Security Breaks Could Curtail Debit Card Use
Kathy Chu reports for USA Today on the potential effects recent news stories about debit card security breaches may have on consumer use of PIN-based debit cards at point of sale.
As more people become aware of the incidents, "I think consumers will think twice before they enter a PIN anywhere," says Avivah Litan, an analyst at Gartner. Some consumers could decide it's safer to sign for bank card purchases with a Visa or MasterCard logo, Litan says.[Editor's note: A shift away from PIN-based to signature-based debit transactions at POS would be a net positive to retail banks because of the higher interchange income they would receive from the signature-based transactions. Merchants, of course, would pay those higher costs and ultimately suffer financially from any such shift in consumer behavior towards signature-based debit usage.]
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