The future is here (sort of)

You have probably heard a lot recently about EMV cards, more commonly known as chip cards. They are the future of credit cards (or if you live any of the other G20 nations they are the norm) and will do a great deal to cut down on the rampant fraud that has infected our nation. But how do they work? The simplest way to explain it is that rather than encoding all of the information on a magnetic strip that can be easily scammed, the new chip encrypts that information a different way for each transaction made. Simply put if a scammer gets a hold of a magnetic strip’s information they can have a field day, but a chip’s information is good for that one transaction only.

But what has been implemented here in the U.S. is only a half-measure compared to the rest of the world. We have implemented what is known as chip-and-signature rather than chip-and-pin. In a way nothing is more secure as all you have to do is sign the terminal screen. Chip-and-pin requires (you guessed it) a PIN, which in a perfect world would mean that only the person who knows the PIN could make the transaction.

Merchants were supposed to have upgraded to EMV terminals last year but many balked despite a liability shift for fraud from the card networks (Visa, MasterCard, etc.) to vendors and banks. Many vendors saw the upgrade as expensive and did not want to have downtime installing new terminals and the software that goes with it and training their employees right before the holiday season.  EMV debit cards have also been slow to be rolled out and many vendors want to wait for both debit and credit systems to be ready and due to the cost of conversion many smaller banks have lagged behind in issuing new debit cards. Many vendors also simply didn’t want to spend good money to upgrade to a half-measure simply for the sake of upgrading.

As we enter the second quarter of 2016 there is a good chance that almost everyone reading this has an EMV card in their wallet.  If you are a merchant and have not upgraded yet for whatever reason there is help. Give Jeff a call at 717-781-3750 or visit jleconsultants.com to get in touch and he can go over your options with you in an easy to understand manner and can help you with installation and training. Don’t wait, the time is now!