Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
Actually, now I come to think of it, CAN you pay for things in automated machines with credit cards in the US? Do you have "chip and PIN" credit cards yet, or do you still have to use a signature?
|
The conversion is just starting. There have been some experients over the last few years, but nothing particularly widespread. All four major credit card companies (Visa, Mastercard, Discover and American Express) are in the final stages of finalizing the standards for the EMV system. The standards include both chip & pin and chip & signature, and allow for NFC (but it isn't mandatory). How any of this will interact with automated machines like you're talking about isn't really known yet, because the standards are not quite written in stone yet, and the hardware developers are only just getting up to speed on the readers. But some kind of chip & something cards should start being widely issued by the end of this year, and the deadline for merchants to be able to accept them is absolutely no later than 2015.