Europay, Mastercard, and Visa (EMV) chip card technology have been widely adopted in recent years in the United States, with millions of merchants successfully making the shift away from sliding a card with a magnetic strip. The reason why is simple: EMV cards are more secure.

It is nearly impossible for fraudsters to intercept and steal card information from EMV cards. By reducing fraud, the number of chargebacks also decreases. Card issuers today don’t have much leverage to win chargebacks against merchants experiencing fraud, so gas stations themselves don’t usually pay the price of poor security. Because of the looming deadline, however, that will soon no longer be the case.

To talk more about the looming EMV activation deadline, challenges fuel stations are facing in meeting it, and the potential consequences for those that don’t, PaymentsJournal sat down with Bobby Koschenski, Director of Solutions Consulting at ACI Worldwide, and Raymond Pucci, Director of Merchant Services at Mercator Advisory Group.

PaymentsJournalEven with an Extended Deadline, the EMV at the Pump Requirement is Quickly Approaching: Here’s What Unprepared Fuel Merchants Can ExpectPaymentsJournal Even with an Extended Deadline, the EMV at the Pump Requirement is Quickly Approaching: Here’s What Unprepared Fuel Merchants Can ExpectPaymentsJournaljQuery(document).ready(function ($){var settings_ap17499366 = { design_skin: "skin-wave" ,autoplay: "off",disable_volume:"default" ,loop:"off" ,cue: "on" ,embedded: "off" ,preload_method:"metadata" ,design_animateplaypause:"off" ,skinwave_dynamicwaves:"off" ,skinwave_enableSpectrum:"off" ,skinwave_enableReflect:"on",settings_backup_type:"full",playfrom:"default",soundcloud_apikey:"" ,skinwave_comments_enable:"off",settings_php_handler:window.ajaxurl,skinwave_wave_mode:"canvas",pcm_data_try_to_generate: "on","pcm_notice": "off","notice_no_media": "on",design_color_bg: "111111",design_color_highlight: "ef6b13",skinwave_wave_mode_canvas_waves_number: "3",skinwave_wave_mode_canvas_waves_padding: "1",skinwave_wave_mode_canvas_reflection_size: "0.25",skinwave_comments_playerid:"17499366",php_retriever:"https://www.paymentsjournal.com/wp-content/plugins/dzs-zoomsounds/soundcloudretriever.php" }; try{ dzsap_init(".ap_idx_87876_2",settings_ap17499366); }catch(err){ console.warn("cannot init player", err); } });

EMV at the Pump: Some Background

Widespread installation of EMV capable point of sale systems began in the U.S. in 2015 because card companies issued a deadline of 2015 for most merchants. After that deadline, merchants without chip card acceptance would be responsible for card fraud losses.

Gas stations had a later deadline of October 1, 2017, which was extended to October 2020 when it became clear that fuel merchants were struggling to migrate to chip. The extended deadline coincides with fuel merchants’ unique needs that make deploying EMV a bigger undertaking than it is for most merchants. In May 2020, Visa extended the deadline a second time to April 17, 2021, this time due to the unprecedented impact the COVID-19 pandemic is having on businesses. 

After all, “it’s not just the pump that needs to be upgraded. There are multiple systems, like pump controllers and in-store payment systems, that fuel merchants need to upgrade to deploy EMV,” said Koschenski. The biggest challenge in doing so? It’s expensive.

A Majority of U.S. Consumers Regularly Visit Fuel Stations—and Use Cards to Pay

Data from Mercator Advisory Group (shown in the chart below) has found that 84% of U.S.