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In the US they generally have both if issued in the last few years, but many places still accept magnetic strips. I don't use an ATM often anymore, maybe once o

In the US they generally have both if issued in the last few years, but many places still accept magnetic strips. I don't use an ATM often anymore, maybe once or twice a year at most, but I've yet to see an ATM that only demands the chip instead of forcing you to insert the whole card, so chip-only debit and credit cards can't come soon enough. Curious if there's an easy way to make my stripe unreadable with my most used credit card, especially for dining where your card can disappear for several minutes at a time.

julianwachholz 8y ago
Revolut lets you disable the magnetic strip and other functions (e.g. contactless) of your physical card via the App.
- Milner08 8y ago
  As do Monzo, infact the magnetic strip is disabled as default and you can only enable it for 24 hours at a time.
- deadbunny 8y ago
  This just disables making payments via the strip. It's not actually disabling anything on the card. You can still get details by reading the mag strip.
stef25 8y ago
Wouldn't a magnet destroy whatever's written on the card's strip?
wongarsu 8y ago
>an ATM that only demands the chip instead of forcing you to insert the whole card Inserting the whole card is also a security measure to be able to take the card away if an incorrect pin is entered 3 times, or if the card is left in the device after leaving the ATM.
- jessaustin 8y ago
  That's just more work for the ATM owner, determining whether to confiscate a card, keeping track of which cards have been confiscated, disposing of confiscated cards... consequently it has been over a decade since I've seen an ATM capable of confiscating a card. Since I prefer cash for everyday transactions and move around a fair bit, I feel I have sampled a wide range of ATMs in midwest USA and some small portion of ATMs globally.
tialaramex 8y ago
I think some or all ATMs are still able to "keep" cards that fail authorisation repeatedly, e.g. because they're stolen or fake. Without ingesting the entire card an ATM can't do that. Countries that have completed EMV roll out still issue cards with mag stripes. It's maybe worth briefly explaining why this might not matter at all: The payment card networks have two _entirely separate_ mechanisms in play. To a Hacker News reader it may seem insane to not tie them together, but this is how they evolved and apparently banks would rather eat fraud and error costs than spend whatever it would cost to fix. 1. Authorisation. This mechanism is in charge of deciding whether all the parties are OK with a transaction, e.g. "Mike Smith pays Example Co. $145". Cryptographic security can be used to verify that this was really Mike Smith's authentic card, he entered his PIN, Example Co asked for exactly $145 and Mike's bank said that was OK. 2. Payment. This operates entirely on the honour system between banks and retailers. Example Co. says Mike Smith agreed to pay $145 and the backend systems automatically give $145 of Mike Smith's money to Example Co. Done. Because these two systems aren't tied together at all, even though the authorisation system guarantees the exact amounts, is strongly replay resistant, and so on, none of those properties apply to actually paying your money to some retailer. So regardless of whether it's tricky to get past authorisation it doesn't matter to big fraudsters, they can just take whatever they want and ignore the Authorisation step altogether. When you realise somebody took your money you will call your bank. They may try to give you the run around (after all, it's easier) but ultimately - perhaps after some notice period - they'll probably agree to reverse that clearly fraudulent charge and if you live in a country with actual consumer protection they may even have to pay back any fees or other financial penalties you incurred as a result of them accepting the fraudulent payment request.
ChrisSD 8y ago
Can I ask why, in the US, your card might disappear for several minutes when dining? In the UK they bring the card reader to you.
- gambiting 8y ago
  It's actually against the terms and conditions of Visa and MasterCard in EU to take the card away for any reason, if any establishment does this report them to Visa/MasterCard and they'll get their terminals revoked if they don't comply. It's inconceivable to me that in US bars keep your card to keep the tab open for example - it's insane that people agree to this.
  - devonkim 8y ago
    It’s kind of amazing to me that despite the sheer insecurity of US consumer financial products like credit cards that the rate of credit card fraud isn’t even higher than it is. Maybe there’s an incentive somewhere we’re unaware of to allow such fraud to occur.
    - ams6110 8y ago
      The rate of fraud is low enough that the cost reduce it further would be more than the savings. That sucks for you if you're a fraud victim, but the card companies don't really care if they make more money by not trying to stop more fraud.
  - gruez 8y ago
    > in US bars keep your card to keep the tab open What's the point of keeping a tab then? Why not pay the full amount each night? Also, there's nothing preventing you from giving them a card, then reporting it lost/stolen
    - rocqua 8y ago
      I guess it is for tabs kept during a single stay, rather than across multiple stays. This would then be to defend against people who 'Dine and Dash'.
rootusrootus 8y ago
I use an ATM about once per week (at a local pub that only accepts cash... ;-)), and it is strictly a chip reader. No swipe.

julianwachholz 8y ago

Revolut lets you disable the magnetic strip and other functions (e.g. contactless) of your physical card via the App.

Milner08 8y ago
As do Monzo, infact the magnetic strip is disabled as default and you can only enable it for 24 hours at a time.
deadbunny 8y ago
This just disables making payments via the strip. It's not actually disabling anything on the card. You can still get details by reading the mag strip.

stef25 8y ago

Wouldn't a magnet destroy whatever's written on the card's strip?

wongarsu 8y ago

>an ATM that only demands the chip instead of forcing you to insert the whole card Inserting the whole card is also a security measure to be able to take the card away if an incorrect pin is entered 3 times, or if the card is left in the device after leaving the ATM.

jessaustin 8y ago
That's just more work for the ATM owner, determining whether to confiscate a card, keeping track of which cards have been confiscated, disposing of confiscated cards... consequently it has been over a decade since I've seen an ATM capable of confiscating a card. Since I prefer cash for everyday transactions and move around a fair bit, I feel I have sampled a wide range of ATMs in midwest USA and some small portion of ATMs globally.

tialaramex 8y ago

I think some or all ATMs are still able to "keep" cards that fail authorisation repeatedly, e.g. because they're stolen or fake. Without ingesting the entire card an ATM can't do that. Countries that have completed EMV roll out still issue cards with mag stripes. It's maybe worth briefly explaining why this might not matter at all: The payment card networks have two _entirely separate_ mechanisms in play. To a Hacker News reader it may seem insane to not tie them together, but this is how they evolved and apparently banks would rather eat fraud and error costs than spend whatever it would cost to fix. 1. Authorisation. This mechanism is in charge of deciding whether all the parties are OK with a transaction, e.g. "Mike Smith pays Example Co. $145". Cryptographic security can be used to verify that this was really Mike Smith's authentic card, he entered his PIN, Example Co asked for exactly $145 and Mike's bank said that was OK. 2. Payment. This operates entirely on the honour system between banks and retailers. Example Co. says Mike Smith agreed to pay $145 and the backend systems automatically give $145 of Mike Smith's money to Example Co. Done. Because these two systems aren't tied together at all, even though the authorisation system guarantees the exact amounts, is strongly replay resistant, and so on, none of those properties apply to actually paying your money to some retailer. So regardless of whether it's tricky to get past authorisation it doesn't matter to big fraudsters, they can just take whatever they want and ignore the Authorisation step altogether. When you realise somebody took your money you will call your bank. They may try to give you the run around (after all, it's easier) but ultimately - perhaps after some notice period - they'll probably agree to reverse that clearly fraudulent charge and if you live in a country with actual consumer protection they may even have to pay back any fees or other financial penalties you incurred as a result of them accepting the fraudulent payment request.

ChrisSD 8y ago

Can I ask why, in the US, your card might disappear for several minutes when dining? In the UK they bring the card reader to you.

gambiting 8y ago
It's actually against the terms and conditions of Visa and MasterCard in EU to take the card away for any reason, if any establishment does this report them to Visa/MasterCard and they'll get their terminals revoked if they don't comply. It's inconceivable to me that in US bars keep your card to keep the tab open for example - it's insane that people agree to this.
- devonkim 8y ago
  It’s kind of amazing to me that despite the sheer insecurity of US consumer financial products like credit cards that the rate of credit card fraud isn’t even higher than it is. Maybe there’s an incentive somewhere we’re unaware of to allow such fraud to occur.
  - ams6110 8y ago
    The rate of fraud is low enough that the cost reduce it further would be more than the savings. That sucks for you if you're a fraud victim, but the card companies don't really care if they make more money by not trying to stop more fraud.
- gruez 8y ago
  > in US bars keep your card to keep the tab open What's the point of keeping a tab then? Why not pay the full amount each night? Also, there's nothing preventing you from giving them a card, then reporting it lost/stolen
  - rocqua 8y ago
    I guess it is for tabs kept during a single stay, rather than across multiple stays. This would then be to defend against people who 'Dine and Dash'.

rootusrootus 8y ago

I use an ATM about once per week (at a local pub that only accepts cash... ;-)), and it is strictly a chip reader. No swipe.