Readers respond: Chip-card lawsuit

Look who’s showing up in the corner of The Home Depot and Walmart as they sue VISA and MasterCard over chip-card security (or lack thereof).

The majority of respondents to the latest HBSDealer poll say they are on the side of the merchants. Two reasons: security is lacking, and merchant payment transaction fees are too high.

A mere 12% said they were on the side of the credit cards.

Here’s the results of the survey, at presstime after 133 votes:

Whose side are you on?

• 64%: The merchants. Security is lacking. Prices are too high.

• 12%. The credit cards. Let’s just use them and move on.

• 24% Neither. And transactions are taking too long these days.

The issue involves the chip cards that are increasingly involved in payment transactions. The chip combined with a PIN provides extra security. But through practicality and expedience, most chip cards are still being authenticated with a signature, providing a much lower degree of security.

You can still take the chip-card poll here.