Posted on 02/08/2014 3:14:06 AM PST by kingattax
These credit cards are dinosaurs.
Every credit card in the U.S. will be replaced by October 2015 with new cards that contain the chip-and-PIN technology that the rest of the world has had for years, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Both Visa and MasterCard are committed to the switch, which will render extinct the plastic in your wallets and purses right now.
No more black magnetic stripes; no more signing on the dotted line.
Americans who have traveled to Europe in recent years will know that the U.S.'s credit card system is embarrassingly old-fashioned by comparison. It's often difficult to use American credit cards abroad because the Europeans abandoned magnetic stripes and signatures years ago — they were too easily hacked. Credit and debit cards in the U.S. are about 10 years behind the rest of the world.
The new cards contain a microchip and require the owner to enter a PIN into a payment machine at checkout.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
Note to self: get chip and pin cards before European trip in June.
Interesting...
I can see numerous problems occurring as Americans get switched over in mass to a new type of Debit card. Not so much from the users I suppose but from the lack of new point of sales devices industry wide.
Next thing you know we will all have a serial number tattoo as well. I believe it was a European that invented that several years ago. (sarc)
Especially if the POS devices are foreign made, (China), and have imbedded ‘problems’.
Any ideas what Company’s will benefit from the new technology as far as the scanner manufacturers? Maybe a decent investment opportunity.
Users will be a problem. Remembering pins.
Yes they did!
I go through Europe (Paris, Amsterdam, or London) every month. I’ve never had any problems with cards. I’ve also never witnessed this pin thing. Maybe the author of the article needs to go through Europe before writing about it.
Plastic host will be replaced by human host and they get what they’ve always wanted without a peep from the unknowing
I haven't had to travel overseas since 2003'ish, I'd completely forgotten about the credit card hassles (as in, using my American credit card) I went through back then. Yikes!
I would guess Schlumberger would be a safe bet.............
Are these RFID chips which can be read from distances? I did not see this in this addressed in the article. It does sound as though these are impenetrable, but we all know better. I know biometric info can be stored on them as well. I am waiting to see the dark underbelly of this. The article did not mention the exact numbers of hacking compared with our “old- fashioned” method. I want to see hard data, not climate changing money to follow data. Can we even get hard numbers anymore?
My Visa card has both a chip and a magnetic stripe. I haven’t used it wirelessly that I know of requiring a PIN, but I have bought a gun or two with it where they swiped it, etc. You can see the chip on the front side.
Smart move. Most card readers are swipe as well as chip and pin but I have run into trouble. I have suffered the embarrassment of running to an ATM while the line behind me waits impatiently.
My corporate card is chip and pin but my personal cards are all swipe the stripe type. Now I always keep a stash of pounds or euros for emergency use. (Always a good idea anyway).
Be aware of pickpockets in some areas. Rome is one but where ever you go check online before you leave for tips on how to be safe, secure and aware.
I spent two weeks in Paris last October with a hybrid card - both a magnetic strip and a chip. Many businesses could accept either the swipe or the chip, but preferred the chip. I also had just classic swipe cards and some businesses would not accept them or they did not work.
You can purchase small shielded cases for your credit cards so that the RFID chip can’t be read from nearby/stolen.
I went to Italy 5-1/2 years ago, and the South of France 3-1/2, and had no trouble with swipe cards then. I did pre-inform my credit card purveyors that I was going to Europe in order to forestall any false fraud detection problems.
Correct. Swipe machines need to be replaced.
Soon it will be required to have it in your hand or forehead.
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