Changes in Credit Cards and What This Means for Everyone

You need to know that major changes, designed to help your money stay safe from thieves, are coming to your wallet soon. If you live in the United States, or operate a business there, the deadline for change is October 1, 2015. Chip and PIN cards will be implemented to replace the usual magnetic strip cards currently used.

Business Owners

Should you have a business, it’s completely important that you upgrade your credit card terminals so that they are chip and PIN compliant. Should a business opt not to switch it could be held responsible and have to pay any fraudulent charges made on the card.

Smart business owners will do the research now. It’s so much better to change as quickly as possible, so that even if the adaptation takes longer, it can still be finished before the deadline. Plus, it takes some time to get used to change. Your employees will need some time to learn how to run the new systems. And, if it is too confusing or you need extra help, It’s never too early to call in an expert to help your business adapt.

Card Issuers

The majority of major card issuers have already updated their cards. In fact, it was Mastercard and Visa that were vital forces for change. Some credit unions are also offering the newer cards. You can check with your issuer and on some online lists to see which issuers provide true Chip and PIN cards and which supply EMV chip cards for Americans.

Consumers

The good news about these new cards is that most countries outside of the United States, and the majority of Europe have embraced this type of card for some time now. So, if you are traveling out of the country, using your new credit card will be much easier. One other piece of great news:  the cards are far more hard to steal from than traditional magnetic stripe cards. So, consumers can rest a little easier knowing fraudulent charges are harder to make on the new cards. It can also be useful to use alternative options such as prepaid Visa cards , as these aren’t linked to a line of credit or bank account, significantly reducing any potential losses in the unfortunately event of card loss of theft whilst traveling.

Changes

The switch to new kinds of cards may cost as much as $8 million to complete. The effort to change will be immense. Businesses will spend hours and hours learning new systems and retraining their employees. Companies that supply the systems and readers will be busy replacing now outdated equipment. Consumers will have to adapt and learn how to use their new cards.

Best of all, criminals will now have to stop stealing from us. International crime rings will no longer be able to prey on the easily stolen American credit card information. Fraudulent behaviors should decrease remarkably. After all, that is the point of all this change.