You might have received a new credit card in the mail and not have even noticed that it looks a bit different. Cards now have a small chip embedded in them. The chip is standard in other parts of the world because it makes credit cards harder to counterfeit. The U.S. is the last major market to switch to chip-card technology.
“Instead of reading the magnetic stripe, it’s reading a one time code in that chip that includes all of your information, but it encrypts a number that can only be used one time,” says Shawn Smith, an agent with Merchant Pro Express. He helps businesses with the technology to make transactions. “What [the technology] is trying to do is prohibit hackers from cloning cards on just a magnetic stripe or your number.”
Consumers will have a bit of adjusting to do too, starting with what the card is called. The universal name is EMV which stands for Europay, Mastercard, Visa. They can also be called smart cards, chip cards, a chip-enabled smart card, or a chip-and-choice card.
Then, instead of swiping, consumers will have to push the card in the machine and leave it there until the transaction is complete.
Expect many businesses to start running cards as chip-cards within the next few months.
“On October first, if a chip card is presented to them and they don’t use the chip technology and it’s a fraudulent charge, the onus or liability is on the merchant rather than the issuer,” says Smith.
Shannon Slatton, reporting
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- Post Time: 11-28-16 - By: http://www.rfidang.com