Chip & Pin Now Available for British Airways Visa
Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.
The United States of America may lead the world in many things, but it sorely lacks when it comes to credit card technology. For years, Europe has used credit cards that are enabled with Chip & Pin technology, which is much more effective at reducing credit card fraud since it requires a user to enter a pin that matches to the microchip. To me, this makes a whole lot more sense than trying to match someones signature up to the back of their credit card (I don't think any of my credit cards are even signed and I'm rarely asked for ID).
Because it is costly to overhaul the point-of-sale technology, we are stuck with old-school magnetic strip technology until the credit card industry comes together and makes a collective change to the new system.
However, you can now have a magnetic strip card and a Chip & Pin card since Chase just launched one for their British Airways Visa Signature Card (which many of us got this past April when they ran the amazing 100,000 mile sign-up bonus; not currently available).
All you have to do is call the number on the back of your card (1-800-577-0633) and request a Chip & Pin card. It might make sense to have as a backup card, especially since the British Airways Visa doesn't have foreign transaction fees and awards 1 mile for every dollar spent.
Hat tip Jaunted.
TPG featured card
at Capital One's secure site
Terms & restrictions apply. See rates & fees.
| 5X miles | Earn 5X miles on hotels, vacation rentals and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel |
| 2X miles | Earn unlimited 2X miles on every purchase, every day |
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Cons
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