In recent years, there has been a lot of publicity regarding credit and debit card breaches and people having their personal information stolen. While you may not be able to completely prevent it from happening to you, it’s always a good idea to be proactive about protecting your credit, especially over the holidays when thieves are more apt to steal your information. There are a number of ways to protect your credit, such as shopping only on secure websites, creating passwords with a combination of letters, numbers and symbols and using new chip-enabled cards to make your purchases.
If you recently received a card in the mail with a chip on it, you may be wondering what it is for. On October 1, the U.S. credit card industry underwent a massive change as it completed its formal migration to EMV chip-enabled cards in an effort to increase credit card security.
To better understand the new technology, Discover addresses these commonly asked questions:
Common Questions About EMV Chip-Enabled Cards
How does a card with EMV technology work?
Using a chip card is simple. At chip-enabled terminals, consumers can insert their cards into a terminal and follow the guided instructions on the terminal screen. In the case that a retailer does not have chip-enabled terminal, consumers can use the magnetic stripe on their card as they’ve always done before.
How is a card with a magnetic strip different than a card equipped with chip technology?
The new chip cards have an extra layer of protection against fraud at point of sale. If you don’t have a chip card, or the merchant you are shopping at isn’t EMV ready, your magnetic strip card will still work the same way as it always has.
How are EMV cards more secure?
The microchip in chip cards generates unique, dynamic data every time a consumer completes a transaction in a store, making it harder for fraudsters to collect their card information. In turn, it is more difficult for hackers to copy and use credit card information.
Check out Discover’s EMV Resource Center for helpful information about chip cards, the upcoming liability shift and more.
Add Your Discover Card to Apple Pay & Earn Bonus Rewards
Discover recently announced that cardmembers are now able to add their Discover cards to Apple Pay. To celebrate, Discover is rewarding cardmembers in the U.S. with an automatic 10% Cashback Bonus®, on in-store purchases made with their Discover card using Apple Pay, through the end of the year.
Discover it Miles, Miles and Escape cardmembers using Apple Pay will be eligible to earn an extra 10 Miles per dollar on in-store purchases.
When using Apple Pay, Discover cardmembers will continue to receive all of the same great protection, services and benefits offered by Discover, including:
- $0 fraud liability guarantee
- 24/7 access to U.S. based customer care centers
- Rewards that are earned through their card’s current rewards structure
With the world becoming more technologically advanced, it’s important for credit card companies to stay ahead of the game. Discover is committed to making payments smarter and more secure with chip technology. If you are interested in learning more or applying for a Discover EMV chip-enabled card, head on over here.
Do you have an EMV chip-enabled card? If so, what has been your experience with it so far?
I wrote this post as part of the Discover Preferred Blogger Program. All opinions are my own.
