The New Interac Chip

You may already have one and not even know it. Credit cards have been introducing Chip Technology for some time.

The other day, I was buying a tea at the local Great Canadian Bagel and I noticed someone passing a debit card with the chip.

I then went to my financial institutions and asked if they had the chip debit cards, and I was pleased to tell me they did! So I've switched over to the new chips.

Why Chips?

Chips have been in place in other countries (eg: across Europe) for many years. If you travel abroad you may have already noticed that your debit cards (magnetic stripes) do not work well in certain places.

Unlike traditional magnetic stripe cards, chip cards contain your account information in a special encrypted format that can be very hard to copy and/or access if copied.

Now currently, my chip cards have both a magnetic stripe and a chip. So while I can use the card more easily abroad, it still has the disadvantage of containing my information on the magnetic stripe. Once these magnetic stripes have been removed, and ABM and POS machines are updated to use Chip technology, it will undoubted be a safer transaction.

You can learn more at: http://www.interac.ca/consumers/chip.php