An EMV card is a credit or debit card containing an embedded microchip. This differs from the traditional credit card which featured a magnetic stripe – a security loophole which could be easily exploited by criminals. EMV cards are far more secure, and can be used in dipping, swiping or contactless payment situations.

For consumers using an EMV card, the process is straightforward – when making a purchase, they simply dip or insert their card into a chip-enabled terminal or EMV card reader and wait for the transaction to be authenticated. For business owners, it’s important to have a point-of-sale (POS) system that is compatible with EMV technology, one that can read the card’s microchip.

EMV credit cards can now also support near field communication (NFC) or contactless card-reading technology — in this case, customers hover their credit card over or near the terminal, instead of dipping or inserting it.

All current options contrast with the older method of swiping a magnetic stripe through a payment terminal, which opened the card user to potential security risks

EMV credit card information can be stored in mobile wallets and used to make mobile contactless payments. Even though the physical chip is not read as part of the mobile payment process, the stored card nevertheless creates the same unique, secure transaction code for every new transaction.