Article

Cash: It really is 'Everywhere You Want to Be'

Having an EMV-enabled card in Europe is one thing. Being able to use it is another.

January 27, 2014 by Suzanne Cluckey — Owner, Suzanne Cluckey Communications

Last week's Wincor World trade fair was a terrific chance to see at first hand some of the latest and most forward-thinking hardware and software solutions for cash management, branch reinvention, self-service and assisted self-service technologies, security, and more.

But as impressive as it was, and as impressively as it was presented, the importance of all this banking innovation did not entirely register at the A2 Forum in Rheda-Wiedenbrück, Germany. That realization occurred after the show ended, about 17 miles away in the charming city of Gütersloh, population just slightly less than 100,000.

EMV: Don't leave the US without it

Knowing that non-chip cards can be an issue for international travelers (having read a little about EMV in the last year or so), I thought I'd simply ask my credit card company for a smart card to be on the safe side.

It wasn't a matter of "simply" asking. When I called Capital One, I learned that one of America's most prolific card issuers does not offer a smart card of any kind. "What's in your wallet?" It sure isn't a Visa-branded Capital One card with a smart chip.

I called the issuer of my backup card, Chase. Yes, they have an EMV card — offered exclusively through a program that charges an annual fee of $100. But there are extra perks and the fee is waived for the first year, and by then, maybe chip cards won't be so "exclusive."

My Chase Sapphire EMV card arrived the following week. And it was impressive — midnight blue with gold lettering and a telltale square gold chip on the front. The raised number had been placed on the back, preserving the sleek-looking face.

The card was also hefty — thicker and more than twice the weight of my Cap One card. It felt important. I was ready to charge my way through Germany with confidence. But with a few hundred euros tucked in my passport wallet, because you just never know, do you ...

No, you never know.

The first inkling came with the taxi ride that my colleague, Natalie, and I took from the airport to the hotel in Gütersloh. In the course of destroying German syntax, I learned that our taxi driver would take payment by card — but reluctantly; never mind that it was a 100 euro charge for the trip.

In the least secure transaction possible, the driver used an old-school carbon charge slip, handwriting the card information (which he was puzzled to find on the back of my card).

After that, I charged incident free with my Chase chip card — Internet in my hotel room, a glass of wine at the hotel bar, dinner in Gütersloh on a couple of days. All good — except at the place with the terrific wood-oven take-away pizza, where Natalie and I were told, "No card. Only cash."

On Thursday evening the shops in Gütersloh were open late, so we traipsed through the quaint shopping district, looking for the obligatory tchotchkes to cart home. We stopped by a toy store ("cash only"), a candy store ("cash only"), a market ("cash only") a bookstore ("cash only"), and a bakery that turned out beautiful tortes, pretty good "milchkaffee," and killer dark chocolate bars — and turned down all cards. "Cash only."

My EMV-enabled Visa was good at the department store where I bought a hat for my freezing ears and a good-sized café where we bought dinner.

Note to self: Get PIN for EMV card

As my cache of euros dwindled, anxiety crept in. Between me and who-knew-what were 17 euros and 75 cents. Without a PIN for my state-of-the-art Chase card, ATM lobbies at Sparkasse and Santander were just a provoking reminder that cash access still matters. A lot. More so when you're 5,000 miles from home.

On the other hand, Natalie — editor of ATM Marketplace sister publications Kiosk Marketplace and Self-Service World — stepped up to a Sparkasse ATM, inserted her plain-old mag-stripe ATM card and walked away with a fistful of euros. Same as anyplace in the U.S., except that the EMV-enabled machine kept her card through the entire transaction.

This, I thought to myself, is what Wincor World was all about. Making access happen — quickly, efficiently, conveniently, universally, affordably. It's why all of those forward-thinking hardware and software solutions are so critically important — to Wincor Nixdorf and its customers, certainly, but also to deployers of every other make of ATM in the world. And to the cardholders everywhere who can safely assume that cash is readily at hand when Visa isn't exactly "Everywhere you want to be."

(Incidentally, Chase never questioned any of my charges abroad, despite my having forgotten to inform them that I'd be travelling internationally. So that was reassuring.)

Read more about EMV.

About Suzanne Cluckey

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Suzanne’s editorial career has spanned three decades and encompassed all B2B and B2C communications formats. Her award-winning work has appeared in trade and consumer media in the United States and internationally.