MarketWatch headlined this article about EMV chip cards, “How much do people really hate chip cards?”, most likely to get readers’ attention. Turns out, consumers really don’t hate chip cards nearly as much as when they first were introduced and not nearly as much as many in the industry feared:
Consumers on the whole don’t seem to be bothered by the new cards. About 78% of Americans surveyed by the personal-finance company NerdWallet said they have positive feelings about EMV credit cards, and 43% say it’s the form of payment they prefer to use most. The polling firm Harris Poll conducted the survey of about 2,000 adults for NerdWallet.
Although the transition in the U.S. is taking some time, it’s similar to how long the transition to EMV-enabled cards took in similar markets, including Australia, Brazil and Canada, said Stephanie Ericksen, the vice president of risk and authentication products at Visa.
Mercator Advisory Group’s own survey data also confirms that consumers are becoming more acclimated to using chip and many don’t feel bothered by the new process of using a chip card.
The article also provided a synopsis of the EMV migration progress as conveyed by the networks:
American Express had started issuing EMV-enabled, or “chip” cards, in 2013; as a result, more than 95% of the company’s U.S. card portfolio is equipped with these cards today, said a company spokesman. Of the cards in Visa’s U.S. portfolio, there are now about 64% chip credit cards and 42% chip debit cards (but Visa’s consumers are using their chip cards often; credit cards with chips now represent about 93% of the volume of in-store payments made with Visa cards.) MasterCard’s MA, portfolio of U.S. consumer credit cards is now almost 90% chip-enabled cards. And about 33% of all merchant locations in the U.S. are using chip-enabled technology, according to MasterCard.
Overview by Sarah Grotta, Director, Debit Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group
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