We’d like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum.

This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are – or become – political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.

📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!

How to check PIN on foreign cash/debit card without a transaction

24

Comments

  • NFH
    NFH Posts: 4,413 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    izools wrote: »
    If you go to pay for something in the shops and type in the pin, but pull the card out the second it says the pin is accepted or is incorrect, the transaction will cancel, just apologise to the cashier and say "oh sorry wrong card here's the right one"
    Thanks, this is the kind of idea I was looking for. How much time do I have to pull the card out? And what if the merchant's floor limit allows them to authorise transactions without connecting to Maestro?

    Another idea I was thinking is to find a merchant that does pre-authorisations. Some hotels do this for example, whereby they reserve an amount on the card and then later release it or take it. Are there any other establishments other than hotels that do this?
  • Hazzanet
    Hazzanet Posts: 1,724 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    NFH wrote: »
    Did you read my original post?

    Clearly not - apologies :embarasse

    It would appear then, the chip is not EMV compatible.
    4358
  • I don't know if this will work, but I would try another bank for example HSBC to change the pin or check the balance.

    I think that banks have agreements with other banks to offer pin change services, I recently had trouble with a pin and was directed to use a HSBC machine to rectify.

    HTH
  • NFH
    NFH Posts: 4,413 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Careful_ly wrote: »
    I think that banks have agreements with other banks to offer pin change services, I recently had trouble with a pin and was directed to use a HSBC machine to rectify.
    Thanks, I'll try that. The reason I used Barclays was because both Barclays and Deutsche are part of the Global ATM Alliance, but of course it is possible that this is relevant only to charges and not to changing of PINs.
  • agrinnall
    agrinnall Posts: 23,344 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Most banks will send you a PIN reminder by post if you ask them. If you have on-line banking, you can also sometimes view your PIN on that.

    Bluberrypie, can you actually name any bank that displays a customer's PIN in their online banking system? I suspect the answer will be no because the bank has no idea what the customer's PIN is, the only person who knows is the customer themselves, which is why the banks can legitimately claim that any transaction authorised with the PIN must have been done by the customer (excluding of course transactions where the PIN has been illegally obtained through use of skimmers, cameras, etc.).
  • izools
    izools Posts: 7,513 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    agrinnall wrote: »
    Bluberrypie, can you actually name any bank that displays a customer's PIN in their online banking system? I suspect the answer will be no because the bank has no idea what the customer's PIN is, the only person who knows is the customer themselves, which is why the banks can legitimately claim that any transaction authorised with the PIN must have been done by the customer (excluding of course transactions where the PIN has been illegally obtained through use of skimmers, cameras, etc.).

    MBNA used to when I had a classic card with them ~ five years ago.
    Cashback Earned ¦ Nectar Points £68 ¦ Natoinwide Select £62 ¦ Aqua Reward £100 ¦ Amex Platinum £48
  • agrinnall wrote: »
    Bluberrypie, can you actually name any bank that displays a customer's PIN in their online banking system? I suspect the answer will be no because the bank has no idea what the customer's PIN is, the only person who knows is the customer themselves,

    I can't name any bank that displays a customer PIN in the online banking system.

    But you raise an interesting question, because I can name at least two credit-card providers who do (Egg & MBNA).
  • savagej
    savagej Posts: 1,158 Forumite
    You will have a few seconds at least as all international Maestro cards must be checked against a lost and stolen hot list and authorised, the floor limit is not applicable in the UK to this type of card.
  • Hazzanet
    Hazzanet Posts: 1,724 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    agrinnall wrote: »
    Bluberrypie, can you actually name any bank that displays a customer's PIN in their online banking system?

    I do recall being able to do this with my Egg card some years ago. Whether this is still the case, I don't know as I cancelled the card probably four years back.
    4358
  • agrinnall
    agrinnall Posts: 23,344 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    I can't name any bank that displays a customer PIN in the online banking system.

    But you raise an interesting question, because I can name at least two credit-card providers who do (Egg & MBNA).

    As I don't have a card with either of these and other people are mentioning them I'll take your word for it. I am very surprised, it's a huge security hole, I would have expected VISA or Mastercard (whichever type of cards these are) to refuse to allow them to carry on issuing cards as they are bound to fail their annual audit - unless of course they conveniently forget to mention it. When I first worked on card issuing systems 25 years ago the PIN mailers were produced on a completely different system from all the other card systems precisely so that there could be no question raised about the PINs being accessible from anywhere else.
This discussion has been closed.
Meet your Ambassadors

🚀 Getting Started

Hi new member!

Our Getting Started Guide will help you get the most out of the Forum

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 352K Banking & Borrowing
  • 253.5K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 454.2K Spending & Discounts
  • 245K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 600.6K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 177.4K Life & Family
  • 258.8K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 16.2K Discuss & Feedback
  • 37.6K Read-Only Boards

Is this how you want to be seen?

We see you are using a default avatar. It takes only a few seconds to pick a picture.