Hello Mr. Chips (and Pin) - Net.Matters - MSO.net's Monthly Newsletter - Feb 2006

This month's Valentine's Day saw the deadline for using your signature to pay for goods and services.  From the 14th February 2006, chip and pin cards must be used, with consumers entering a personal identification number to verify the transaction, as opposed to a signature.

However, in the week running up to the deadline, it was calculated by APACS (Association of Payment Clearing Services) that only 95% of chip and pin card holders were actually using their pin number - thereby fuelling concern that up to 100,000 card holders had not memorised their number prior to the deadline.

Coupled with issues raised by certain charities such as Age Concern, that the elderly or disabled were disadvantaged by the new system, the impact on trade is yet to be ascertained; it is estimated that as many as 3 million Britons may have trouble recalling their pin number  (source, National Consumer Council). 

On a more positive note, the new chip and pin cards rolled out over the past two years in a bid to reduce credit card fraud have shown some initial success.  Figures for January to June 2005 showed that fraud on stolen or lost cards was down 27% and losses on counterfeit cards was down by 31%.