Analysis Of Credit Card Chips

Credit Card Chips

Credit to buy goods or services has been around since the early 1900s, when consumers would use credit to buy goods or services and pay for them at a later date. The bill would send the bank containing a description of the items bough, their price, tax, and overall total. The consumer would visit to the bank and pay it before a set date set by the retailer. Today, “7 out of 10” Americans have one or more credit cards. Credit Card companies introduced the ‘chip,’ a magnetic strip in cards to prevent fraud in brick-and-mortar stores, in late 2015. Major credit card companies, such as Visa and MasterCard, pushed the new cards onto their cardholders by mailing out chip cards and letting the cardholder know their regular card

Since the card is inserted in the card reader located at the bottom of the reader, it takes anywhere from “5 to 15 seconds” for the reader to read the chip, and then a signature is required to complete the transaction. If the card is removed before the transaction is done, the cardholder must reenter the card and restart the transaction process. At the checkout, there are still countless stores who have switched to the new readers, but have not set up the readers to their systems yet, leaving them to swipe their card. Many cardholders try to insert their card in the reader, just to be corrected to swipe, and as minor as it may sound, many Americans are annoyed by this. According to Hayley Tsukayama at The Washington Post, found that the “survey from the mobile payments firm, Square, has found that 91 percent of debit card users and 87 percent of credit card users have faced frustration with the new cards – mainly due to the time it takes to use them.” This all ties back to long and slow lines at the checkout counter that leave people frustrated. Several large retailers are concerned for the holiday season, since it is a retailer’s biggest sales time of the year. These retailers fear that the long lines and wait times at checkout will steer customers into online shopping or avoiding all together. Gregory Karp at the Chicago Tribune, states that he “still has not

Thieves access information from cardholders and uses their information to open new accounts or other illegal activity such as purchases, or sell a cardholder’s information on the black market. Since credit cards do not require a 4-digit code, but rather a signature, it is easier for hackers to steal this information without becoming caught quickly. According to Brian Krebs, the author of a blog focused on Security, states on “All Things Considered” Broadcast show that “the new chips are to keep hackers from receiving the information quicker than they would have before.” This prevents them from being able to duplicate copies of a cardholder’s card to use. The host, Shapiro, mentions that in London they have used this chip for ‘as long as he can remember.’ England’s chip cards come with a pin instead of involving a signature. Krebs mentions how the new chip “will not stop identity thefts overnight.” The new cards construct it harder for thieves to access the information through retailer’s private computer databases. The databases hold information such as credit and debit card numbers, addresses, bank information, and more personal information. Since it makes it more challenging to get the information, that does not mean hackers will just disappear and stop trying. With technology continuing to advance, they will find new ways to hack into systems and access the information from these cards, even