BIRMINGHAM, Ala.—After more than a year of using EMV cards, what do consumers think of the new plastic?
LowCards.com surveyed more than 200 credit card consumers in late January and found an overwhelming percentage of consumers are comfortable with these new chip-embedded cards. In addition, while the chip cards require a longer transaction time than magnetic stripe cards, a strong majority of consumers felt this wait was tolerable.
Key findings:
- 80% of consumers who have tried using their chip credit cards are very or somewhat comfortable using these cards. Only 9% said they were uncomfortable.
- 64% of chip cardholders felt the transaction time was slower but tolerable compared to the magnetic strip transactions—24% said it was equal in time to the magnetic stripe. Only 8% felt chip cards were too slow to use.
- Of those who expressed any hesitation about chip cards, the two biggest concerns were the speed of the transaction (55% of concerns) and the security of these cards (39%).
- Contrary to reports of chip cards not working, two-thirds (66%) of the chip cardholders said the transactions are always successful on the first attempt.
- Half of the consumers in the survey liked the new chip cards better than the magnetic stripe cards; the other half did not.
- 15% of those surveyed said they have yet to receive a chip credit card.
"The transition to these chip-embedded credit cards had some very rough roads especially in the early going, but it now seems to have smoothed out," said Bill Hardekopf, CEO of LowCards.com. "Consumers seem to have adapted to these cards. Consumers want peace of mind with their transactions, especially with the rash of data breaches that have taken place. These cards give slightly more security than magnetic stripe cards, and cardholders are willing to sacrifice speed and convenience for this added security."