When should your credit union reissue its mag stripe cards as chip-embedded EMV cards? Not surprisingly, there is no one, easy answer.
Michelle Thornton, director of product development for CO-OP Financial Services, Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., said the Oct. 1 liability shift date is better described as "an incentive to migrate to EMV" rather than a strict deadline.
"Credit unions should have a strategy in place and be working toward EMV compliance," she said. "Keep in mind that if you become the last credit union to implement EMV security, at some point fraudsters will find your BIN and create false cards."
Thornton said it also is important to remember that in most parts of the world the transition to EMV took approximately 10 years, while the U.S. is attempting to make the switch in just two or three years.
"Credit unions know the need to become EMV compliant as soon as possible, but they do not need to panic if they are not completely ready by Oct. 1," she said.
Bob Legters, chief product officer of North American retail payments for FIS, told Credit Union Journal his company has 4,000 financial institution clients. While FIS did a "mass enablement" for those FIs — meaning EMV functionality is ready — the card issuers still have to decide when to reissue cards. The standard reissue cycle is three years.
"An issuer with 10,000 cards is looking at their calendar trying to decide when to start. They don't want to wait three years," he said. "Of our clients, 20% to 30% are already starting to reissue."
According to Legters, "There is a long way to go."
"EMV will start to roll out in October as a concentrated event," he predicted. "After October the percentage of EMV cards will steadily increase. Everyone needs to remember Oct. 1 is a start, not a finish line."
