Even as an Oct. 1 deadline approaches to replace Americans’ out-of-date credit cards with new cards embedded with computer chips, the vast majority of Americans still have not received their new cards and only a small minority are using the chips at all, a new Associated Press-GfK poll shows.
The poll finds that roughly one in 10 Americans have received the new chip-enabled credit cards. Of those who have received the cards, only one-third say they’ve actually used the cards as intended in new specialized credit card readers.
In an effort to combat mounting credit card fraud, U.S. banks are making a push to replace the magnetic-stripe credit cards Americans use with new ones that have tiny computer chips embedded in them, which are far more secure.
The older type of cards, long since been phased out in other major countries, have become easy targets for thieves, who have found multiple ways to exploit the security flaws in the decades-old magnetic stripe technology. Even though the U.S. counts for 25 percent of all credit card transactions, half of all credit card fraud happens in America, according to a report by Barclays.
The chip cards, which have been used in Europe and elsewhere for more than a decade, transmit a one-time code when they’re inserted into a card-reading device to make a purchase. Even if the code is stolen, thieves can’t use it to make other purchases.