Thu Feb 9, 2006 LONDON (Reuters) - From next week, a signature will not be good enough to buy goods or services across Britain.The deadline for shoppers to remember their debit and credit card pin numbers is Valentine's Day, next Tuesday. From then on, cardholders are no longer assured the option of signing to verify a purchase and may have their cards refused.
Banks and retailers have introduced chip-and-pin technology in recent years to halt rising card fraud, requiring an increasing number of shoppers to enter their four-digit PIN numbers to verify card purchases.
But until next week they still had the option of signing instead.
British payments association APACS estimated that 127 million chip-and-pin-enabled cards have been issued since a rollout began in 2003, out of about 140 million cards in circulation.
APACS said that, if left unchecked, the level of fraud on UK debit and credit cards could have topped 800 million pounds ($1.4 billion) annually, up from 504 million pounds in 2004, but the use of chip and pin should stem that rise.
But some retailers are not ready for the technology.
They can choose to accept signatures but will take on responsibility for making good on losses from fraud.
APACS estimated more than 80 percent of tills in the UK were upgraded to accept chip-and-pin cards by the end of 2005, but at least one big chain and many small retailers will not be ready.
