If you have your credit card in your phone

@NewBrazil, what app do you use to store your credit card info?  If you are using apple or google pay, then the issue here is whether the integration at the POS needs to be seamless (i.e. root of trust established between the phone, pay app, your identity, etc..) and your credit card company.... It appears that this integration still needs work.

Would recommend figuring out whether there is a missing link there.  If you can see other people paying without problems, then this is between your credit card company and you....

May need to do some troubleshooting and make a few phone calls to customer service to clear up things.

Sorry, not an easy answer...

Brasilian POS terminal companies have wildly varying degrees of interoperability with various western banks. For example, those orange REDE ones don't like my Royal Bank M/C for some reason, yet my grocery store no fee C/C works everywhere.

If I were you the last thing I would do is use my phone for banking anywhere.

    Brasilian POS terminal companies have wildly varying degrees of interoperability with various western banks. For example, those orange REDE ones don't like my Royal Bank M/C for some reason, yet my grocery store no fee C/C works everywhere.

I've noticed that also when paying with different cards.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but it is much better than it was in previous years.   Probably network issues that still need to be worked out.  Probably not specific to phones.  I tend to stick to just Discover or AMEX, since they don't try to scam you on the FX like VISA and MC.  It's annoying. 

I'm sticking to just using cards for now.  I always seem to have an issue tapping the phone and getting the NFC to get recognized, whereas the card always seems to work immediately.  Thats not just in Brazil, I always have issues trying to use my phone stateside also. 

@mikehunter what do you mean FX?

Acronym alert:  POS means Point of Sale here. 

This is the typical business cash register or the card scanner or small wireless reader (for example from Square) that can be attached to a phone to scan your card...

@jasonlovesdogs lm guessing its ” foreign exchange”.

Most American credit cards charge a fee to convert from reais to dollars . l have a Bank of America travel visa that does not charge this fee

I'm sticking to just using cards for now.  I always seem to have an issue tapping the phone and getting the NFC to get recognized, whereas the card always seems to work immediately.  Thats not just in Brazil, I always have issues trying to use my phone stateside also. 
   

    -@mikehunter

NFC works really well in the US if you use 1 main credit card for everything. However, I tend to choose credit cards for what type of purchase I make and where I use it..  Then cell phone NFC becomes a nightmare to manage. 

Unless I have a specific phone with specific credit cards to use in Brazil, I don't think that I will rely on my US phone with multiple e-sims to carry my credit card info.  That's way too much information on my phone.....  What happens if this gets lost?

My worry vs convenience ratio causes me to carry physical cards.  I rationalize that by the fact that I still need a wallet for my driver's license / ID.

That's just me.

@KenAquarius I have the same card and they just started doing this when you use your phone. It doesn’t happen when you use the physical card. Thank for your response

@NewBrazil interesting to note the last time l was in Rio l used my credit cards for everything but groceries.  The local Mundial supermarket would not accept any credit card, only debit.  Fortunately we had cash because no way in hell im going to swipe my debit card anywhere but inside a bank.

07/12/24 @Ken Aquarius.  I wouldn't use my US debit card in Brazil outside a bank, either.  We use a Brazilian debit card for all of our purchases in Brazil, but it's linked to a joint account that we top up periodically from our personal accounts, not directly to either of our personal accounts,  and we monitor it constantly.  I use a Brazilian credit card for online purchases, and also monitor it constantly.  All of our cards are in RFID sleeves when not actually in use.

@abthree 100%!

@jasonlovesdogs Yes, I'm referring to the Foreign Exchange Fee, I'll going to write a more detailed separate post about it.  I've mentioned it before in other posts, but I think it get's lost in the crosstalk.