Which Retailers Are Ready for the New Chip Credit Cards?

Patrick said while most new cards should have a microchip in them, they also still have a magnetic strip so that customers can use their cards at businesses that aren’t EMV ready. However, the ecosystem has a long way to go before full implementation is achieved-or indeed, even before it becomes common.

Can I – and should I – still use my chip-fitted credit card if the merchant only has the old magnetic-strip readers? And of course, chip-enabled cards only help with fraud when coupled with merchants who only accept chip-enabled cards. That’s because retailers often need to upgrade not just their equipment but their software too.

“They have to get an actual internet connection and actual networking gear in order to make the card readers function normally”, said Tony Russell-Smith, a computer technician at YES Computers in Northampton.

Beginning October 1, businesses that aren’t chip-ready could be held liable for any fraud on your card.

But is the EMV microchip really safer? “The transition to EMV cards has put these businesses at a disadvantage”. But, it will do little to eliminate other types of card fraud, like e-commerce fraud.

While the new card machines may add more security, it could take an extra 10 seconds to read the chip on the card properly to make a purchase.

Molly Snyder, spokeswoman for Target, said working chip-card terminals were installed and active at all 1,800 retail stores by mid-August, almost two months before the bank-imposed deadline. In the USA the companies have agreed to chip-and-sign, which prompts for an electronic signature rather than a PIN code, although card issuers can require a code. “The factors used fall into three main categories”.

At last they’re getting an upgrade, giving them the technology, called EMV chips, used nearly everywhere else in the world. “By rolling out the EMV cards and not implementing another factor, the industry is missing an opportunity to implement much stronger security”.

“That’s going to be a little bit of a learning curve for consumers … because it does take longer”, Picard said.

“It will be interesting to see if [the chip card process] increases the friction, or at least how the consumers perceives the friction, when making a card payment and how it could be easier to use a mobile wallet or any other form of contactless payment going forward”, Riddiford said. Starting today, retailers and small businesses who have not yet upgraded their credit card networks will be liable for any Visa, Discover or Mastercard credit card transaction that is fraudulent if the card is EMV-equipped. Created to streamline the conversion from magnetic stripe cards to chip cards, the deadline was set by companies including MasterCard, Visa and American Express.

If you’ve gotten a new credit or debit card lately, you may have noticed a microchip on the front.

It could take up to five years for the new chip and dip system to be fully in effect. “But we do a great job of preventing fraud now and don’t feel our exposure will change”.

The EMV transaction process does bring up the question of whether consumers are aware of the shift happening in the U.S.

Stephen Orfei, general manager of the PCI Security Standards Council, pointed out in an inteview I conducted with him this week that most big-box retailers, such as Walmart and Target, have made the shift.