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As you probably know most credit and debit cards will now be equipped with EMV chips so here are some things you need to know about EMV credit cards. Besides the fact that these upgraded versions are likely to be more secure and cut down on fraud, they might also be slower.
Changing to chip cards – a slow process
Although this is not happening overnight and the process of upgrading the cards started from the beginning of the year, it is a slow process. So far, according to the American Bankers Association, about 575 million chip cards are going to be issued by the end of the year. However, despite that fact that many customers have already received their upgraded cards, it is estimated that another two years will pass until everyone will get their chip card.
Why are EMV cards slower
What might put customers in difficulty if the fact that these chip cards work differently than the old ones. Rather than swiping your credit card, you will have to insert it into the terminal and wait for all the items to by rung up and the transaction to finish before removing the card. As you can imagine, this will take much longer than usual. The card will be inserted face up and the chip will have to face forward. You will also have to make sure you don’t forget to pull your card from the terminal when the transaction is over.
Why are the new cards more secure
The information on the old swiped cards is not encrypted whereas the EMV cards have microprocessors that produce cryptograms, or codes with the help of a special software. The produced code is sent to the bank during the transaction. At the other end of the network the bank computer must authorize the transaction. If it finds it to be suspicious it will not authorize it. Each one of the codes issued can only be used once. Plus, the chips are very difficult to counterfeit.
However, although the EMV cards should cut fraud on transactions that happen in stores, they don’t offer more protection than the old ones when it comes to online transactions. For any payments done online, hacking can still happen. Therefore, you are advised to stay away from suspicious websites and make sure your personal information is secure.
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