Crazy New Discover Card

[countryguy]

In April I drove to Kansas City, MO. The car was running low on fuel so I stopped at the first gas station (don't remember the name) I came across in MI. I inserted my credit card with chip into the fuel pump and it would not recognize the card. I went inside the small store and the clerk told me that their pumps were not equipped to handle credit cards with chip. In order to get gas I either had to pay up front for a specific dollar amount or if I wanted to fill the tank not knowing what the amount would be, I would have to leave my driver's license with her, she would turn on the pump so I could fill the tank and then go back inside and pay with my credit card inside where the credit card machine was capable of handling a chip card. The car needed fuel so that's what I had to do.

I also came across gas pumps that required me to enter my zip code. I am from Canada...we don't have zip codes...we use Postal Codes which are in the format A1A1A1....so there is no way to enter that into the pump. Good thing I had called my credit card company before I left Canada to tell them that I was going on a trip to the USA. They warned me that I might come across fuel pumps requiring a zip code and told me to enter 00 and then the 3 numeric digits from my postal code. Fortunately this fake zip code worked.

Gary

 

[iej]

In Europe for quite a while (25 years in France)

Chip and PIN was a European, initially French, project rolled out as globally accepted standard called EMV.

They've been in use in European countries for well over a decade in the EMV format and they've been in France since 1992!

And yeah, I've has the same problem in the US with Irish credit cards.
The postal codes here are A12 A1A2 format (unique code for every address)
In theory, just my postal code should be able to get me. It certainly will find me on Google Maps or when ordering a pizza.

 

[wayupnorth]

No way I give my zip code away, like a Social Security number or enter anything else as its NONE of their business. Take my Discover swipe and charge me for it or loose my business. Period. I monitor every transaction so there is never problems.

 

[iej]

It just works by simply sticking your card in and entering your PIN. Or, for small transactions by contactless, or by Apple Pay / Android Pay with your fingerprint etc

You don't have to verify anything with personal information.

Increasingly the card reader does not require the whole card in. Just stuck in the top 1/3 of the card.

 

[kb0nes]

I love the processors that ask for my ZipCode, I'd gladly give them that extra tidbit of info to help prevent fraud. This is another trick to help beat the magnetic stripe skimmers. Sure you can copy the magnetic data but you probably don't have the ZipCode so if all processors required it fraud would plummet.

Of course adding the PIN to the card is even better since a ZipCode could be guessed from the location where the card data was skimmed initially.

 

[turquoisedude]

Canadian 'zip code'

Gary, thanks for that tip!  I have run across this a few times myself - at first I entered the zip code of my PO Box in Vermont but after a while that stopped working.  I guess there is a tie-in to the card information and the billing address of the cardholder.  

 

[rolls_rapide]

Our postcodes are in the form of 'AB12 3CD'. Several houses share the postcode, differentiated by house number or name.

 

[countryguy]

You're welcome Paul!

 

[thomasortega]

One thing i noticed.....

I use Samsung Pay and several places they say "sorry, we don't have the reader".

Then I say "May I try? AFAIK it doesn't need an specific hardware."

Only to have the clerk looking at me amazed... and saying "Wow, your watch is cool! how can you do that? My manager told me this Apple thing doesn't work with our system because our hardware is too obsolete".

Darling, it's not Apple. It's something that was made to work, not to pretend it is cool. That's the difference between Apple and Samsung.

(Running before Kevin picks his machete... LOL)

 

[combo52]

Apple Rules---- Samsung Explodes or catches fire, LOL

 

[thomasortega]

I knew somebody would say something like that... hahahaha

 

[fan-of-fans]

All of the gas stations here require zip codes to be entered if you pay at the pump.

As far as paying at a store or restaurant I'm not sure what the maximum dollar amount is before a signature is required. However, Goodwill has ALWAYS required a signature if I pay by card, even if the purchase is only a few dollars.