Credit Cards With Chips To Alter Culture Of Buying

NPR

Published June 12, 2015 at 1:12 PM EDT

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A chip-based credit card, in Philadelphia. U.S. banks, tired of spending billions a year to pay back fleeced consumers, are in the process of replacing tens of millions of old magnetic strip credit and debit cards with new cards that are equipped with computer chips that store account data more securely. (Matt Rourke/AP)

Millions of American consumers have gotten a new credit card in the mail this year.

Banks are getting ready for an October deadline by rolling out the smart-chip technology that Europeans have been using for years. Those little chips will eventually replace magnetic stripes that are vulnerable to data thieves.

Experts say chip technology could have prevented massive card thefts at The Home Depot and Target. But financial industry research director Julie Conroy tells Here & Now‘s Peter O’Dowd consumers shouldn’t expect the transition to be easy.

Guest

Julie Conroy, financial industry research director at the Aite Group. She tweets @julieconroyaite.