Credit Cards in Europe - PLEASE READ UPDATE IN POST #19 BEFORE POSTING HERE

[Lolsmum]

Most places in the UK will expect a chip and pin card but will swipe and have you sign if you let them know that's what your card requires. My sister, who was living here until the 1st, had a US card my parents helped pay that she had to sign on.


In theory Scottish notes should be accepted in England, but they aren't always accepted happily. Sister who was living with me spent 6 years studying in Scotland before that.

 

[edinburghlass]

UK bank notes are all marked as Bank of England. Scottish notes are issued by the three big banks so will be Royal Bank of Scotland, Bank of Scotland and the Clydesdale Bank. Very few £1 notes are issued now and only by RBS. £1 is now issued in coins along with £2 coins so do check what change you have as you can end up with a fair amount of £1 coins.

It's really only a few small (wee as we say in Scotland!) that might refuse Scottish notes so please don't worry about it. The Bank of Scotland have an interesting museum (free) at the top of the Mound in Edinburgh.

 

[sayhello]

Most places in the UK will expect a chip and pin card but will swipe and have you sign if you let them know that's what your card requires. My sister, who was living here until the 1st, had a US card my parents helped pay that she had to sign on.


In theory Scottish notes should be accepted in England, but they aren't always accepted happily. Sister who was living with me spent 6 years studying in Scotland before that.

UK bank notes are all marked as Bank of England. Scottish notes are issued by the three big banks so will be Royal Bank of Scotland, Bank of Scotland and the Clydesdale Bank. Very few £1 notes are issued now and only by RBS. £1 is now issued in coins along with £2 coins so do check what change you have as you can end up with a fair amount of £1 coins.

It's really only a few small (wee as we say in Scotland!) that might refuse Scottish notes so please don't worry about it. The Bank of Scotland have an interesting museum (free) at the top of the Mound in Edinburgh.

Thanks again for the info! Only 7 weeks to go!

Sayhello

 

[tufbuf]

What do you mean by Scotland has "your own bank notes"? Do you mean that the actual bills for pounds look different that "Standard UK" pounds? What do we need to look for? Thanks!

Sayhello

Yes they do! We used cc on most of our purchases and most of the stores we went to accepted cc's. What we did was, the few Scotland notes we had, we used up by the end of the trip.

 

[sayhello]

Yes they do! We used cc on most of our purchases and most of the stores we went to accepted cc's. What we did was, the few Scotland notes we had, we used up by the end of the trip.

I didn't know that! Very good to know!

Sayhello

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

What do you mean by Scotland has "your own bank notes"? Do you mean that the actual bills for pounds look different that "Standard UK" pounds? What do we need to look for? Thanks!

Sayhello

Yes, they are different currencies and it's true you are warned in Scotland that they aren't always accepted in England. I was told by a Scottish couple my husband and I met at the top of Mt. Vesuvius a few days ago that there is a problem with Scottish pounds being counterfeited by Irish Travellers. Don't know if that's true or not.

I wanted to add that during a recent trip to Italy we only used a regular signature credit card at stores and restaurants with zero problems.