New Technology Making Cash More Preferable For American Travelers
Credit cards maybe going out the window for American credit card holders who plan to go through international air travel. It seems that the technology involved with credit card transactions in America are being left behind with what other countries are using.
An article recently written up in the New York Times reports that American credit card holders may be getting less than what they expect from their credit cards when they go abroad. New credit card technologies are being implemented in Europe and in other countries which will effectively make American credit card magnetic strips much more difficult to use. The new credit cards being implemented by Europe and other countries are using the new chip-and-PIN credit card technology which is not compatible with American credit cards. Chip-and-PIN credit cards carry many advantages for credit card holders. The card itself is the information storage which is accessed by the pin. This makes these new credit cards much more difficult targets for fraud and counterfeiting.
Credit card holders in American will have a bit of difficulty using their credit cards in countries implementing the new credit cards. Most stores will still be able to accept the older American cards but many ATMs and kiosks may not accept them. This will make it harder for American credit card holders to complete some types of transactions or withdraw their cash.
The new credit cards are primarily being introduced by Europe. They are not the only ones implementing the change, though. Other countries are also moving to the new credit card technology such as Brazil, Japan and Mexico. Other countries are also going to follow soon such as Canada, China and Latin America.
American credit card companies are, however not adapting to the new credit card technology. If credit card companies do not begin adapting to the new credit card technologies, American credit card holders will have a harder time making financial transactions when they go abroad. American credit card holders may have to resort to traditional coin and paper money for their transactions.
The loss of credit card use does not practically mean that American credit card holders will be hindered in traveling to other countries. However, it is something that they need to be aware of. It can be quite a harrowing experience for a credit card holder to arrive in a foreign country and to find out that they cannot use their credit cards to access their money.
