How the Chase Hyatt Card’s Chip and Signature Helped Me Navigate Europe

The Chase Hyatt Card has a lot of benefits, but my favorite feature lately has been chip and signature.

Hyatt Chip and Signature

That’s this part here:

Hyatt Chip and Signature Card

Why?  Because during my trip to Europe it was the most useful card in my wallet.

While our metro vending machines allow you to swipe a card to make a purchase, the metro kiosks in Frankfurt and Paris required that I enter a card with a chip.  You put the card into the machine, it takes a moment to read your chip, and then you remove it.

You may have heard about needing “chip and pin” cards in Europe.  While credit card machines had ways for people to enter their pins, they were not required for purchase.  In fact, when I swiped for purchase with the card, the word SIGNATURE would pop up on the machine and the clerk would have be sign a random place on the receipt.

You can call Chase and ask for a pin for the card, but this will not work in the European credit card machines.  This is a pin so you can withdraw cash advanced on the card (which you should only do in emergency cases, due to high interest rates and fees!)

It also was nice that the Chase Hyatt Visa Chip and Signature Card has no foreign transaction fees, but there are only bonus earnings for restaurants, on airline tickets purchased directly from the airline and at car rental agencies (and Hyatt purchases).  Everything else gets the regular one point per dollar.

I wouldn’t get this card JUST for the chip and signature, but you should have one chip and signature card in your wallet just in case.  I happen to like the benefits of this card, so that’s why I chose it to be my chip and signature savior.

Hyatt Chip and Signature Card

The annual fee is $75, but View from the Wing has an offer for $50 statement credit with first purchase.

Disclosure:  I do not receive affiliate credit for this credit card; however I do disclose that I enjoy writing pointless disclosures.  If I did get affiliate credit, you betcha it’d be in there.  Also, italics are fun.

 

About Jeanne Marie Hoffman

Former bartender, still a geek. One equal part each cookies, liberty, football, music, travel, libations. Stir vigorously. +Jeanne Marie Hoffman Jeanne on Twitter

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2 comments

  1. I don’t get why the cards we’re being offered as being great for international travel aren’t “chip and pin” instead of “chip and signature” cards since that’s what is common in Europe where they are marketing this product to us for usage.

    • Jeanne Marie Hoffman

      I wonder that too. In researching cards, I’ve seen that some chip and signature cards were letting people send back their card for a chip and pin, so perhaps they are getting wiser–but none of those cards were products I use nor would recommend.

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