Credit Card Conundrum

[Hoddy]

I'm in France at the moment.

On Friday, in a packet of mail from home, I received 'A reminder of your Pin number". It said that my pin had been locked because I keyed in the wrong number when last I used it. There followed instructions on 'how to unlock your pin' and giving me what I thought would be a new pin. .

I was alarmed by this, I normally only use my credit card for online purchases, but had used it at the beginning of the month to buy petrol at our local Leclerc. When I handed over the card to the assistant it went through without me having to key in any number at all.

I rang the helpline who said that my best course of action was to go to an ATM and follow the on-screen instuctions which I did this morning.

The PIN they had sent me turned out to be the same number I had before. When I put it into the machine I was asked how much I wanted to withdraw and, since there was no other option, I withdrew some money.

Can any of you knowledgeable people out there explain what is going on ? Is it a sly way of making me use my credit card to get some cash ?

Hoddy

[Gardener]

Was the ATM you used in France with a completely different bank to the one that issued the card ? That could be why the option of changing a pin n° didn't appear.

[Quillan]

I have had this a couple of times over the years. You only need take the minimum amount (10 Euros or whatever) it's to 'register' prove you have the right card that goes with the pin number. The card and number are two different things, the pin number is not in 'memory' in the card, just the card number which is encrypted. The number is on the mainframe and it is that which links the two together. So basically don't worry.

[AnOther]

Never heard of this but surely if you have the card and have keyed in the correct pin verification is complete, no ?

I don't see why that process would require you to actually withdraw cash, are you absolutely certain there was no 'cancel' option, I can't believe it's the banks trying to make you withdraw money that would be scandalous.

I'm rather concerned about your petrol purchase which didn't require a pin number though, that is not normal at all and if it were me I'd be checking my statement online and also changing my pin number.