Reports of Some UK Merchants Refusing Acceptance of Magnetic Stripe Cards

This issue is related to the migration to Chip technology in the UK, which has been in the process of being deployed over the past three years. A similar transition to Chip technology (with or without PIN) is also currently underway in a fast-growing number of countries around the world, including France, Belgium, Brazil, South Africa, Turkey, Japan, Taiwan, and Malaysia, among others. These deployments to Chip technology are primarily designed to prevent counterfeit and lost / stolen card fraud by having cardholders use smart cards.

Because Chip cards can carry a PIN on the Chip, the migration to Chip has also been accompanied by the use of PIN in certain places – the UK and France are two examples. In these areas, cardholders are required to provide a PIN when they present a Chip and PIN card at the point of sale. To accommodate visitors to the UK and other Chip-compliant locations, as well as local UK consumers whose cards have not yet been upgraded to Chip and PIN, mag stripe cards will continue to be accepted.

What you need to know

UK merchants should still be accepting signatures from the following groups:

• cardholders with mag stripe cards that have not yet been upgraded to Chip and PIN;
• cardholders with cards issued outside the UK who do not have a Chip and PIN card;
• disabled cardholders with a Chip and signature card.

What MasterCard is doing?

The MasterCard Acceptance team expects that some merchants may need to be educated about the continued acceptance of mag stripe cards. To address this need, the Acceptance team has begun to take action to ensure adequate understanding of MasterCard rules and procedures. Additionally, the Europe Acceptance team is developing an article to reinforce and clarify any confusion that may exist within the acquirer/merchant community.