By NICOLE PEDERSEN-McKINNON
If you like giving the nice checkout chick/chap your autograph to buy groceries, you’ll be hungry come Friday. And be washing dishes at restaurants. And potentially miss the shoe sale of the century.
In just three days, signatures will be switched off on credit and debit cards. You’ll need a PIN – a Personal Identification Number – to complete a purchase.
If you are one of the roughly 1 million Aussies who still use a pen instead of PIN, here’s what you need to do…
1. Contact your issuer now
Get onto your bank or institution today if you don’t have a PIN or can’t for the life of you remember it. They may need to post one out to you so there’s no time to delay.
With any luck, though, your issuer will have an efficient online process that will take a matter of seconds. (Don’t forget any cards that may be buried in your purse for emergencies.)
2. Choose a smart number
You need to pick a PIN that is memorable but not crackable – so don’t be a twit and choose anything consecutive or repetitive. There was recently an Adobe hack of 38 million users that revealed the 20 most popular passwords include 1234 and 1111. Be a lot smarter.
Don’t use anything related to you either; think birthdays, addresses, phone numbers. Anyone could guess these if they knew you or obtained your details. And don’t lift four digits from your card number; this is a gift to a scammer.
If you’re worried about how you’ll remember yet another PIN, it may help to choose one based on the pattern your finger makes keying it (but, again, be careful not to be obvious).
3. Make the bank pay
What isn’t changing is your institution will still be liable for any fraud. Or they will if you live up to your end of the bargain. That means…
– Keep your PIN secret – writing it down, especially close to your card, is like leaving the door open to your house.
– Monitor your balance – banks have sophisticated software to raise the ‘fraud flag’ if there are changes to your purchasing pattern, but be vigilant yourself.
– Report immediately if your card is compromised – responsibility shifts to your issuer as soon as you do.
There’s a one in 10,000 chance of randomly cracking a PIN; Meanwhile, my signature changes depending on how many bags and babies I’m carrying.
Our money should be safer from Friday.
Here are some other outdated things that we miss (mostly…):
Nicole Pedersen-McKinnon is founder of TheMoneyMentorWay.com and consumer spokesperson for PINwise. Developer of The 12-Step Prosperity Plan, you can regularly find Nicole on TV and radio giving easy-to-understand money advice. Fixing your finances is not nearly as hard as many experts make it sound. Follow Nicole on Twitter @NicolePedMcK
Top Comments
Thank god! Working in retail, I've had so many people moaning about how unsafe a pin is, or how they already have to remember soooooo much - 1) if you can't remember a four digit number that allows you access to your money, you're in trouble, and 2) they are infinitely more secure than signatures. If you keep your pin to yourself the chances of someone guessing it is ridiculously small, yet the signature is right on the card for anyone to see (and practice, and copy) - half the time I think I could forge a copy that looked more like the signature on the card than the owner, not to mention the ones that put their card away without showing you the back and then huff and puff when you ask to check the signature. This is a godsend.
A letter from Amex Australia told me I don't need a pin yet as my old card is not microchipped. I will still need to sign until my new card gets issued in 2017. Anyone else had this? I live overseas so all my overseas cards still require signatures.
Ditto - I've got an AMEX card with no chip & have had 2 emails & 2 little brochures (over the past probably 9 months) sent to me saying my card won't be affected - have also tried to add a pin online & says I can't as no chip. Says I'll be getting a new card with chip 2 months before my current one expires mid 2015. My understanding is changes (compulsory pins) are only being imposed in Australia (so when travel O/S you can still sign) however I'll be using my Amex in AUS following the changes - have the AMEX brochure on hand to wave at the first retailer who says I must have a pin - not looking forward to it :-( And of course can't get through to them on the phone to check.
You are correct. If you have a card with a small metal chip embedded you need to use a PIN to approve transactions. If you don't have the chip on your card, you can sign.
If your card does not have a chip, you are OK to sign to approve transactions at Point of Sale.