Australian issed Amex cards with chips???

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HoldingPattern

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So I was having coffee... and a friend of a friend pulled out a battered semi clear Amex blue card with a chip in it. Presuming it was from overseas I was surprised to find out it was in fact Australian issued from about five years ago. Checked out the back and all! I thought that wasn't even going to be introduced this year!??!
 
Some institutions played around with chips on bank cards in the early 2000's. ANZ was one bank that led the field, and even deployed smartcard readers to some of their clients.

That doesn't mean the cards were "chip+pin" or are even compatible with today's chip readers which read chipped credit cards. They were supposed to be used for signing of purchases on the Internet, loyalty schemes, discounts at point of sale etc etc.

Amex did also issue a card with a chip. From memory it was possibly called "American Express Blue" (not to be confused with their newer "Blue Sky" card) or "American Express Clear". I can't recall now.

I wish Amex in Australia would issue chipped cards. Would make life a lot easier.
 
There was an American Express blue card a few years back. You can see one of the cards spinning around in this promotionasl page from 2006: American Express
 
Amex miss out on at least a few thousand $$ worth of transactions / year from me because of their intransigence in refusing to go chip+pin. It totally defeats the whole purpose of self-checkout at woolies if you have to talk to someone to get your signature checked :)
 
Amex miss out on at least a few thousand $$ worth of transactions / year from me because of their intransigence in refusing to go chip+pin. It totally defeats the whole purpose of self-checkout at woolies if you have to talk to someone to get your signature checked :)

Yet I can use my Amex in Mobil's pay-at-the-pump just by swiping - no signature (or PIN) required. Similarly at many car parks.

Richard

[I do notice that the Mobil pumps create a pre-authorisation for $75 which doesn't get matched to the eventual transaction and therefore hangs around for a week before disappearing (ie increases the available credit again).]
 
Amex miss out on at least a few thousand $$ worth of transactions / year from me because of their intransigence in refusing to go chip+pin. It totally defeats the whole purpose of self-checkout at woolies if you have to talk to someone to get your signature checked :)
Your loss really - the fact that they accept the card with no surcharge and no minimum purchase requirement is good enough for me! And even though the Woolworths software doesn't yet allow you to enter your PIN for Amex, it only takes all of 20 seconds for the light to blink above you, and the person to come over and press OK on the screen...
 
Your loss really - the fact that they accept the card with no surcharge and no minimum purchase requirement is good enough for me! And even though the Woolworths software doesn't yet allow you to enter your PIN for Amex, it only takes all of 20 seconds for the light to blink above you, and the person to come over and press OK on the screen...

I totally agree - Woolworths is my primary source of points over the course of the year and I wont miss out due to some minor delays due to signing.
 
It's funny.. I have a couple of Amex Cards. My bank issued one has a PIN attached. Woolworths/Safeway will not recognise the PIN, same as 7-Eleven, however at other stores and Coles I can use the PIN.
It is a little more of a hassle, but hey, I will invest the time as the points return is so much higher than my VI/MC. In fact triple the points against Amex...:eek:
 
It's funny.. I have a couple of Amex Cards. My bank issued one has a PIN attached. Woolworths/Safeway will not recognise the PIN, same as 7-Eleven, however at other stores and Coles I can use the PIN.
It is a little more of a hassle, but hey, I will invest the time as the points return is so much higher than my VI/MC. In fact triple the points against Amex...:eek:

The fact that some merchants will accept bank issued Amex cards with PIN and some won't comes down to the EFT model and firmware. Coles will happily let me enter a pin with my Earth Amex, but the Safeway stores tend to not permit it. It can even vary from store to store.

The sooner Chip+PIN are standard the better, not for security, just for standards sake.
 
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