The EMV merchant liability shift: A last-minute look
One week out from the Oct. 1 deadline, consumer awareness of and about EMV remains low, an ACI Worldwide survey finds.
With the EMV liability shift just one week away for merchants, ACI has released results from its new EMV Readiness Survey of 1,000 adults in the U.S.
The numbers roundup
- Of consumers surveyed who have one or more credit or debit cards:
- nearly three in five (59 percent) reported that they have not yet received a new chip-enabled card; and
- 67 percent indicated that they have not received information from their credit card issuer or bank explaining what EMV means and how it will affect them.
- Of those who have already received chip-enabled cards:
- only one-third (32 percent) are aware that the U.S. is moving to EMV, and the majority do not know the real reason that they received a new card.
- Demographics play a role for those who have received chip-enabled cards, but awareness does not connote understanding:
- among respondents age 55–64, 86 percent have heard or seen information about EMV, compared with 66 percent each in the 45–54 and 65-plus age groups; and
- millennials (age 18–34) and Gen Xers (age 35–44) reported a high level of EMV awareness (78 percent).
- Geography also plays a role for those who have received chip-enabled cards:
- Nearly one-quarter (23 percent) of respondents from the Western U.S. thought they received new chip-enabled cards because of data breaches — dropping to 17 percent in the Northeast, 10 percent in the Midwest, and 7 percent in the South.
"[W]ith less than a month to go until the EMV liability shift, a staggering number of consumers are neither educated on nor aware of EMV," said Mike Braatz, senior VP of payments risk management at ACI. "They don't know why they have new chip-enabled cards, and if consumers are unaware, the implications for retailers come October and throughout the holiday shopping season could be major, especially as retailers prepare for this new payment experience."