No one says we're ahead in this area.....
But that's the price of being the (2nd) largest consumer economy in the world. Too many retailers and customers stuck on legacy hardware and software. It'll take a HUGE push and a lot of time to get with the times.
This is the real reason it has been delayed so long. I read an article a while back claiming that the cost to switch to EMV cards in the US was around $8 BILLION. Most of that cost is on the merchants, who have to replace their POS terminals.
Luckily, I've read the push is starting. I think 2015/2016 is targeted as the start of rollout. Then they'll ease everyone into it.
October, 2015, is the "deadline". However, it's not an "ease", it's a "shove". Merchants are being told: "after that, you can accept a mag-stripe card if you want. But, you'll have to eat any fraud".
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All my Wells Fargo cards have PayPass, and my CCs have Chip and PIN.
Are your credit cards from Wells Fargo?
If so, I have some bad news: while there is a PIN in the chip, the signature requirement has "priority". The chip has some way to specify this to the terminal. So, it will require a signature if there's a way to capture it, and only fall back to a PIN if it's an unattended device.
This is supposed to work in things like unattended gas pumps in Europe. However, I can attest that it doesn't, at least not in Italy. We requested replacement Wells Fargo cards with EMV chips specifically for this purpose. In the end, I had to scrounge around for cash -- fortunately, we were mid-point in our trip and still had some Euros.
Maybe you have had better luck, or they will figure it out before widespread rollout in the US.
I don't know why US banks are sticking with the signature. I guess it's because they think consumers used to specifying a PIN for a debit card will get confused if it's required for a credit card.