In the article “Coming Soon to Checkouts: Microchip-Card Payment Systems” by Stacey Cowley, the owner of the lingerie shop “Busted”, Lee Padgett, has spent a lot of time and money into implementing a new payment system for her small business. This new more secure payment technology is known as E.M.V., which stands for Europay, MasterCard, and Visa. They are the small microchips on your credit card. To pay with them, the customer has to insert their card into a terminal and then either sign or type in their pin code. E.M.V. is becoming more prevalent in the United States this year because merchants are now being held liable for fraudulent charges. The liability shift actually starts today, October 1, 2015.
Cowley states, “Banks and merchants lost an estimated $16.3 billion last year globally on fraudulent transactions, and America has been their biggest problem spot.” Obviously there is a problem with paying by swiping the magnetic stripe on cards because cards are duplicated and credit card fraud is on the rise. E.M.V. cards are more secure because the chip makes a unique code for each transaction.
Although your card cannot be copied, that does not mean your card cannot get stolen. People can still steal your cards and use it when you’re not looking. One of the downsides to converting to E.M.V. payment is that employees have to be trained to use the equipment, which is actually a lot slower than a regular card swipe. It takes five to 10 seconds longer to read a chip card than swiping the magnetic strip cards, which may not seem that long, but it is if you’re in a rush. Employees will also have to explain it to each customer who is unfamiliar with this technology. This could add additional time in line if other customers are waiting as well. The hardware that merchants will need to buy costs hundreds of dollars per terminal and the software upgrades and additional add-ons could also increase the price. Also, some cards do not have the microchip, so those customers would still have to swipe.
But the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. In a video I found online, I discovered that E.M.V. cards are impossible to clone. They are already used worldwide in three different forms: contact, contactless payments, and mobile payments. This is useful because people can pay wirelessly and on their phones. This is more secure than other mobile forms of payment because of the unit transaction codes. This advance in technology definitely helps businesses and is convenient to its users.
I first came across paying via E.M.V. last month in Target. I noticed a microchip on my card, but never thought anything of it. I was confused at first when the cashier told me to insert my card in the slot, but now I know how important and useful this new payment method is.
As an employee who worked with credit cards, I found these new chips in the cards to be extremely annoying. Not only did they take longer to swipe, but my bosses also will have to purchase new equipment specifically made for reading these cards, which can get pricey for small businesses. However, in the future, once everyone switches to E.M.V., I believe that the cards will become faster to read. All new technology is slow at first; remember how slow computers were 10 years ago? All in all, I personally believe these chips are a great idea, especially since you mentioned they are impossible to copy. This will save many people from getting their cards stolen, and save businesses and banks a great deal of time, money, and worry.
ReplyDelete