EMV chip cards incorporate micro-computer technology, providing increased security capabilities for both card transactions and your information, which is stored in the small metallic square on the front of the cards. EMV technology ensures that you have the most secure and seamless purchasing experience possible and is one of the most effective tools being using to prevent the spread of credit card fraud.

You don't need to do anything to upgrade to an EMV credit or debit card.

All non-chip debit cards were reissued with new debit cards containing the EMV chip in early 2016.

All non-chip credit cards will be replaced with credit cards containing the EMV chip as they expire.

If you have a Visa Credit Card, you may request a new card before your current card expires, but you'll need to pay a $10 reissue fee. Otherwise, you'll receive your new card shortly before your existing card expires.

When you receive your new EMV card, the card number will be different than the number on your old card. It's important that you contact any companies that take automatic payments using your card and ask that they update your account with this new number.

Because your new card will have a new card number, you'll need to call the PIN change line, 1-866-985-2273, to set up your PIN. You may use the same PIN as you used previously with your old card or pick a new one. The choice is yours, but it's important that you call to set it up in order to use your card when a PIN is required.

Using your EMV Chip card takes 3 simple steps:

1. Insert your card into the bottom of the card reader.

2. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete your transaction.

3. Remove your card from the card reader when prompted.

EMV cards store payment information in a secure chip rather than on a magnetic stripe, and the personalization of EMV cards is done using issuer-specific keys. Unlike a magnetic stripe card, it is virtually impossible to create a counterfeit EMV card that can be used to conduct an EMV payment transaction successfully.

The microchip embedded in the card stores information required to authenticate, authorize and process transactions. This is the same type of information already stored in the magnetic stripe. No personal information about your account is stored on the chip card.

The biggest benefit of EMV chip cards lies in the powerful fraud prevention technology inherent in the chip. Because the EMV chip is essentially a small, secure computer, EMV cards are nearly impossible to counterfeit. By replacing the current unencrypted magnetic stripe with a chip embedded in the card, smartcard technology adds dynamic data to the transaction process, making it far less vulnerable to fraudsters.

No, magnetic stripes will continue to be used on cards so they can be used at terminals in countries that have not yet converted to chip technology, including the United States. Many major retailers have already made the conversion to EMV chip card readers. When you complete your transaction with these merchants, your chip card will be used for payment at the checkout. When paying a merchant who has not yet made the transition to EMV chip card readers, your card will be run through a magnetic stripe reader.

EMV has been implemented in more than 80 countries around the world, with approximately 1.5 billion EMV cards issued globally and 21.9 million POS terminals accepting EMV cards at the end of 2011. The U.S. payments infrastructure is now moving to EMV with incentives and requirements for issuers, acquirers/processors and merchants to adopt EMV.

The United States is one of the last countries to migrate to EMV. In 2011 and 2012, American Express, Discover, MasterCard and Visa all announced their plans for moving to an EMV-based payments infrastructure in the U.S.