While many consumers are likely just getting used to their more secure, but far from perfect, chip-and-signature payment system and others are beginning to use a chip-and-PIN system, MasterCard is testing yet another secure transaction option: chip-and-fingerprint. [More]
chip and pin
Visa Sues Walmart In Response To Lawsuit Over Security Of Debit Card Authorizations
By 6.29.16
Last month, Walmart sued Visa, accusing the card network of pushing the retailer to use a less-secure method of verifying debit card transactions. Now Visa is firing back with a lawsuit of its own, claiming the nation’s largest retailer is violating its contract by setting up payment terminals so that they can only accept the more secure form of validation. [More]
Walmart Sues Visa Over Security Of Debit Card Authorizations
By 5.10.16
While retailers across the country installing chip-and-PIN card readers to better protect consumers’ bank information during checkout, Walmart claims in a recently filed lawsuit that Visa is urging the retailer to use a less-secure method for verifying debit card payments. [More]
Visa Update Aims To Speed Up Slow Chip-Card Checkouts
By 4.19.16
While banks have issued hundreds of millions of more secure chip-enabled payment cards in the U.S., only around 20% of Visa merchants currently have chip-card readers up and running. If you’ve used one of these cards at a store, you’ve likely experienced the odd, silent wait as your card sits in the reader, seemingly taking forever for approval. An upgrade from Visa aims to shave a significant amount of time off this process. [More]
Can A Cashier Make Me Read My 3-Digit Credit Card Code In Front Of Other Shoppers?
By 4.15.16
Your credit card has a 16-digit number on the front, plus an expiration date, and another three-digit code on the back. We all know in a vague way that the code on the back (also known as the “CVC” or “CVV”) has something to do with making transactions safer or reducing fraud, but other than that we don’t give it much thought — and while we might expect to have to share that number when shopping online, we certainly don’t expect to be asked to read it out loud when making an in-person purchase at a crowded coffee shop. [More]
Retailers Frustrated About Chip Card Terminals They Can’t Turn On, Liability For Fraud
By 3.22.16
A grocery store chain in Florida made headlines last week for filing a lawsuit against a consortium of credit card issuers for delaying their certification to process payments on the EMV (chip card) payment network. They aren’t alone, though: many other medium-size chains and other businesses have had their certification delayed, which is costing them thousands or tens of thousands of dollars now that they’re liable for fraudulent transactions. [More]
Supermarket Chain Sues Credit Card Companies Over Costly Chip Card Delay
By 3.15.16
Nearly five months ago, new credit card rules went into effect making retailers liable for fraudulent purchases if they haven’t upgraded their checkout technology to accept more secure, but far from perfect, chip-enabled cards. While some retailers have installed the card readers, many haven’t turned them on. But according to a new class-action seeking lawsuit, it’s not their fault. [More]
Retailers Have Chip-Enabled Card Readers, Aren’t Actually Turning Them On
By 2.16.16
If you’ve received a shiny new chip-enabled card from your bank or credit card company in recent months, then you’ve probably been through this at least once. You see that a store has the slot for your card, so you assume that the store actually accepts them. Silly shopper! The terminal tells you to swipe the magnetic stripe instead. [More]
States Ask Banks, Credit Card Companies To Hurry Up With The Chip & PIN Cards Already
By 11.16.15
The deadline has come and gone for most retailers to install new microchip-scanning credit card readers in stores, but many stores are still waiting to introduce the devices because a lot of banks and credit card issuers have yet to issue the more secure cards to customers. In the hope of resolving this stalemate, attorneys general for eight states and the District of Columbia have called on the nation’s biggest banks and card networks to start pressing the new plastic ASAP. [More]
Target To Be First Major Credit Card Issuer To Require PINs For Chip-Enabled Cards
By 10.14.15
While many banks and other financial institutions issuing credit cards have shifted from magnetic-strip cards to the more secure EMV smart cards, most of those companies have opted to let their customers continue signing for purchases rather than memorizing a PIN. That apparently isn’t the case for Target, which is poised to become the first major credit card issuer to convert to cards that require a PIN. [More]
The Chip-And-PIN Credit Card Era Starts Today. What You Need To Know
By 10.1.15
Over the past few months, you may have noticed more retailers adorning their checkout stands with shiny new credit card readers. While those systems still have an area along the side where you swipe your card’s magnetic strip, they also have a smaller slot (typically) on the front where you simply jam gently insert your card. This is all part of the country’s shift toward more secure, but far from perfect, chip-enabled cards that kicks into high-gear today. [More]
Most Small Business Owners Aren’t Ready For Chip-And-PIN Credit Cards
By 8.6.15
Following a string of high-profile data breaches last year, Visa and MasterCard handed down a requirement that all merchants transition to the more secure chip-enabled credit card payment system by October of this year. While several major retailers have already made or are in the process of making the switch, a new report finds that many small business owners don’t even know about the deadline – or the potentially costly consequence of not meeting it. [More]
American Credit Cards Are Most Popular In The World For Hacks, Fraud (Because Our Tech Stinks)
By 5.29.15
If it feels like we hear a whole lot of stories about retail data breaches here in the U.S., well, that’s because we do. Americans are super duper popular targets for card hacks and fraud, and it’s for one simple reason: our credit card security is bad and should feel bad. [More]
Target Wants To Perfect Chip-and-PIN Before Venturing Into Digital Payment Methods
By 5.28.15
Consumers and businesses alike are always seeking out ways to streamline the checkout experience, most recently with mobile payment systems like Apple Pay and Android Pay. But there’s one major retailer that won’t be jumping into new payment options just yet. [More]
Chase Says It Will Replace All Debit Cards With Chip-Enabled Cards
By 5.12.15
After an earlier report that it would do so, JPMorgan Chase says it’ll be reissuing debit cards for all its customers, replacing the old magnetic strip cards with those containing microchips for increased security. [More]
Walmart Executive: Chip-And-Signature Credit Cards Not Enough To Protect Consumers
By 4.3.15
The long-awaited move from traditional magnetic stripe credit cards to cards equipped with computer chips has been touted as a safer, more secure method of payment for consumers. But a top executives at the country’s largest retailers says all the hype surrounding the new cards will likely be a security letdown without the use of PIN requirements. [More]
Banks Aren’t Really Going To Replace Everyone’s Credit Cards This Year
By 3.25.15
Hey, remember how the major credit card companies were going to replace all of our magnetic stripe credit cards sometime this year with computer chip cards sometime this year? You know, like what the rest of the world uses? That isn’t happening. We’ll get our computer-chip cards, sure, and some retailers might be able to read them. However, banks might take until 2017 or so to replace all of our cards. [More]
Target Tries Making Up For Data Breach By Issuing Secure Chip-And-Pin Cards Next Year
By 4.29.14
In the wake of the massive theft of customer data, Target is revamping its store-branded credit and debit cards with chip-and-pin technology that will make them more secure for in-person transactions, but still leave the door open to some fraudulent use. [More]
