Visa, Wal-Mart say they're moving to speed up chip card purchases
The added security is all well and good, but why does using a chip-enabled debit or credit card have to be so darn slow?
It's a question impatient shoppers and retailers alike have been asking since the new chip card technology started rolling out widely last year.
Now Visa and Wal-Mart say they've come up with fixes to get rid of those irksome few extra seconds at the checkout.
Visa says a software update called “Quick Chip” will strip as many as 18 seconds from a typical checkout process using a chip card, while Wal-Mart says it has cut the time of chip card transactions in its stores by up to 11 seconds.
Consumers at stores that have made the Quick Chip update will be able to dip and remove their cards in two seconds or less, without waiting for the transaction to be finalized, according to Visa. Shoppers who want to save even more time will be able to dip their cards while their items are still being rung up — a trick previously only possible with a traditional magnetic stripe cards.
Visa says the update will be offered free to payment processors, which will be able to decide if they want to charge merchants for the upgrade. Consumers won't need to make any changes to the chip cards already in their wallets to use the faster service.
Stephanie Ericksen, Visa's vice president of risk products, said surveys showed that transaction speed was an area where consumers and merchants wanted to see improvements and that the new system will allow “the consumer to put their card back into their wallet more quickly.”
While slow transactions can be irritating to consumers, they're particularly troublesome for retailers who have to choose between seeing their revenues hurt by long checkout lines or employing more staff for additional checkout lines.
Hailed as a more secure alternative to magnetic stripe cards, chip-enabled cards are accepted by around 20 percent of U.S. merchants but have seen slower adoption than expected, analysts say.
Since October, merchants who fail to make the switch to chip card technology have been held liable by the card companies for any fraudulent purchases made using magnetic stripe cards.
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