PledgeBank United States
I’ll do it, but only if you’ll help

Pledge “nochipandpin”

"I will write to all my card issuers, insisting that they replace my chip and PIN card with a signature card but only if 25 other UK people will do the same."

— Luke Ross, London (contact)

Deadline to sign up by: 15^th December 2005
13 people signed up, 12 more were needed

Country: United Kingdom

More details
Chip and PIN moves fraud liability from the card issuer to the cardholder, whilst still being wide-open to a variety of attacks, some of which (eg. man-in-the-middle) aren't particularly difficult to execute. When asked, issuers just re-iterate the key selling points without answering the questions.

Banks still have the ability to issue non-PIN cards, something they are quiet about. If you don't believe all the spin about chip and PIN, now is the time to start requesting your signature card back.

For more information, see the following websites.

http://www.saynotochipandpin.co.uk/

http://www.chipandspin.co.uk/

Comments on this pledge

• OK, so I'm cheating a little, since I've already called all my UK credit card providers about this, and I'm about to cut up and send back my Co-Op Visa card - they wouldn't switch me to Chip-and-Signature. Kudos to Nationwide, who did switch me, and pay 0.5% cash-back on each transaction as well! Well worth giving them your business, IMHO.
  Andrew Watson, 3 years ago. Abusive? Report it!
• Oh dear, Co-op is where my current account is! From what I've read, people have had very mixed experiences with them.
  
  I'm hoping more people might sign up now, as once three people have signed up then the pledge is listed in the rest of the site.
  Luke Ross, 3 years ago. Abusive? Report it!
• Egg pay 1% cashback on their Money card and they will issue a Chip & Signature card on request once the account is open.
  Tim Steele, 3 years ago. Abusive? Report it!
• Yes, Chip and Signature cards exist, intended for the elderly and mentally challenged.
  
  But my understanding is that these are still under the same new terms and conditions, so I do not see how switching to Chip and Squiggle helps with fraud liability.
  
  Oh, and Andrew Watson - if you've sent back your cut-up card, I hope you only sent half of it. I know someone who sent both halves in the same envelope; it was stolen in the postal system and she was defrauded of several hundred pounds. It would be ironic if your attempts at fraud prevention met a similar fate!
  Paul Gregory, 3 years ago. Abusive? Report it!
• By and large, the T&Cs are remaining the same - losses which weren't down to the customer's negligence are for the bank to sort out (usually with some sort of excess).
  
  With chip and sig, it's easy to forge someone's sig, so the bank can't automatically assume the customer must have been present to carry out the transaction.
  
  With C&P, you're revealing your PIN to a machine of unknown trustworthiness in a public environment. The banks claim is that it is so unlikely your PIN could be intercepted that the entry of the correct PIN means you must have either been present or released the PIN to someone else. I'm sorry to say that I think the evidence points to the technology not being this infallible.
  
  Furthermore, once someone has your PIN, they can then access your account via an ATM, and past experience shows that banks are not too keen on refunding ATM fraud.
  
  And from the plain social-engineering point of view, it's easy to make something that looks like a convincing C&P handset, that you could get someone to put their PIN into as you skim their card. It's much more difficult to make something that looks like an ATM in the side of a bank.
  Luke Ross, 3 years ago. Abusive? Report it!
• I've already tried this with the Co-op and they refused me point blank. As an alternative I am donating 10% of the value of all PIN purchases to progressive causes.
  Shallow, 3 years ago. Abusive? Report it!
• If your card issuer refuses you a Chip & Signture Card then email this address: From Working Lunch BBC TV 30 Jan 200:
  
  press@apacs.org.uk
  
  or try this:
  
  My bank decided that it would prefer to give me a Chip & Signature credit card rather than have me comply with their T&C on the Chip & PIN card.
  
  The terms of the C&P card required "cardholders to notify the bank immediately the cardholder suspected anyone else knew their PIN" - the banks words not mine. I pointed out that everytime I used the card in a store I must suspect that someone knew my PIN (shop assistant, customer behind, CCTV camera operator). Even if I shielded my PIN I could not be sure nobody knew.
  Therefore I was duty bound to call them and advise them of my suspicion and they could take what action they deemed necessary.
  
  The T&C did not specify what action they would take and I would not insist on any. When they told me that the automatic action they would take was to cancel the card and re-issue it, the penny then dropped with the bank that they could either issue me 50 plus cards a year or issue a C&S card.
  
  The thing I found interesting was the bank commenting that they didn't expect people to read the T&Cs. I wonder why.
  james, 3 years ago. Abusive? Report it!