Getting Chip & Signature Cards vice Chip & PIN

James

INHO Card Issuers are failing to come clean over Chip & Signature Cards. The majority of card issuers when pressed will issue you with a Chip & Signature Card vice Chip & PIN.

Hopefully this thread will encourage readers to tell of their experiences in acquiring and using Chip & Signature Cards. Which card issuers via call centres or banks make Chip & Signture infromation available and what they are telling consumers.

Here goes:

Nationwide, as far as I am aware, are the only card issuer who send out cards that actually inform cardholders that their brand new card is Chip & Signature and not Chip & PIN.

There is nothing more frustrating than asking a card issuer for a Chip & Signature Card, being told your getting one and when the card arrives the accompanying literature tells you that the card is Chip & PIN. This results in extra phone calls, confusion and on several occasions warrants another card being issued.

Would anyone else like to tell of their experiences of acquiring and using Chip & Signature cards?

grumbler

I do not quite understand your question. As far as I know ‘chip & signature’ cards are gradually being replaced by ‘chip & PIN’ cards. Soon we all will have only ‘chip & PIN’ cards.

James

Sorry, I incorrectly assumed that readers would have been aware that a Chip & Signature Card is available vice Chip & PIN cards.

How they operate:

A chipped card is placed into a new type card reader. The cardholder is then asked to enter their PIN (if the card is chip & PIN) or a transaction slip is automatically produced for the cardholder to sign in the normal manner if the card is chip and Signature. The magnetic strip isn't swipe becuase the chip is first interrogated to ensure the card is valid.


That's just what card issuers want you to think - Chip & PIN is compulsory and there's not alternative.

Hope this clarifies matters.

DesG

My experience:


Egg: I asked for a chip'n'sig card, operator understood what I wanted immediately, and the C&S card was sent out next day. I didn't have to justify why I wanted it.


Cahoot: 3 or 4 secure messages, and I didn't get a sensible reply, I will call them soon tho.

Cheers, Des.

satan666wayne

but why would you want one?

James

You might fall in to the category below:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2005/03/11/dt1101.xml

You maybe concerned over liability shift or consider a PIN less safe from a personal security aspect:

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/business/articles/timid399762?source=[url]

then again you may not wish to use the same PIN for all your cards:

[/url]http://www.detica.com/indexed/Opinion_PINsInOneBasket.htm

The decision is yours, it just lots of people are not aware that they have a choice.

Jacster_2

The second link is very interesting.

I have always felt distinctly uncomfortable punching in my PIN in shops, being very aware that this is the same number that gets money out of the hole in the wall. Other people around the till point are sometimes considerate and look away and others hang over your shoulder.

I have ignored this discomfort by buying the hype that 'Chip and PIN is more secure'.

Your article has dispelled this myth for me. The movement in liability for losses from the bank to the consumer now explains the massive hype/investment put into Chip and PIN.

Thanks for this very useful post - I'll be looking into Chip and Signature cards.

Cheers!

Edinburghlass_2

as i have just broken my wrist, I have requested a chip and pin debit card so I won't need to sign

edited to add that as I will still need to sign this card when it arrives, I will probably then need another card when the plaster cast comes off and I go back to my normal signature.....

dag_2

The decision is yours, it just lots of people are not aware that they have a choice.

To be honest, I'm not sure that people really do have a choice.

The Telegraph article rightly mentions that people with mild cognitive impairments have difficulty using PINs - and maybe you're thinking, the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 forces them to offer an alternative.

But unfortunately, the DDA 1995 makes a distinction between the "deserving" and "undeserving" disabled. You're only covered if you're willing to prove that your disability is serious enough to be considered "deserving" - and, as a rule, "mild" disabilities don't count. The process of actually proving you have a disability is intentionally humiliating - you will face accusations of being a malingerer - and the vast majority of people don't see it through.

Maybe it's different in other countries - but in the UK, nothing's going to change without a radical overhaul of our disability discrimination legislation. It's probably cheaper for the banks to run the risk of a claim under the DDA than provide Chip and Signature for everyone who asks for it - given that the odds of a successful claim are so small.

James

Dag - You do have a choice, but I did say you had to be firm and insist on Chip & Signature. Card issuers have no right to ask if you are disabled, or can't remember a PIN - you have to volunteer this information.

I wonder how many Stoogers have the following problem:

http://www.detica.com/indexed/Opinion_PINsInOneBasket.htm

DesG

satan666wayne wrote:

but why would you want one?

errr, because I do not just believe the hype.

Chip and Signature provides the same protection against card cloning.

The only advantage of the pin is for the Banks. If your pin was used, then it was you that used it (unless _you_ can prove otherwise)

With a chip&sig card, if it is not my signature, then _they_ have to prove it was me.

Simple enough.

Cheers, Des.

(I would never use a credit card for withdrawing cash, ever.)