using UK chip and pin mastercard in USA

The only thing that will want a PIN in the US/canada is an ATM if you want to get cash out. They dont use C&P there, its a Euro standard only.

Not my experience. I was asked for my PIN at a retail shop in Malaysia. The shop used a chip-reader & keypad style terminal at the desk.

(I cannot use a PIN so I had to decline it, which created a lot of delay. On my return I told the card issuer and they sent me a C&sig card.)

______________ best wishes, Ron

At 17:50:11 on 21/07/2006, Tumbleweed delighted uk.finance by announcing:

Oh no it isn't!

I stand corrected :-)

...but for the OP, the key point is, unless you want to take money out at an ATM, no one will ask you to enter a PIN.

At 20:06:35 on 21/07/2006, Tumbleweed delighted uk.finance by announcing:

Not in North America for the time being, certainly. Central and South America are moving or have moved to EMV, along with a lot of the rest of the world. The Australian police have just been followed by the House of Representatives in recommending implementation.

For values of 'time being'= a bloody long time.

At 20:23:39 on 21/07/2006, Tumbleweed delighted uk.finance by announcing:

Quite possibly. It's amazing how backward the US banking industry actually is.

Is it? They had real-time checks of cards and amounts to be debited a decade before the UK.

What is their card fraud figure like compared to the UK?

But at some US gas (petrol) stations they will ask you to input your zip (postal) code !!

At 21:24:12 on 21/07/2006, Miss L. Toe delighted uk.finance by announcing:

At the pay-at-pump ones, yep. I found that 00000 sometimes works.

I wonder if thats just for market research purposes? Best Buy amongst others always used to ask that.

At 22:34:12 on 21/07/2006, Tumbleweed delighted uk.finance by announcing:

I would imagine it's a security measure and that '00000' would not work for a credit card issued by a US bank.

Probably is.

If 00000 does not work, 20500 ( The White House) would be an easy one to remember.

At 20:17:19 on 21/07/2006, Alex delighted uk.finance by announcing:

And in the interests of completeness, the National Australian Bank has just completed its first EMV pilot and will now be processing up to