Credit Cards

I am from Boston and am traveling with my g/f to Paris from Dec 12-20. I was just wondering if you can use your credit cards a lot? Are there things you can%26#39;t use it for? I am going to let my credit card company know I am going but just want to know if I will be able to use it a lot. Thanks!

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Yes, you can use credit cards a lot in Paris -- at restaurants, hotels, shops, etc., just as in the United States.

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Yes and no. Things like ticket machines won%26#39;t generally take American cards, as European cards have a chip in them that we don%26#39;t have. I found some small stores, although not in Paris, on my last trip, where I couldn%26#39;t use my card. So let your bank know as well so you can use your ATM to get cash.

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As Warriorjan suggests, there are places where your US credit card will no longer be accepted: pay at the pump gas stations, ticket kiosks, toll booths, and more and more smaller, outside of Paris restaurants and shops. If you stay in areas where there are a good number of American tourists, problems will be few and mostly limited to the occasional delay while a clerk tries to remember how to swipe a card.

Overall, I%26#39;m sure you%26#39;ll be able to easily use your credit card all the way to your credit limit if you want.

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Most of the restaurants I can think of use a small, wireless credit card reader. Occassionally, when they swipe your card, it doesn%26#39;t always %26quot;take,%26quot; and it seems that the waiter will not automatically try it again. Ask %26quot;Encore, s%26#39;il vous plait.%26quot; if this happens.

Pjk

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We’ve never had a problem using our credit cards in Paris. I’ll add one point to the posts above:

Most U.S.-issued credit cards charge one percent for the foreign currency transaction, and most also add — for no good reason except that they can — another two percent, for a total of three percent on each transaction. So everything you put on the credit card is the opposite of “on sale,” and costs three percent more.

Very few credit cards today don’t charge this unnecessary additional two percent. You can ask your credit card company whether they charge the extra two percent, but be sure to speak with a supervisor because most telephone clerks won’t really know the answer.

One card that does not charge the extra 2 percent is issued by CapitalOne -- that%26#39;s what we use.

Jake Dear

http://parisandbeyondinfrance.blogspot.com/

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Asked this question on another thread...

We obtained a CapitalOne credit card for the exact purpose of using in Europe to use as a charge card..In regards to using the ATM for cash we were thinking about opening an account through CapitalOne specifically for travel cash...not credit card use. Does CapitalOne charge a fee for using the ATM machines? We tried to get a straight answer here locally, but no one could give us a straight answer. Any info would be appreciated!

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When we%26#39;ve used our Capital One cards in Argentina and Mexico, we were charge just $1.50 per ATM transaction and no charge for credit card charges.

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Hi, people -

To be honest, I don%26#39;t know about Capital One, but I can say that the exchange rate at the ATM is enough better than any other way of obtaining foreign currency that the 3% charges that some banks levy is a bargain. Remember, that all the fees and charges will come from your own bank. The banks in France and the rest of Western Europe for that matter, don%26#39;t charge for the use of their machines.

You should check out your local credit unions. Many of them make no charges for ATM use anywhere in the world. Explore banks on the basis of a minimum balance. Ask all the questions. If the person you speak to doesn%26#39;t have any answers for you, request a supervisor and go as many levels up the food chain as necessary to get the information you need. For all their fees and charges, many banks seemingly spend nothing on training their staff members, so be prepared for this evolution to take a while.

BTW, Goalie, I have found my Visa card to be marginally more useful in Europe than my MasterCard, and both are much more useful than my Amex.

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%26lt;%26lt;all the fees and charges will come from your own bank.%26gt;%26gt;

It probably should be noted that in fairness to those banks that do indeed process foreign transactions without additional fees, Pulse or Cirrus do charge a 1% currency transaction fee (similar to the Visa/MC 1% currency transaction fee).

There are credit unions and smaller banks (such as my bank USAA) that process both credit card and ATM transactions adding no fees of their own only passing along the 1% currency conversion fee.

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I%26#39;m having a hard time trying to think of places in a modern city that don%26#39;t take credit cards. Maybe an outdoor market or a street vendor. Even then, they have those little wireless dealies.