What is a Chip Card?

A credit card with an embedded EMV microchip that encrypts personal information when a transaction is made for added security. EMV stands for Europay, Mastercard, and Visa, the three credit card networks responsible for developing the chip-encryption technology. Credit cards with EMV chips still have a magnetic stripe as a backup, to allow cardholders to make purchases at terminals with broken chip readers or not equipped with chip readers. An EMV chip only provides added security for "card present" transactions made at a terminal; it offers no additional security for "card not present" transactions, such as internet purchases.