[kamjam]

In the UK at least, all our payments in store above £20 require a PIN to be used (payments below £20 you can use the fairly recently introduced touch pay which just requires you to touch the card to the payment machine).

If you are purchasing online, all my credit and debit card payments require me to enter 3 random characters from my (previously set up) password.

Not sure what the system is like elsewhere in Europe/worldwide.

[mnw21cam]

> In the UK at least, all our payments in store above £20 require a PIN to be used...

Not true (notwithstanding that it increased to £30). Some people (myself included) have opted for a chip-and-signature card instead of chip-and-pin, because it is harder for the bank to push the cost of fraud onto me that way.

It's been only seven years (I think?) since chip-and-pin was introduced. It's amazing how quickly all the checkout staff have forgotten what to do when their till tells them to check the card signature. Also almost none of them actually have a pen to hand.

[kamjam]

Did not know the limit had been increased, and agree about checkout staff having no clue when the pin does not work (happens a fair amount with foreign cards).

I've seen a lot of people in the US not sign their card and instead write "ask for ID", which seems like a much smarter move!

[jamessb]

The limit for contactless payments was raised from £20 to £30 last September (and when first introduced the limit was £10) [0]

[0]: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-31164806

[Amezarak]

> If you are purchasing online, all my credit and debit card payments require me to enter 3 random characters from my (previously set up) password.

Doesn't this mean your password is being stored unhashed?

[Accacin]

It's £30 now.