The days of swiping credit cards could soon be ending as federal regulations that implement better credit and debit card protection take effect.
According to USA Today, the new credit cards with embedded chips are a safer and faster way for customers to pay. The new chip readers require the cards to be inserted instead of swiped. The machines currently accept both old and new card versions, but technology is moving to chip readers. However, businesses have been slow to adapt to the new technology.
“You can still swipe the card at a traditional station,” senior Preston Coleman said. “You can give it to an employee and they’ll swipe the card for you. However, they want to do it federally for all the retailers to be able to accept the chip.”
Associate Professor of Business Jody Jones said criminals have the accessibility to copy credit or debit cards and commit fraud because people are using credit cards more often than other methods of payment.
“They can clone your card,” Jones said. “They can stream your card and make their own card. There’s a lot of things that they can do to basically steal the information on your card.”
The new cards have a chip in them, in addition to the magnetic strip on the back, to intensify security measures.
Coleman said the new credit card chip offers more security for two reasons.
“One, an untrained employee doesn’t have to confirm your signature, but then two, it also sends your credit card information more securely,” Coleman said. “It encrypts it first and finally you’re not giving your card to the employee, so they can’t swipe it and get your information. As long as you keep your pin secure, your card is secure.”
Jones said the chip should help to decrease credit card fraud in the future.
“It should make it harder to copy the card,” Jones said. “Because all they have right now to copy is the strip on the card and now they would have to copy whatever information is in this chip too.”
Senior Kenny Head said the new credit card makes him feel safer while using it.
“I know that it’s not foolproof, but anything to help prevent fraud from happening should make anybody feel better about using credit cards or debit cards in general,” Head said.
Beginning Oct. 1, stores were required to support this new chip reading technology or they will be held liable for fraudulent activity, according to The Des Moines Register. However, many stores do not have the new machines ready for the chips and are slow to adopt the technology.
“The credit card readers cost money, so you usually buy it expecting it to last a long time,” Colman said. “So the fact that this new technology is out makes it troublesome.”
According to Coleman, some retailers are not able to accept the new credit cards, which means people have to go through the traditional method of having an employee swipe the customer’s card for them.
“I think once we have retailers accept it, I think that will be the new norm,” Coleman said. “All cards will be that way within the next two years.”
According to Jones, credit card companies have issued the new cards, so students should expect them to be shipped to permanent addresses.
“So if you don’t plan to see your parents or your home before Christmas break, you need to let your parents know that you have a new card coming in the mail,” Jones said.
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