Survey: Most consumers in the dark about EMV

Retailers are extremely aware of the looming Oct. 1 deadline to securely accept payments from chip-enabled, EMV-compliant cards. But according to a new survey of 18,000 U.S. adults, consumers have much lower awareness.



The survey, conducted in late August by POS technology provider Harbortouch, shows that 56% of consumers are unware of what “EMV” or “chip-enabled” mean.



Lower income respondents were more likely to lack knowledge of EMV cards than those in higher income brackets. Nearly 60% of consumers with an income of $25,000-$49,999 were unaware of EMV cards. However, only 26% of the highest income cohort ($150,000+) lacked knowledge of EMV credit cards.



The recent Harbortouch survey also investigated a variety of EMV usage trends among U.S. consumers who did report awareness of the 'chip' cards.



Highlights include:



• Card replacements slow to arrive: The majority (53.6%) of consumers said they had not yet received replacement EMV or chip cards from all of their credit card providers.



• Rural residents lead urban dwellers in EMV card usage: 76% of respondents living in rural areas reported using 'chip' credit cards when paying for goods, compared to only 64% of respondents residing in urban areas.



• Gen Z reports lowest EMV usage, but ranks highest in mobile payment adoption: Respondents between the ages of 18-24, also known as Gen Z, were the least likely to use EMV credit cards (20.5%). However, Gen Z reported the highest usage of mobile payments (42.1%).



• Only half of consumers believe 'chip' cards will make them more secure: While payment networks believe in the security benefits of EMV, only 50.8% of consumers feel the technology will make them more secure. More men (58.8%) than women (41.4%) feel chip-enabled cards will make them more secure.