ALLENTOWN, Pa. --Despite the Oct. 1 deadline just days away, a survey of 18,000 U.S. adults reported more than half don’t know about EMV or the move to chip-enabled credit cards, said officials with a point-of-sale (POS) company in charge of the study.
Harbortouch, a POS system and merchant-services provider, published the results of a national survey gaging consumer awareness and usage trends of Europay MasterCard Visa (EMV) or “chip” enabled credit cards. The survey, conducted in late August, found that 56% of consumers are unaware of what an EMV or chip credit card is.
Lower-income respondents were more likely to lack knowledge of EMV cards than those in higher-income brackets. Nearly 60% of consumers with an income of $25,000-$49,999 were unaware of EMV cards. However, only 26% of the highest-income respondents ($150,000 or more) lacked knowledge of EMV credit cards. The results point to the need for more consumer education on the transition from traditional “swipe” credit cards to EMV or chip cards, which will take place nationwide in less than two weeks, said officials with Harbortouch, Allentown, Pa.
As of Oct. 1, 2015, payment networks including Visa, Foster City, Calif., and MasterCard, Purchase, N.Y., will shift responsibility for credit-card fraud onto U.S. merchants who do not adopt EMV cards as their primary method of credit-card payment. For c-store retailers, that deadline will apply to in-store readers, with similar requirements coming to in-pump readers in October 2017.
These smart chips embedded within EMV cards are intended to make credit-card fraud less likely. While common in Europe and other regions of the world, the technology standard is just now being adopted in the United States.
The recent Harbortouch survey also investigated a variety of EMV usage trends among U.S. consumers who did report awareness of the chip cards. Highlights include:
*Card replacements slow to arrive. The majority (53.6%) of consumers said they had not yet received replacement EMV or chip cards from all of their credit-card providers.
*Rural residents lead urban dwellers in EMV-card usage, with 76%of respondents living in rural areas reporting they use chip cards when paying for goods. That number compares to only 64% of respondents living in urban areas.
*Generation Z reports lowest EMV usage but ranks highest in mobile-payment adoption. Respondents between the ages of 18 and 24, also known as “Gen Z,” were the least likely to use EMV credit cards (20.5%). However, Gen Z reported the highest usage of mobile payments (42.1%).
*Only half of consumers believe chip cards will make them more secure. While payment networks believe in the security benefits of EMV, only 50.8% of consumers feel the technology will make them more secure. More men (58.8%) than women (41.4%) feel chip-enabled cards will make them more secure.
“The findings of this study indicate that EMV could pose serious challenges for credit-card companies and retailers as the busy holiday season approaches,” said Jared Isaacman, founder and CEO of Harbortouch. “Varying rates of adoption and opinions on the benefits of chip cards means more can be done by all parties to ensure a smooth transition on October 1 and beyond."
Harbortouch is a supplier of POS systems, serving thousands of businesses across the nation.
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.