In 2016, new chip debit and credit cards were issued to consumers by major financial institutions. According to the US Payments Forum, 600 million cards have been issued. How do these chip cards protect consumers?
EMV (Europay/MasterCard/Visa) chip cards are designed to protect you from data breaches. The system has been used in European countries and Canada for decades. 90% of non-US credit card terminals are estimated to be enabled for EMV chip cards.
If you are using an EMV chip card, the liability for fraudulent charges must be imposed on the party with the least compliance with EMV. Below you can find more details on the transition to EMV chip cards:
- If you choose to use your card at a card reader that is chip-enabled, you may not be able to use credit when checking out. The transaction will be finished after entering your unique PIN code.
- More time will be required for transaction processing. You should leave the card in the card reader while the transaction is being processed. If you don’t wait until the entire process is completed, the transaction will be canceled.
- It is good to monitor activity on your account on a regular basis. With the majority of financial institutions and credit card companies, you need to get paper statements and online options so to be able to monitor your account.
- The EMV technology won’t provide protection for online shopping. According to the Federal Trade Commission, no change is expected in the way consumers use their card online or by phone.
Merchants interested in opening a secure and reliable merchant account should consider turning to EMB. eMerchantbroker.com is voted the #1 high risk payment processor in the US and boasts an A+ rating with the BBB. EMB is one of Inc 500’s Fastest Growing Companies of 2016 and is rated “A” by Card Payment Options.
Because of technological and regulatory challenges, MasterCard and Visa have postponed the deadlines on EMV liability at automated fuel pumps from October 2017 to October 2020. So merchants now get 3 more years to switch from traditional mag stripe-based card scanners to chip readers before they would financially be liable for fraud at the POS.