Chipped cards, Credit/Debit

I was rooting around the local wallyworld the other day for new hot wheels. When that failed I ended up buying some groceries. I tried swiping my card and it wouldn't accept it, saying "please insert card". This doubled the time I had to spend with the automated checkout manager, and the pin pad still took almost a minute to accept my card once I knew what I was doing. Is technology that berkeleyed up that I can't swipe a chip embedded card anymore or is this a software/hardware issue with walmart systems?

Walmarts card readers suck. I've had many issues with them.

Chip cards are fine. Its the reader, or the system that sucked that day.

You Yankee types have the "tap and go" system yet?

Welcome to EMV, more commonly called chip-and-pin. You'll see these increasingly over the next several months as merchants rush to meet the October 1 soft deadline.

This is a great point in time for touchless pay to gain a foothold (Apple Pay and the like) since they are much more convenient.

It's more secure than swiping a mag strip. You want a chip card. The technology is not berkeleyed up. The magnetic strip is only there for dealing with legacy systems, so it should only be used when the better option is not available. Walmart knows this.

Now that you know to insert the card instead of swiping it, the transaction will proceed faster next time.

Tap and go (near field communication) is available but not all that widespread in cards. It's a separate - more expensive - technology.

Eventually, the US will catch up to Europe and we'll have chip and pin cards. Chip and sign is the first step.

Yeah, ran into these a few weeks ago while in Canada, where these have been widely adopted. As Keith said, if you have a chipped card, you'll need to insert it into the reader's slot (usually right at the front of it, facing you) instead of swiping.

Margie

I skipped the card and had the chip inserted in my forehead.

Edit: really, walmarts machine took three minutes to read my chip. What the heck?

I dont understand why we have the signature. It is a totally false security and it's incredibly dumb. A PIN at least protects the card owner. I can't wait until we catch up to Europe and have the chip and pin.

You can literally scrawl anything on the signature and no one checks. My card says "CHECK ID" on the back and no one ever asks.

Its all PIN and tap up here, and lots of people also pay with debit which doesn't seem to widespread in the US either. (what? pay with your own money!).But I don't trust the tap and go. whats the piont of a pin number then? I don't use that feature.

bearmtnmartin wrote: But I don't trust the tap and go. whats the piont of a pin number then? I don't use that feature.

Smart move, last I checked those cards have zero security and can be stolen at a distance with common off-the-shelf equipment. If I had to own any kind of contactless credit card, I'd keep it in a shielded sleeve when not in use so that it can't be read unless I take it out of my wallet.

fritzsch wrote: I dont understand why we have the signature. It is a totally false security and it's incredibly dumb. A PIN at least protects the card owner. I can't wait until we catch up to Europe and have the chip and pin. You can literally scrawl anything on the signature and no one checks. My card says "CHECK ID" on the back and no one ever asks.

In FL we have to sign to buy pseudoephedrine (Sudafed). You have to electronically sign swearing you won't start a meth empire with your 15 pills. I have this incredible urge to sign as Walter White.

used my chipped card at walmart this weekend. It was real quick imo...maybe 10-15 seconds.

I think the tap and go cards may have a problem. I got a statement from RBC the other day, with their new service fees laid out. Lots of things have gone up a bit, but their tap&Go went to $1.00 per transaction. The regular chip and pin transactions remain free. This leads me to believe their fraud department has realized having an unprotected radio transmitting your money all over the world is a bad idea.

Little known fact- The very first bank card system with automated tellers was at Sherwood Credit Union in Regina, Saskatchewan, in the mid 70's.

Streetwiseguy wrote: This leads me to believe their fraud department has realized having an unprotected radio transmitting your money all over the world is a bad idea.

You give them too much credit, this does nothing for security. People stealing card numbers aren't capturing the transmission that goes out after the card is energized by an "official" reader - they're energizing the cards themselves with their own equipment.

Are we talking RFID chips? My previous bank card had that and it seemed useful but didn't like the idea that anyone with a RFID reader could read the card. I was going to get an rfid blocking wallet bit then they issued me a new card without the chip.

GameboyRMH wrote:

Streetwiseguy wrote: This leads me to believe their fraud department has realized having an unprotected radio transmitting your money all over the world is a bad idea.

You give them too much credit, this does nothing for security. People stealing card numbers aren't capturing the transmission that goes out after the card is energized by an "official" reader - they're energizing the cards themselves with their own equipment.

But it does help the bank pay for the fraud.

bearmtnmartin wrote: lots of people also pay with debit which doesn't seem to widespread in the US either. (what? pay with your own money!)

I buy everything with my credit card. It gives me "rewards" cash back. - a few hundred bucks every few months to apply toward my bill. And I pay the entire bill every month - so no interest.

My chipped card is also annoying at Walmart, but that is the only place I've had the issue.

Lof8 wrote:

bearmtnmartin wrote: lots of people also pay with debit which doesn't seem to widespread in the US either. (what? pay with your own money!)

I buy everything with my credit card. It gives me "rewards" cash back. - a few hundred bucks every few months to apply toward my bill. And I pay the entire bill every month - so no interest. My chipped card is also annoying at Walmart, but that is the only place I've had the issue.

Also many other benefits. Warranty, fraud, shielding your accounts. Dave Ramsey is wrong about that one.

Interested in what all of this means, though. I am not privy. I got a new card with a shiny bit in the mid left side. Is that what this is?

fritzsch wrote: I dont understand why we have the signature. It is a totally false security and it's incredibly dumb. A PIN at least protects the card owner. I can't wait until we catch up to Europe and have the chip and pin. You can literally scrawl anything on the signature and no one checks. My card says "CHECK ID" on the back and no one ever asks.

many a time while in college i would draw a wiener for my signature, never had a problem

Cotton wrote: used my chipped card at walmart this weekend. It was real quick imo...maybe 10-15 seconds.

Ditto. Didn't really affect transaction time. You have to leave the card in the reader for the duration of the electronic communication instead of standing there after swiping, so it may seem longer.

Lof8 wrote: I buy everything with my credit card. It gives me "rewards" cash back. - a few hundred bucks every few months to apply toward my bill. And I pay the entire bill every month - so no interest. My chipped card is also annoying at Walmart, but that is the only place I've had the issue.

Dave Ramsey says: If you play with snakes, you're going to get bit. Also, no rich person he knows ever got that way by rewards points/cash back.

Dr. Hess wrote:

Lof8 wrote: I buy everything with my credit card. It gives me "rewards" cash back. - a few hundred bucks every few months to apply toward my bill. And I pay the entire bill every month - so no interest. My chipped card is also annoying at Walmart, but that is the only place I've had the issue.

Dave Ramsey says: If you play with snakes, you're going to get bit. Also, no rich person he knows ever got that way by rewards points/cash back.

He also advocates paying off small debts first, even if they have absurdly low interest rates as compared with others. It makes no mathematical sense, even though it may, in some cases, bring momentum and a sense of victory to the person paying.

Dr. Hess wrote:

Lof8 wrote: I buy everything with my credit card. It gives me "rewards" cash back. - a few hundred bucks every few months to apply toward my bill. And I pay the entire bill every month - so no interest. My chipped card is also annoying at Walmart, but that is the only place I've had the issue.

Dave Ramsey says: If you play with snakes, you're going to get bit. Also, no rich person he knows ever got that way by rewards points/cash back.

It would be very silly to think that you'd get "rich" from cc rewards, but there is no arguing that it is money I didn't have to earn. I spend much less than I make and have no debt other than a mortgage, but I'll be very careful not to get bit, thanks for relaying Dave Ramsey's advice.

tuna55 wrote:

Lof8 wrote:

bearmtnmartin wrote: lots of people also pay with debit which doesn't seem to widespread in the US either. (what? pay with your own money!)

I buy everything with my credit card. It gives me "rewards" cash back. - a few hundred bucks every few months to apply toward my bill. And I pay the entire bill every month - so no interest. My chipped card is also annoying at Walmart, but that is the only place I've had the issue.

Also many other benefits. Warranty, fraud, shielding your accounts. Dave Ramsey is wrong about that one. Interested in what all of this means, though. I am not privy. I got a new card with a shiny bit in the mid left side. Is that what this is?

All of that stuff is not free, you end up paying for it one way or another. In fact, they do it by having those costs embedded in their product, which is paid for by the people who don't use them since the price is the same.

Did you know that there are different rates depending on the card a customer uses at your store/business from Visa? Yessir there are!

We don't have the whole "pay cash this price, pay visa this price" thing in Canada at gas stations that you do.

The older I get, the more cynical I get about these things. But you've been promised a shiny toy/"points" for doing the corp's bidding, and that makes you content.

Oh, and the way they track your data is with those points as well, and then they sell that info.

moparman76_69 wrote: Are we talking RFID chips? My previous bank card had that and it seemed useful but didn't like the idea that anyone with a RFID reader could read the card. I was going to get an rfid blocking wallet bit then they issued me a new card without the chip.

No, these are not RFID chips, but encrypted chips that do require physical contact with a specific type of reader to be read. They've been in use in Europe for at least a decade and I haven't heard much about security issues with them. The chip makes it much harder to clone the card.