Visa

I have usually used my VISA in France with no difficulty.

However, I have heard that European credit cards have a new chip that our Visa%26#39;s don%26#39;t have, and therefore many times our VISA%26#39;s wil not be accepted.

I am mainly conserned with restaurant useage.

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The issue does not arise except when you try to use the card in a machine (e.g., for tickets at a train station). If you are handing it to a human to pay for something, there is no issue.

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You heard right about European credit cards being issued with embedded digital %26#39;..smart chips..%26#39;....while most US isseud credit cards still employ the older analog %26#39;..magnetic strip..%26#39; technology.

BUT....for the most part this difference in card reading technologies won%26#39;t affect your useage.....except perhaps in most automatic vending machines that accept credit cards. Most restaurants, stores, shops, manned ticket boothes and counters, etc that accept credit cards will be able to %26#39;..read..%26#39; US-issued credit cards and process transactions.

Just as a cautionary note, since most automatic vending machines that accept credit cards are set-up to read only %26#39;..smat-chip..%26#39; embedd cards, they won%26#39;t %26#39;..recognize..%26#39; US-issued cards and simply %26#39;..reject..%26#39; them without problem....But operating on the theory that %26#39;..machines have minds..%26#39; and like nothing better than to mess with humans...it%26#39;s best not to tempt them into messing with you...and %26#39;..eating..%26#39; your card. So treat any vending machine as %26#39;..cash only..%26#39;...just to be on the safe side.

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