EMV Chips in VISA Cards | Directions Credit Union

Learn About Chip Technology and Directions VISA Cards

All new Directions VISA credit cards come equipped with chip technology. Some members may still have older cards without an embedded chip, but we are systematically replacing members’ old cards with chip-enabled ones.

If you are a Directions member and have not yet received your chip-enabled card, please contact us to request one.

IMPORTANT: If you have plans to travel outside the U.S., it is highly advisable that you do so with a chip-enabled card. In many countries, cards without a chip will not work.

How does chip technology protect my information?

Every time you use your card at a chip-activated terminal, the embedded chip generates a unique transaction code. This prevents stolen data from being fraudulently used.

What information is stored on the chip?

What exactly does the chip do?

Chip cards, also known as smart cards or EMV cards, contain embedded microprocessors that assign unique transaction IDs for each transaction. They also provide strong transaction security protection and other features not possible with traditional magnetic stripe cards. Chip card technology provides an added layer of security to help minimize cardholder impact when a data breach occurs. While this technology can’t prevent all security breaches, a chip card is an important first line of defense.

Where can I use a chip-enabled card?

Can I still swipe my chip-enabled card to pay?

Will I have to pay any fees to use a chip-enabled card?

Why aren’t a lot of merchants accepting chip cards yet?

The cost for merchants to upgrade to chip enabled terminals is very expensive. Many merchants are slowly upgrading terminals, but it may be an even slower process for some smaller merchants.

Over time, most, if not all, merchants will accept chip cards because of the liability involved if a fraudulent act were to occur. By issuing chip cards, financial institutions will no longer be financially responsible for counterfeit fraud losses, therefore making it very important for merchants to upgrade to chip enabled terminals.