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Swiping left on magnetic stripes

mastercard.com

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Re: Swiping left on magnetic stripes

#61

Post by FridayoLeary »

poopypoopington wrote: post #45
drclau wrote: post #12

Why does it take so long? Where’s the bottleneck? Where I lived over the last years (two countries in Europe), I don’t even have to use the physical card. I just use contactless payments with the phone. Prior to that, it was contactless with card. Even ATMs work with contactless (not all, yet). Prior to that, it was chip. I honestly don’t even recall the time when the magnetic stripe was needed. (edit) Think of this:…

To play devil's advocate – who cares? We've had magnetic strips for decades and they work fine. Yes, they're insecure but anti-fraud measures taken by the bank can mitigate that. If this helps more stores accept payments without having a painful transition isn't that worth it? I use Apple Pay most places but I don't mind having to use a strip once in a while or if others do.

>painful transition

How painful could it possibly be to go and buy a new card reader? Why doesn't the payments provider offer them as part of the service? They are not so expensive.

Re: Swiping left on magnetic stripes

#62

Post by gruez »

robcohen wrote: post #26
drclau wrote: post #12

Why does it take so long? Where’s the bottleneck? Where I lived over the last years (two countries in Europe), I don’t even have to use the physical card. I just use contactless payments with the phone. Prior to that, it was contactless with card. Even ATMs work with contactless (not all, yet). Prior to that, it was chip. I honestly don’t even recall the time when the magnetic stripe was needed. (edit) Think of this:…

It really is mind blowing to me. Especially in a pandemic, why why why require a signature for anything? This is one of the few things that would reduce exposure that we already have a technical solution for. I just don’t understand.

>Especially in a pandemic, why why why require a signature for anything? This is one of the few things that would reduce exposure that we already have a technical solution for.

Turns out infection from surfaces is basically a non-issue.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/08/health/coronavirus-hygien...

Re: Swiping left on magnetic stripes

#63

Post by djhworld »

drclau wrote: post #12

Why does it take so long? Where’s the bottleneck? Where I lived over the last years (two countries in Europe), I don’t even have to use the physical card. I just use contactless payments with the phone. Prior to that, it was contactless with card. Even ATMs work with contactless (not all, yet). Prior to that, it was chip. I honestly don’t even recall the time when the magnetic stripe was needed. (edit) Think of this:…

> I honestly don’t even recall the time when the magnetic stripe was needed.

Every time I've been to the US it's still magnetic stripe in places like restaurants/bars where the wait staff whisk your card away and then 4 days later the charge ends up appearing on your card.

I saw chip and pin (or sometimes the odd chip and sign) appearing in the big shops/chains like walgreens though so I guess it's slowly changing.

It felt a bit like what the UK was like 15-20 years ago.

Re: Swiping left on magnetic stripes

#64

Post by firebaze »

tpmx wrote: post #27
firebaze wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't remember ever having paid using the magnetic stripe in Europe since 2010 (having been to Spain, Italy, France, Netherlands, Romania and living in Germany), before I didn't use a credit card at all since it wasn't very popular here. Honestly curios: where (and when) did you make that observation?

I made that observation from using a loyalty card from a grocery chain that only has a magnetic stripe. ~10 years from the same card now. (Sorry, this was unclear from the first iteration of the observation.)

Thanks for the clarification!

Re: Swiping left on magnetic stripes

#65

Post by ryandrake »

aidenn0 wrote: post #35
drclau wrote: post #12

Why does it take so long? Where’s the bottleneck? Where I lived over the last years (two countries in Europe), I don’t even have to use the physical card. I just use contactless payments with the phone. Prior to that, it was contactless with card. Even ATMs work with contactless (not all, yet). Prior to that, it was chip. I honestly don’t even recall the time when the magnetic stripe was needed. (edit) Think of this:…

The USA is a big holdup. I just traveled across the country and there are still filling (petrol) stations where the only card reader is stripe. See also other comments about the stripe being a fallback for chip as chip readers on POS terminals seem to be more fragile than magnetic stripe readers. FWIW, Contactless is very hit-or-miss for me in the US; about 1/3 the time it just doesn't work at all (even with multiple…

Yea, the Achilles Heel of contactless (or phone/NFC) in the USA is the uncertainty that it's supported and the terrible UX for failure cases. How many times have you had this happen?

Your groceries are all rung up and the POS terminal is waiting. You dig out your phone or contactless card and try to invoke the contactless payment system. Nothing's happening. You wave it around a little. Still nothing. Grocery cashier is looking at you like you're an idiot nerd, saying "That thing doesn't work. Just stick the card in the slot." Now I dig in my wallet looking for my chip card as the whole line behind me huffs about how much of a moron I am. Stick it in the POS terminal, and it waits... and waits... and waits... and finally, loudly proclaims BONK BONK BONK transaction approved. Everyone other than me is saying "Finally, we can move on".

Contrast that with mag swipe: Pull out the card. Swipe it (which takes 500ms). Done.

Re: Swiping left on magnetic stripes

#67

Post by xahrepap »

throwawayboise wrote: post #46
gruez wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I honestly don’t even recall the time when the magnetic strip was needed. for when you fly over to the US and need to use your card

The holdouts have long been the gas station fuel pumps. Though that is finally changing at least where I am many stations now support chip and tap card payments.

Gas stations around me (Utah) have all replaced their magstripe with a dual magstripe/chip reader. It drives me nuts though, because you still have to insert your card ALL THE WAY IN as if you're using the mag stripe, and then it decides which one to use.

Are gas stations not a big target for skimmers? Why didn't they design it to avoid the magstripe-skimmers? have two inserts or something, I don't care. But now we're a FULL generation of gas station pumps away from being free'd from skimmers. I just don't understand.

Also, don't get me started on the audio/video ads at the pump these days. They're the worst. I'd rather have to pay inside than have "while you're pumping" ads.

Re: Swiping left on magnetic stripes

#68

Post by tiffanyh »

modeless wrote: post #2

I'll believe it when I see it. I heard signatures were going away years ago and yet I keep getting asked for signatures.

Signature requirement has gone away in the US (and Mastercard was also the first to do that was well).

Just so many merchants are accomplished to asking for it (or haven't updated their terminals to code for not asking for it) - which is why you still encounter it.

Re: Swiping left on magnetic stripes

#69

Post by tpmx »

w3ll_w3ll_w3ll wrote: post #19
tpmx wrote: post #6

So most of my current cards (in Europe) have 3 interaction methods: In order of decreasing readability/communication reliability: 1. Magnetic stripe 2. NFC 3. EMV The EMV ("chip") method is the least insecure, but lately all of my cards have been started oxidating. And it seems like the pogo pins in almost all readers also started wearing out too. Chip reader failures have become very common lately. It's very common…

NFC (EMV Mode) is partially encrypted and much more secure than magnetic stripe

I wasn't aware of that mode. Is there a way of figuring out if your card has NFC (EMV Mode), or is just blasting out the CC number/expiration date when powered up via induction?

Re: Swiping left on magnetic stripes

#70

Post by kuroguro »

lrem wrote: post #48
kuroguro wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Haven't had to sign anything for 15+ years, newer cards don't even have the space for signatures (Europe/MasterCard). I do have to do the mag-swipe maybe once a year, if the chip reader is acting up (still no signature, it asks for the PIN).

Got a new Mastercard in Europe this year, still with signature space. Same for Visa from two banks.

Couldn't find the exact card, but here's an example from my neighbors if anyone's interested. I guess it's not a thing everywhere yet.

https://www.swedbank.lt/img/private/d2d/cards/3dSecure/816x2...

_edit_

They dropped the requirement in 2018

https://www.mastercard.com/news/press/2018/signing-off-maste...

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