October 1 marks the one year anniversary of the adoption of EMV Credit Card Chip technology, and although progress has been modest, most consumers dislike the change. A survey by Square found that most individuals are frustrated by the increase of time from Magstripe to chip readers.
According to MasterCard, 88 percent of the company’s customers have adopted the new chip readers, which use dynamic, changing encryption to protect its user’s information. Duplication is essentially impossible with Chip readers, although US cards lack the PIN system used by European credit cards, lessening the level of protection.
In 2015, the liability for credit card fraud shifted from banks to merchants, unless merchants upgraded their card readers to accept the chips. While this shift has increased security for shoppers where chip readers are present, only 30 percent of retailers that accept MasterCard have the readers installed. As a result, consumers may find prices increasing at the register as merchants attempt to cover their increased liability.
Photo credit: jk1991 / 123RF Stock Photo
Ashton DeLano is a junior at the George Washington University pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Economics with minors in Business Administration and Computer Science. He intends to cover developments in the health and energy sectors and the impact of new technologies on the consumer.
