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Almost no cards issued in the US have chips. As a result, almost no terminals in the US have a chip reader. A PIN is used to authenticate swiped (magstripe) tr

by tjohns 14y ago

Almost no cards issued in the US have chips. As a result, almost no terminals in the US have a chip reader. A PIN is used to authenticate swiped (magstripe) transactions from a debit card. That said, swiped transactions from a credit card only require a signature -- though many terminals have been upgraded to also require the billing ZIP (postal) code. Most debit cards can also be run as credit cards, effectively bypassing the PIN check. NFC-enabled terminals (and the cards to go with them) are slowly starting to appear, but even those don't require a PIN. Just a signature.

peteretep 14y ago
> Almost no cards issued in the US have chips. As a result, almost no terminals in the US have a chip reader. I was in New York state a while ago, and most places had PIN pads with chip readers. Not a single store person asked me to use it, and the few times I suggested I could, I got blank stares. I ended up signing for a bunch of stuff. Long story short: just because no-one is using them doesn't mean there's no chip reader.