Any drawbacks to EMV chips?

[Shock]

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nyancat wrote: All Target and Walmart locations have chip readers. Target has Verifone MX 925's in every store, they have the chip readers disabled and blocked with a piece of plastic. Yes, Verifone chip readers glow blue.

Walmart also has chip readers in every store, with at least four different models of terminal. They are all "enabled" according to Walmart, but their definition of enabled is different from mine. Chip transactions are allowed, but they are not enforcing that chip cards use the chip. Without enforcing this, no protection against counterfeit cards is provided. 

Target will enable theirs early next year. Hopefully properly.

The Walmart that I did the chip reader at basically made you use the reader. If you swiped and it detected EMV, you had to stick it in (thats what she said). took maybe a minute to complete (thats what she said again) lol

[Shock]

IME at Walmart, if there is an EMV chip detected when swiping, it forces you to stick it in. (TWSS lol)! But it took about a minute to finish (TWSS again lol)

[nyancat]

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@Shock wrote:

IME at Walmart, if there is an EMV chip detected when swiping, it forces you to stick it in. (TWSS lol)! But it took about a minute to finish (TWSS again lol)

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That was the case, and is the correct behaviour, but a few weeks ago Walmart quit enforcing it and now does not require the chip to be used. This also means that cloned chip cards can now be used at Walmart with no problem by cloning the magnetic stripe. One giant leap backward for all of us, as customers.

[Luscher]

swiping is soo much quicker. It takes twice as long at walmart. but in the end I guess its safer

[nyancat]

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@Luscher wrote:

swiping is soo much quicker. It takes twice as long at walmart. but in the end I guess its safer

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Walmart's EMV was incredibly slow, it has got much better. That said, it'll always be a little slower... well worth it for a massive safety improvement. Contactless offers speed AND security, but American banks and merchants generally refuse to support it.

[Anonymous]

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@nyancat wrote:

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@Luscher wrote:

swiping is soo much quicker. It takes twice as long at walmart. but in the end I guess its safer

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Walmart's EMV was incredibly slow, it has got much better. That said, it'll always be a little slower... well worth it for a massive safety improvement. Contactless offers speed AND security, but American banks and merchants generally refuse to support it.

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For a dummy, could you explain what "contactless" means? And why do American companies refuse to support it? Costs?

Thanks

[nyancat]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@nyancat wrote:

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@Luscher wrote:

swiping is soo much quicker. It takes twice as long at walmart. but in the end I guess its safer

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Walmart's EMV was incredibly slow, it has got much better. That said, it'll always be a little slower... well worth it for a massive safety improvement. Contactless offers speed AND security, but American banks and merchants generally refuse to support it.

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For a dummy, could you explain what "contactless" means? And why do American companies refuse to support it? Costs?

Thanks

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Contactless means tap-and-pay. The reasons are varied, for banks:

1. The cards cost more

2. Most customers who get them don't use the contactless feature

3. Some customers get extrmely vocal and angry because they PERCEIVE it as insecure, since it is contactless - despite it actually being much more secure

Why spend money on something that at best doesn't get used, and at worst gets an angry customer? But we can vote with our wallets, literally. I have one card available contactless - an American Express Blue Cash Everyday. I requested a chip and contactless version and I tap it everywhere I can, even if another card would have better rewards.

For merchants:

1. Sometimes it is cost of equipment, if they don't already have contactless readers

2. Sometimes it is fee disputes, they want contactless incentives due to it being more secure, and potential debit routing issues (Best Buy when they first disabled contactess was for this reason)

3. For many merchants, it is disabled due to their membership in MCX

4. For some, it's not really obvious. Barnes and Noble has contactless capable terminals that are disabled, ULTA disabled theirs but they used to be enabled, and Staples just enabled theirs but they were disabled for years.

[Anonymous]

ah, i remember when I got a debit card with paypass feature, waving card at a register because scanning didn't work that well, and people standing behind looking at me like "what the hell is that idiot doing? doesn't know how to use a credit card?"

[nyancat]

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@Anonymous wrote:

ah, i remember when I got a debit card with paypass feature, waving card at a register because scanning didn't work that well, and people standing behind looking at me like "what the hell is that idiot doing? doesn't know how to use a credit card?"

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If it works, it should be really quick and seamless. Hold card for a couple seconds, done. At McDonald's they're usually surprised cause they never see me do it - of course I deliberately stealth it to catch them off-guard

[Shock]

Contact is not safe. Anybody can walk up and put an RFID reader by your wallet and get your information.