Visa is reporting that card issuers that have deployed Chip Cards have seen an average of 50% reduction in their counterfeit losses from this same time last year.

With over half a billion Chip cards in circulation and millions of merchants accepting those cards, the US is now ranked as the top country in the world using the technology.  Even so though, the implementation of Chip and Pin may take two more years to be fully implemented.  But that isn’t stopping the early progress which both Visa and MasterCard have been reporting over the last month.

The fraud reduction is great news for issuers but is that reduction coming at the expense of merchants who are experiencing massive chargeback increases for not have Chip compliant terminals?

Not necessarily.

Visa is also reporting that some merchants have experienced reductions in fraud of close to 20% after implementing Chip capable terminals.  Visa’s study which tracked 25 of the worst merchants at the end of the 2014 noticed a marked improvement in fraud losses after the CHIP terminals were implemented.

However, not everything is rosy with Chip Cards as I (and many others) have reported in the last 2 months.  The timing has not been ideal with certifying merchants and many of them have been getting hammered on Chargebacks while they wait.  Only about 1/3 or retailers are currently accepting Chip cards which is significantly below the levels that were expected.

Things are a long way off but the reductions in fraud are a great sign that the technology will deliver on the fraud reduction we needed here in the US.