American credit cards are lacking the technology necessary for them to be universally accepted in many foreign countries. The all important missing component in American cards is smart card technology.

Smart cards still have the old magnetic strip, making them compatible with older terminals, but they also have an embedded microprocessor. Smart card technology has been introduced to prevent fraud in over 22 countries including most of Europe, Brazil, Mexico and Japan and more countries are adopting the technology as time progresses. Over the next couple of years many additional countries including China, India and Latin America will adopt this new technology.

The embedded microprocessor means that more data can be stored on the card instead of relying upon database access. These new hi-tech cards are favoured by police and governments as they significantly reduce the risk of card fraud.

Buying from stores or paying bills in restaurants shouldn’t be a problem as the old style cards can still cope with the terminals used in these situations. The new smart card technology is essential if you want to make use of an increasing number of automatic terminals that are commonly found at ticket kiosks and petrol station gas pumps. Americans with their old fashioned magnetic strip based cards would not be able to use these facilities.

The American banking industry are falling behind the rest of the world in the adoption of this new smart card technology. It is reported that credit card fraud hasn’t been as big a problem in the United states as it is in other parts of the world.

Another crucial reason for the delay in adopting this valuable new technology is the cost of introduction. The cost of introducing the new technology has been estimated at around .5 billion to introduce the required technology most of which would be spent on the new terminals needed by merchants.

So if you’re an American headed for Europe or elsewhere in the near future the answer is to make certain that you always have some cash in your pocket.

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One thing you can be certain of when travelling is the need for adequate and appropriate travel insurance. If you are over 64 you should be looking at Senior travel insurance and if you have any form of medical condition you need to look at Travel Insurance for Pre-Existing medical conditions.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 13th, 2009 at 10:43 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.