EMV Chip Card Definition

Term Definition
Credit cards that have an embedded microchip are called chip cards (a.k.a., smart cards or EMV cards). Chip cards protect consumer information better than traditional magnetic stripe cards.

Extended Definition
Chip cards create a unique code with every transaction, making it more difficult to use stolen card information. Chip cards require special point-of-sale card readers to process the chip. However, they still come with a magnetic stripe on them, so they can also be processed with traditional card readers. These cards meet Europay, MasterCard, and Visa (EMV) global standards.

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