Most credit cards now contain a “smart chip” on them that are much more secure than the “magnetic stripe”.  The reason for this is that the smart chip is actually a tiny-computer that can interact directly with a payment terminal or ATM – and they’re designed never to give up their secret information.  Whereas a magnetic stripe reveals all its data and is easily copied.

U.S. business owners who fail to upgrade their payment terminals to support chip & PIN by October will also become liable for any fraudulent transactions as American Express, Discover, MasterCard and VISA get set to implement the change.  However, some “pay at the pump” Gas stations will be exempt until 2017.

The good news for all of us though is that insisting on a PIN at the point of sale means your card, if lost or stolen, is useless to whoever might get hold of it – except for contactless transactions which don’t require a PIN under a certain transaction amount.  As always you should still protect your credit cards the same way you do with cash.

Five (5) quick PIN tricks and tips:

1. Did you know YOU can change your PIN at any time? You can easily change the PIN assigned to your new card at an ATM (usually at an ATM belonging to your bank) – just look for the “select new PIN” or “Other” options.
2. How long is your PIN? It can be between 4 and 6-digits in length – personally I like to use 5 just to be different!
3. Don’t use your date of birth! Having a 4 or 6-digit PIN can be a temptation to store your birthdate, but it should be obvious that this is something to avoid at all cost!
4. Don’t use predictable key combinations! Try to avoid choosing a PIN that uses a combination of keys that form a pattern – for example, 2580, 1234, 1379.
5. Never write your PIN down! Now that you know how to change the PIN yourself, you should be able to choose one that you’ll never forget – so make sure you don’t write it down or store it anywhere, like on your mobile device – doing so will almost certainly be a violation of your credit card issuer’s acceptable usage policy.

Until next time, stay safe out there.

Title image courtesy of thisismoney.com