Credit Card "Chips"

[Briansol]

I got alerted today that one of my credit cards is upgradable to the new Chip technology for world wide acceptance and for future-ready in the USA.

https://www.citi.com/credit-cards/template.do?ID=chip-technology-nchp

interesting concept. Anyone see any of these chip readers yet? Do you have the chip on your card?

 

[reckedracing]

I have not see any of them, and I'm not so sure how soon they will be coming to this country. Heard a radio report about them when the whole target situation went down. Apparently they are used extensively in Europe and the main reason we have not upgraded in this country is due to the cost.

 

[D16Civic]

I haven't seen them yet either but I either saw or read somewhere last week that Visa was going to switch exclusively to the new technology by the end of 2015. Or maybe it was Mastercard.

Edit: More likely it will at least be on the cards by then. I can't see them going cold turkey from the magnetic readers as I would imagine retailers will slowly convert.

 

[TurboMirage]

the military has been using this technology with their PX swipe cars for atleast 10 years.

 

[Jeef]

About time, I bet the cost of using these would far outweigh the cost of fraudulent charges. I wonder how long before these are readily hacked.

 

[Drake]

Should be a lot harder compared to writing down the card and verify numbers that's for sure. It is really odd how we as a society still trust some random stranger to collect our card from our dining table and take it to go knows where to do who knows what.

 

[CAFROG]

Should be a lot harder compared to writing down the card and verify numbers that's for sure. It is really odd how we as a society still trust some random stranger to collect our card from our dining table and take it to go knows where to do who knows what.

This is the reason why my wife's card has gotten charges from out of state. They sell the numbers and then someone else enjoys your money. Thankfully, her bank has refunded it every time. It has happened 3 times in the last 5 years. Our town Sucks.

 

[phunky.buddha]

My Amex Blue 12 years ago had that... so does my corporate card, and so does my work ID.

 

[Jeef]

The chips is only as good as the reader that takes them. Waitstaff and others can still takes the numbers and call them in somewhere, use them online, or use them somewhere that doesn't use a chip reader.

 

[awptickes]

So, this chip is always a secondary method of authenticating the card. I bought a computer once on my corporate card while in Germany, and instead of the reader flashing "Approved" it showed "Insert Card" because it had been flagged as a high-risk transaction due to the merchant code. I inserted the card, and put in my PIN, and it flashed "Approved."

You can swipe, or insert the card. Your choice unless the bank demands the chip's processing code.

Most small-business readers have the capability to read the smart card portion of the card, because they're marketed in both europe and the us. In europe, you don't GIVE your card to the waiter, they bring the reader to the table and swipe it in front of you. It took some adjusting to allowing someone to remove my bank card from my sight when I moved back here.


Europe is light years ahead of the US on this. My dad says that it's because the crooks in europe can't hold up a bank like they do in the US, and they have to actually think about how to steal money.