Credit Unions Lag as EMV Chip Deadline Slowly Approaches

By David Morrison CU Times

As the October 2015 implementation deadline approaches, some leaders who helped credit unions launch EMV chip-equipped payment cards estimated that fewer than 50% of card-issuing cooperatives would have both EMV-equipped credit and debit cards ready in time.

Oct. 15 next year marks the point when the cards’ brands have said liability for fraud losses will shift to the party that has not put EMV cards in place. This means that the party, either the issuer or merchant, that does not support EMV assumes liability for counterfeit card transactions, possibly costing or saving credit unions significant amounts of money.

“Credit unions are definitely gearing up and picking up the pace,” said Barney Moore, manager of card consulting services for Card Services for Credit Unions, the association of credit unions that use the services of payment processor FIS. “But it seems unlikely that they will have gotten it done by next October.”

Moore cited concerns about the costs of issuing the chip-enabled cards among credit unions, as well as delays in ironing out technical details with EMV-equipped debit cards. Another hurdle includes bottlenecks among plastic card suppliers, he added.

“We are urging credit unions that might not be ready to pull the trigger to at least get the project started and get into a queue for a chance to get EMV cards,” Moore advised.

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