Major sources s blast the new credit cards in the USA.

NBC: Credit Card Switch Bites Subscription Services

Lifehacker: New Chip Credit Cards t Interrupt Your Automatic Payment

Today :'Pretty useless': Consumer frustrations

I doubt I will get one.
Welcome to the transition period that pretty much all other Western nations went through years ago


It is still a bit weird to hear about issues with "new technology" when that new technology is something that you have been using for years. It has to have been over 5 years ago that I got my first Bank Card that had a chip in it- it used a dual chip and magnetic stripe, so it had both. Later I got a card with only a chip- the area where the stripe would be is merely colored green on the plastic.

Most of the issues outlined there were the same issues we had here in Canada during the transition, and presumably other countries that have moved over to chips, as well. It is mentioned in a quotation that the technology is useless because it merely tells you to swipe the magnetic strip. I had that HAPPEN. (over 5 years ago... *cough*) It is almost certainly something technical involving standards compliance for the POS devices- perhaps they've passed certification for the swipe but need to be reevaluated for the chip reader, or something.

I cannot think of any disadvantages of the chip approach in terms of usability at this point. Most POS devices I've seen no longer even have a stripe reader. And I don't recall having to try more than once to get it to work. The advantages in security would be worth a minor inconvenience anyway, I think.Glad to hear it works for you.
There is a lot of criticism about how it is implemented here in the USA.
For one, The new system here in the USA does NOT use a PIN. Some experts think this is a fatal flaw in the new system. If you lose your card, somebody else could use it.

Real life example: Shopper opens her purse and removes some cards. One cord falls into a very small crack in the POS counter top. It store employees can not open the counter until later. Then when the shoppe comes back later they tell her it was not found. (The really did happen here recently to two Walmart shoppers.)

I don't think we use PIN here, either, at least not for Credit Cards. since my Bank Card is both a Debit/Interac as well as a Visa. I'm fairly certain it get's used as a Debit card for Point-Of-Sale, though. Transactions that were done through the "Credit Card" capability start with __V (presumably an indicator that it used my card as a Visa) and those transactions have not required a PIN entry. I don't know what a "real" Credit Card would do for Point Of Sale, though.

If the U.S system intends to do away with the Debit PIN entry, I'd say that is a flawed approach, because unlike Credit Cards the cardholder has far more liability. Part of that liability involves keeping the PIN secure- if that PIN is suddenly not needed, that is a rather big issue because of the added consumer liability, IMO. I highly doubt that is the case- as I understand it the U.S uses a different Debit system so the rollout for actual Debit cards is going a lot slower

It was my understanding that currently U.S CC's are "pinless" in general, and above a certain dollar amount you have to sign for it, but otherwise they don't use any sort of PIN, or many security features at all- anybody in possession of the card can make use of it. Is this incorrect?

Quote

Shopper opens her purse and removes some cards. One cord falls into a very small crack in the POS counter top. It store employees can not open the counter until later. Then when the shoppe comes back later they tell her it was not found. (The really did happen here recently to two Walmart shoppers.)

The shift to chip cards is an important step in combating fraud, but experts agree that chip cards are not going to make card fraud go away. Fraudsters will still try to make money by stealing card data, and you’ll still need to protect yourself by taking some BASIC precautions:
Check your accounts for unauthorized charges or debits regularly. Sometimes fraudsters will process a small debit or charge against your account and return to add more charges if the first transaction goes through. If you have online or mobile access to your accounts, check your transactions regularly. If you receive paper statements, be sure to open them and review them closely.
Report a suspicious charge or debit immediately. Contact your bank or card provider immediately if you suspect an unauthorized debit or charge. If a thief charges items to your account, you should cancel the card and have it replaced before more transactions come through. Even if you’re not sure that PIN information was taken, consider changing your PIN just to be on the safe side.

To what extent the consumer is protected has yet to be proven.

Herb Weisbaum , ConsumerMan for msnbc.com contributor has some a long rant about how hackers criminals could steal a lot of cash from your ATM account and get away underacted.

It's a bit ridiculous that the US system won't use PINs since that is one of the great things about the chip technologiy.

Yet another set of articles freaking out because something changed.

God forbid they should ever adopt the metric system.

I've been using my cards with chips for quite some time with no problems but I still have to enter my PIN. A card without a pin is just like cash.They already have but they don't realize it. All medical professionls use it as well as the military.