Chip Cards Held Up by Card Companies

Jennifer Polanz & Allison Westbrook

Remember how the deadline to get your EMV chip card system in place was October 1 (of last year), and that consumers would be needing to use this for their (and your) protection? Didn’t exactly happen that way. Now, the NRF has completed a survey that shows many of the retailers have their systems in place and that it’s the card industry that “dropped the ball.”

According to the survey, 48% of retailers had their chip card system in place (or expected to) by the end of June. A total of 86% expect to have EMV up by the end of the year. Meanwhile, 57% of those who haven’t implemented the system have it installed and are still waiting on certification by the credit card industry to fire it up. Of those, 60% said they have been waiting six month or longer for that certification.

According to the NRF, many of the nation’s larger retailers have seen their certification come through, but mid-sized (and one can only guess, much smaller retailers) are still facing a wait. Visa and MasterCard acknowledged the delays in June, according to NRF, promising to streamline the process and provide more resources. GP