Will You Dip or Swipe this Holiday Season?

The familiar card swipe is fast becoming a relic of the past, as new technologies are incorporated into credit and debit cards. The age of the card dip is now upon us.

This is because magnetic strips are being replaced with onboard chips – offering greater security for consumers.

If you use credit or debit cards, you’ve probably been mailed the new chip-enabled replacements for at least some of the accounts you have.

These chip, or EMV (Europay, Mastercard Visa)-enabled cards carry your account data in a chip instead of the old magnetic strip.

These cards match up to new terminals in stores. Instead of swiping your card, you simply dip it into the new chip readers.

However, many of the cards being sent to Americans today contain both the chip and the strip. Americans with these cards will have the option of swiping or dipping.

Just remember that the extra security offered by the chip cards is only available when you use the chip readers. Stores that don’t have these new readers cannot offer you the enhanced security – even when your card is chip-enabled.

So, if you swipe your card, you have the same level of security as you had in the past. Only the dip can access the chip.