ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.—It was standing-room only in an EMV-related breakout session at the 2015 CSCU Solutions conference here Thursday as nearly 40 credit union executives piled into a small meeting room to ask questions, compare notes and vent frustration.
At issue for most was the looming liability shift deadline in October, which will move the liability for some card fraud to merchants. Due to a variety of circumstances, many credit union executives, including the ones at the session, are worried that they won't be ready with cards and equipment in time to meet the deadline.
And there are real questions about whether everybody else will be able to meet the deadline, too. Connie Davis, senior director of North American retail payments for FIS, advised the executives in the room today to make sure their credit unions are in the queue with their EMV equipment and card vendors.
Though information about EMV migration seems to be everywhere these days – FIS offers quarterly webinars available on demand, for example – what was also clear in today's meeting is that credit unions want from their vendors what they give to their members: A higher-touch experience. Some attendees said they've had very little communication from processors and have trouble getting answers to their questions.
"We're just lost in the dark," one said.
Attendees also wanted answers about when they will be able to test their cards and do mass reissues.
"I would expect most credit unions are not going to do a mass reissue," CSCU Senior Vice President of Finance & Technology Tom Davis told the crowd. Also, the danger of issuing cards too soon is that issuers could later find out their EMV cards don't work with certain vendors or under certain circumstances, he said.
"The last thing you want to find out is that you did a mass reissue and then find out you have a problem – a $3-to-$4-times-3,000-cards problem," he said.
The Target breach did get everyone to cooperate more, he noted, but 11 networks or so were still negotiating EMV chip architecture with Visa as of February. "But now networks are so late in the game. I don't think the networks themselves will be ready by October 2015," he added.
Though that means a possible reprieve for issuers, CSCU's Davis had a stern warning for the credit union executives: "Do not hit snooze on the alarm clock," he said. "You do not want to be the last one across the line. But the line's not going to be October 2015."
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