Recently, driving on French motorways my CBA travel (debit) card and CBA credit card were refused at the automated petrol pumps that have replaced most manual pumps. The message on the print out was that the card was refused because there was no owner verification. This happened before I even entered my pin. Searching online it seems it may be to do with the way our cards are configured. I rang the CBA and after waiting for nearly an hour the person I spoke to could offer no explanation. I’ll be driving in France again in May so would like to resolve the problem. Does anyone have any suggestions as to the cause of the problem and a solution. I have researched this extensively online without finding answers but the issue is common with overseas cards it seems. Thanks in anticipation…
Welcome to the Community @rogerz
I cannot offer advice in France, but in the USA most if not all the card payment systems on the bowsers require a US ‘zip code’ (postal code) before a card will be accepted. Those with foreign cards are required to first go inside, prepay or leave their card, place dependent, fill, and go back in for the attendant to process the charge on the inside terminal.
There are also posts in various discussions whereby some places only have 4 digit PINS while others use (and require) 6 to be entered. leading or trailing 00 seems to work locale dependent, but get it wrong 3 times and your card is disabled by your issuer.
This is another aspect of
where the problems with international cards have not been discussed, yet.
Thanks for your response PhilT. I don’t think the USA situation is mirrored in France. The situation I described on French motorways is relatively recent - a security thing. I neglected to say that my CBA travel and credit cards worked perfectly everywhere, including in Eastern Europe and at toll booths on French motorways. The issue is specific to fuel stops. I tried to use both cards at three different stops and the result was the same. The bowser card reader actually read the card - the printout had the card number, the type of card, my name etc. But the refusal each time happened before I could even enter a pin. There was no transaction activity registered at all by the bank. I suspect the issue is to do with the way information is stored in the chip on Australian cards. I’d like to know what the problem actually is. I assume thus far, there’s no solution but to buy fuel off motorways which is not always convenient. Thanks again for taking the time to reply.
Did you notify Commonwealth Bank of the overseas travel? The reason is I am wondering if it is Commonwealth/credit card security response. It could because unmanned fuel stops have a high risk of card fraud/fraudulent transactions.
Or I wonder if it is an issue with pre-authorisation ability. Automatic pumps if one is filling a tank (rather than to a set prefill amount) make a pre-authorisation on the card or take out the security amount . On completion of filling, the pre-authorisation is cancelled and balance returned to the card/security depot returned. Maybe the type of card/Commonwealth Bank doesn’t allow this feature for fuel stops.
The next one could be the most likely reason is French automatic fuel stops only accept IC-enabled cards (also called Smart Cards). I haven’t been able to determine if Australian issued cards are compatible IC-enabled. Maybe a question to ask the Commonwealth. If they aren’t, it is possible most, if not all, Australian issued cards aren’t IC-enabled.
This website also indicates it isn’t a problem unique to Australian travellers:
Thanks for your response phb. Yes, I did notify the CBA of my overseas travel details. I believe the automated system was introduced to prevent fraud. I wondered too whether the issue was to do with pre-authorisation. I was in France just before the pandemic shutdown and used a pump that demanded pre-authorisation. The pre-authorised amount was an eye-watering 500 Euros. It didn’t disappear from the card for about 10 days. Just recently I used a pre-authorisation pump in Italy. There were no problems and the amount was a reasonable 100 Euros that disappeared from the card within a day or two.
I do have other credit cards but I didn’t try them when the CBA cards were rejected because I didn’t know whether a pre-authorised amount had been added to the cards despite the rejection. I didn’t want to accumulate a series of 500 Euro amounts on the cards.
Thanks for the suggestion about IC-enabled cards. I’ve never heard of them. I’ll probably endure another 50 plus minute wait when I call the CBA to ask about it. Thanks too for the website suggestion. I found it too when I was researching the problem but I can’t read the item without a subscription even though I registered as the site suggested.
IC enabled card just means it has a chip in it to store the card details.
All my CC and debit cards have had them for many years.
Without the chip, then it is swipe the magnetic strip to access the information.
With the chip it is insert, or near field comms like paywave, or the magnetic strip which is still there on my cards.
Try opening it in incognito mode (right click on the link). It works at our end.
Unfortunately it doesn’t work. Still asks me to subscribe.
Thanks for the info Gregr. Surely then current CBA cards would be IC enabled and certainly the card readers at the three service stops read details on the cards - whether credit card or travel card, expiration dates, but all still rejected the cards claiming there was no owner verification. I do wonder whether the problem is to do with the way the information is configured on the chips.
Nah, I just reckon it is the way the French system for these petrol stations work. The French have a habit of doing things their way. Possibly they only accept EU bank issued cards and take one look at the first digits and reject based on that. May be some EU rules involved.
Information on cards issued in Australia would use international standards.
The article is about UK cardholders having the same issue. It provides some advice assuming it is a cardholder issue - I am not sure it is though.
Online there are reports of cardholders with other Australian banks also experiencing issues. Likewise US cardholders so not a problem created by the Commonwealth Bank.
I agree with @Gregr that it appears to be a processing issue at the French end. It could be security issue, fraud prevention etc not accepting non-EU cards.
The owner verification is perplexing. It tends to indicate the card is missing something - secondary authentication process for pre-authorisations etc. It could also be the world of taxation, as there would be non-EU vehicles frequenting France… thus blocking non-EU cards.
This website gives some clues:
Obtaining fuel
If you have a credit card issued outside Europe, you will need to plan when to buy fuel. Automatic fuel pumps require a chip-and-PIN card that meets French requirements. The chip-and-PIN cards issued in Australia (and possibly other countries) do not meet this requirement and operate as chip-and-sign in France, so people with such cards will have to buy where a person handles the purchase. You can usually pay a person for fuel at the fuel stations at aires, but maybe from only some of the pumps. For better value, try to buy from supermarkets as they may have a person taking payment during the hours that the supermarket is open.
This all means that you will probably have difficulty in obtaining fuel on Saturday afternoons and Sundays, or over the lunch break on weekdays.
It appears any credit/debit card issued outside France doesn’t meet the French IC Enabled card requirements. Looks like you wil be out of luck using anything but a French issued credit/debit card at unmanned/automatic filling stations.
Yes, it seems that the group with the contract for implementing credit card machines on French motorways, or at least those I used, enforce a particular credit card protocol and our cards don’t meet that requirement. I guess that’s what I was alluding to when I mentioned the way information on the chip is configured. Interestingly, the cards worked fine at toll booths on the same motorways and in shops and supermarkets in France sometimes swiping the cards was sufficient, other times I needed to enter a pin. I don’t recall having to sign in France. So, it seems that the protocols, whatever they are, aren’t uniformly applied. Anyway, I guess I’m just going to have to get fuel off motorways in France. Thanks again phb for the efforts you’ve made to find an answer to my queries.
That’s been going on for years and years in France. We were caught out at Easter a long time back when the majority of manned servos are closed and had to make a deal with a Frenchman at the servo to give him some cash and he put the fuel on his card. He wasn’t thrilled but did it for us
Yes, but this is rather different. I’ve driven in France many times over the years and while there were occasions when manned servos were closed my recollection is that this happened off rather than on motorways. This year was the first time that I’d driven on French motorways since the pandemic closure and on the motorways I used - the A39 and A6 - the service stations I tried had pumps that required a credit card. The servo counters for fuel had disappeared. I suspect this system has been widely adopted, probably to reduce fraud but also, I suspect, to reduce costs because fewer people are needed.
A conclusion is that a) our cards are coded incorrectly or b) the French company providing processing is interpreting the code incorrectly, or it is about c) cards that do not do pre-approval or are interpreted as requiring valid signatures in lieu of PINs.
As a monopoly service in France internationals having an experience might complain to the French petrol company as well as to their issuing bank (that cannot assist but might be able to advise the best route for complaints in France), and to Visa, Mastercard, Amex, etc with card branding.
If formal complaints are not made the problem does not exist. If complaints are made the problem might be rectified for at least a subset of the internationals at some time into the [far] future. Cards requiring signatures not PINs? Are there any outside the USA? Possibly only resolved once the US goes fully metric 
or as locally, the merchants tend to accept them, press ‘signature accepted’ on their terminals regardless, and all move on. eg the signature requirement is ignored in practice - easily done in software albeit with the chance of fraudulent transactions being made.
It doesn’t appear to be a, b or c.
The issue seems to be that in France (and parts of Europe) at some merchants, any foreign presented card for a transaction automatically becomes a signature verification. This means, that for any unmanned transactions, they won’t proceed as there isn’t an operator to verify the signature against that on the back of the card. This will be a merchant POS system setting for some reason - maybe security or to minimise fraudulent transactions.
It seems the signature requirement for processing isn’t limited to Australian cards, as there are many reports of travellers from a wide range of other countries also finding the same problem.
The only workaround is to get a EU (or possibility better a French) issued card.
This website, whilst is about using US issued cards, highlights the same problem for US travellers:
Thanks PhilT and phb for your considered replies. I agree, I suspect that the credit card readers implemented at the service stops I visited interpreted the cards as requiring signatures rather than PINs. This would explain why the cards were instantly rejected because of verification issues, even before a PIN could be entered. I’m assuming that the issue is specific to the system that’s been implemented on French motorways, or at least the ones I used, because I had no issues using the debit card at toll booths (a PIN wasn’t even required) and thinking about it, in supermarkets and bars in Paris where I’m pretty sure that a PIN was all that was required. I guess when I’m driving in France again in May I’ll need to purchase fuel off the motorways. I must say that it would have been useful if the CBA had offered me a useful explanation. Thanks again for your efforts.
Mea culpa. The US has evolved since 2018. US issued cards are moving to signature free as well as PIN free! Chips and issuers fraud detections systems are it. This suggests the French motorway and similar ‘picky’ terminals are increasingly out of step with consumer expectations.
Unfortunately the CBA won’t know. The only ones which could provide a useful explanation is the operators of the unmanned fuel stops in France or the merchant payment system supplier who installed the POS system.
It did take some digging to find the reason. At least you now know, unless the POS system at unmanned fuel stops aren’t ‘upgraded’ or changed, using them without a locally issued card won’t be possible. It seems a bit odd, but they are likely to provide justification if asked and they reply.
