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I work as a retailer in Canada. When the banks issued people chip and pin cards, we upgraded our terminals. We had to because people needed to use the chip an

I work as a retailer in Canada. When the banks issued people chip and pin cards, we upgraded our terminals. We had to because people needed to use the chip and pin cards. We didn't have an option to resist it because all that does is harm our ability to take payment. I also notice though that from consumers, interac debit seems to be more popular than credit cards for general purpose, and those have always required a pin. Does the US consumer primarily use credit cards? Or do they at least use them more than Canadians (or maybe Europeans?). I can see the difference in behavior between knowing a pin and not having to being a big difference in consumer adoption, moreso than retailers being willing to accept the cards. Like I said, when we had chip and pin introduced years ago, we just had to be able to support it whether we wanted to or not unless we wanted to start turning people away. But if consumers have always used primarily credit cards or cash, I can understand them avoiding the move towards having to remember a pin. The way that it was dealt with here is: If the merchant has a magstripe-only reader, my card will not be accepted. Everyone card is a chip and pin card, and people rarely carry cash. If you don't upgrade your hardware, it's not just a matter of being liable for fraud, it's simply that you can't continue to do business.

Spoom 13y ago
Hi, Canadian immigrant to the US. People in the US tend to use debit cards tied to their bank accounts which are also Visa / MasterCard cards. These cards can be swiped as either a debit card (requiring a PIN, similar to Interac) or a credit card (requiring only a signature, or nothing at all in some cases, like a gas pump). They don't force you to use it as a debit card because that would preempt certain transactions, like online ones. (My theory is that this is part of why the US has a far bigger online economy than Canada, beyond simple population density.) Canada also has far stronger central controls on, for example, their banking system than does the US. In the US, such things would be considered onerous government regulation, even if the long term impact was positive. Interac is a Canadian-only thing, BTW.
- lazyant 13y ago
  I believe other European countries have something similar to Interact (a universal terminal for debit cards from different banks)

Spoom 13y ago

Hi, Canadian immigrant to the US. People in the US tend to use debit cards tied to their bank accounts which are also Visa / MasterCard cards. These cards can be swiped as either a debit card (requiring a PIN, similar to Interac) or a credit card (requiring only a signature, or nothing at all in some cases, like a gas pump). They don't force you to use it as a debit card because that would preempt certain transactions, like online ones. (My theory is that this is part of why the US has a far bigger online economy than Canada, beyond simple population density.) Canada also has far stronger central controls on, for example, their banking system than does the US. In the US, such things would be considered onerous government regulation, even if the long term impact was positive. Interac is a Canadian-only thing, BTW.

lazyant 13y ago
I believe other European countries have something similar to Interact (a universal terminal for debit cards from different banks)