Chip cards

[Arizona Wayne]

I have two BofA cards that have the chip.  No pin.  Just got my replacement Target Visa yesterday.  I went from a Visa to a MasterCard, it has the chip and I had to go to Targets website and chose a PIN number.

We're headed to Thailand in two months, I was only going to bring the two B of A cards (mainly because I earn Alaska Airline mileage), maybe I'll bring the Target one along as well.

What irritates me is that I opened up a checking account with my local bank expressly for use as a travel debit card. The card they sent has no chip on it.  Apparently, none of their credit cards have them either.

Redundant remark b4 reading all above posts.

[rocker59]

BoA replaced my magnetic-only Visa card with a "chip & sig" card back in the spring.

It's been in a chip reader exactly one time !  LOL!

[savagehenry]

Got mine back at start of year, had my identity stolen 2 days later. The card was in my wallet when it happened.  BMO HARRIS said I was the first  new style chipped card of theirs stolen in the country. It was in my pocket when it got used at a jewelry store to the tune of $2000.00, and other smaller purchases. Luckily, my wife told them that the proof I didn't do it was the fact that it was at a jewelry store, if it were motorcycle parts she would believe it.
3 months later the replacement was stolen the same way again, while it was in my wallet. This time at a Home Depot an hour away, a bunch of gift cards. Again,I was on video at work during the theft, got money back after a bigger hassle this time around
In both cases I wanted them found and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. I know there is video at a jewelry store at the very least. But they were NO HELP, they even retried to push the purchase through even after I and the police told them not to, but they don't care, a sale is a sale to them. Both times the police never followed up, and when I did, they told me I got the money back, so why worry? Thanks a whole effin lot. Too much hassle doing your job, or...?

[Arizona Wayne]

Got mine back at start of year, had my identity stolen 2 days later. The card was in my wallet when it happened.  BMO HARRIS said I was the first  new style chipped card of theirs stolen in the country. It was in my pocket when it got used at a jewelry store to the tune of $2000.00, and other smaller purchases. Luckily, my wife told them that the proof I didn't do it was the fact that it was at a jewelry store, if it were motorcycle parts she would believe it.
3 months later the replacement was stolen the same way again, while it was in my wallet. This time at a Home Depot an hour away, a bunch of gift cards. Again,I was on video at work during the theft, got money back after a bigger hassle this time around
In both cases I wanted them found and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. I know there is video at a jewelry store at the very least. But they were NO HELP, they even retried to push the purchase through even after I and the police told them not to, but they don't care, a sale is a sale to them. Both times the police never followed up, and when I did, they told me I got the money back, so why worry? Thanks a whole effin lot. Too much hassle doing your job, or...?

Maybe this is a case where your card  info. can be had magnetically by a walker by if it isn't protected by a metal barrier while not being used by yourself.  I get protected from that happening by putting all my CCs in an aluminum holder that cost me $1 at my local 99 cent store.  My wallet now has no CCs in it for protection.  My CCs are in my shirt pocket, front pant pocket, or MC jacket pocket now.

[rbm]

It's a fallacy to believe that the last place you used your card was the place where it got compromised.  It could have gotten compromised weeks or months prior to its fraudulent use.  The issuing bank most times don't know when a card got compromised and definitely would not reveal that information to the cardholder if they did.

[Aaron D.]

It amuses me when I'm standing in line at the cash lane of a store and the person in front of me attempts to pay for a multi-hundred dollar transaction using a card tap.  I think "Do you have any idea WTF you just attempted to do?"

If you read your cardholder agreement, an NFC transaction type has an implicit authorization clause, whereby you have agreed to be liable for any charge up to the issuing bank-imposed limit.  If that limit was not imposed upon you by the issuing bank, anyone who stole your card could go on a shopping spree just by tapping at the checkout and you'd be fully liable for the transactions because you pre-authorized them.  The burden of proof would be upon you to show that you were not the one who did the transaction.  All the more reason to report lost or stolen cards immediately.

Also, a change occurred to the cardholder agreement for chip-and-pin whereby you waive indemnification for chip based transactions.  That means you have a much harder time contesting the transaction if the pin was supplied at the time of the transaction.  The outcome depends alot on the relationship you have with your cardholder bank.  There is cardholder liability limit of $50 for fraudulent transactions for card swipes.  I'm not sure what the liability situation is for US cardholders who are using chip-and-signature.  Anyone know?

Though there is the $50 limit for CREDIT (not debit) I don't know any US bank that would even charge a carholder that much.

NFC here has no limit, especially with Apple and Google. Though there is a war going on with MCX keeping NFC out of member stores if they want to stay in the MCX group.

[rbm]

You're right; most issuing banks won't charge the cardholder the liability limit because the potential loss of reputation is much greater than $50.  Although NFC based, Google Wallet and ApplePay are not pre-authorized payment mechanisms. Both require you to authorize the payment at the time of the sale by providing your 4-digit PIN or TouchID.  Both may have the option of pre-authorization for transactions below a certain limit.

[Aaron D.]

True on ApplePay et al, but my Amex NFC card will work quite well for whatever-I've had that for maybe 10-12 years when NFC made a failed attempt to enter the US market.

[savagehenry]

Maybe this is a case where your card  info. can be had magnetically by a walker by if it isn't protected by a metal barrier while not being used by yourself.  I get protected from that happening by putting all my CCs in an aluminum holder that cost me $1 at my local 99 cent store.  My wallet now has no CCs in it for protection.  My CCs are in my shirt pocket, front pant pocket, or MC jacket pocket now.

Yeah, I'm definitely not a "techy", so the school of hard knocks got another tuition payment, and I have a cool new card holder now.

[canuguzzi]

As usual, we're backward here in Indiana. None of our cards have chips yet. <shrug>

Damn, I was wondering why those new cards had the name "Chuck" on them. Please pay the balance so I can continue using the card, I hate being outed by the clerks.