Credit card chips

From all the grumpiness over the “EMV” chip-card transition, you’d think that the circuitry embedded in our new credit cards delivered a small electric shock every time you inserted one into a terminal at a check-out counter.

Customers say they don’t like chip cards because you have to leave them in a reader for as long as half a minute instead of swiping a card’s magnetic stripe with a single, satisfying flick of the wrist. Retailers complain that after costly hardware and software upgrades, they still can’t take chip-card payments because their systems have yet to pass required certification tests.  Read More…

9 Comments

  1. Disaster? Everyone i know considers it a blessing. I remember the old days when we had to sign for every card purchase.

  2. I thought Apple Pay (people using their phones) was going to be the next hot thing. Seems logical to go that route.

  3. I’m still impressed how the US is so behind us.

  4. I wonder if they use dial up modems when verifying cards? lol! That would be funny to hear the tones.

  5. And i just only learned i can use tin foil to protect my cards from drive-by readers.

  6. The chip and its variants only benefit mastercard, visa and the others. Not much to us as consumers. They claim it adds more security but i have yet to read a story that explains logically how or why it would.

  7. Can anyone simply go on ebay and buy one of these things? They should have a way to prevent this. It would make for an interesting school project though.

  8. I remember when we as Canadians finally went beyond chip and into the tap. The USA is very behind. I love the tap feature.

  9. It must have been one heck of a war to get visa, mastercard, amex, discover to work together to accomplish this mutual (and profitable) benefit way back when.

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