Few US consumers have received credit cards with chips

A new Associated Press-GfK poll shows that roughly one in 10 Americans have received the new chip-enabled credit cards. Of those who have received the cards, only one-third say they have actually used the cards as intended in new specialized credit card readers.

In an effort to combat mounting credit card fraud, US banks are making a push to replace the magnetic-stripe credit cards Americans use with new ones that have tiny computer chips embedded in them, which are far more secure. The older type of cards, long since been phased out in other major countries, have become easy targets for thieves, who have found multiple ways to exploit the security flaws in the decades-old magnetic stripe technology. Even though the US accounts for 25% of all credit card transactions, half of all credit card fraud happens in America, according to a report by Barclays.

The chip cards, which have been used in Europe and elsewhere for more than a decade, transmit a one-time code when they are inserted into a card-reading device to make a purchase. Even if the code is stolen, thieves cannot use it to make other purchases. The new chip cards cannot prevent a thief using a persons stolen credit card information to make fraudulent purchases online, however. The new poll shows Americans are more likely to say they are very concerned about their personal information being secure when making purchases online (45%) than in stores (38%).

Digging into the numbers, the poll finds 41% of Americans have received a new credit or debit card in the past few months. But only 30% of those who have received new cards, or 13% of all Americans, have received a new card with a chip embedded on the front of it. Of those who have received the card, 35% say theyve actually used them as intended.

The poll shows that Americans, once given the cards, are figuring out how to use them. Among those who do have a new card, 70% say they know how to use it. But just a quarter of Americans, including a little over a third of those who have received the new cards, say they understand very or extremely well why theyre being sent the cards in the first place.