavian merchants usually will not take them, and travel specialists have advised against them, as they are theft magnets. To use them you must find a bank that will cash them. And traveler's checks, like cash, do not offer the advantages of credit cards that appeal to frequent travelers: postponing payment for a month, an avenue to dispute charges, monthly and yearly expense tracking, and frequent flier miles.
Debit cards like the ones you use at ATMs (which are ubiquitous worldwide) usually can be substituted for credit cards. But relying on them means you must ensure there is plenty of cash in your account.
If you are planning a trip soon and want to use your credit cards, make sure you have several good picture IDs to back up your signature, a passport or a driver's license, for instance. IDs that have a scannable bar code, such as a passport, are best.
And despite what the payment-processing groups and card issuers say, many merchants will want payment with a code card, (PIN) period. "No code, no ticket," I was told in Copenhagen at Danish National Railways. "No exceptions."
This could be a huge market opportunity for HomeATM's PIN my Card Solution. Stay tuned!
