If your debit, credit cards don't have magnetic chip, they will get blocked

Debit and credit card holders have just one more day left before their magnetic-strip (magstripe) cards are permanently blocked from January 1. As per the new RBI rules, all magnetic strip debit and credit cards need to be upgraded to EMV chip cards before December 31, 2018. Once the December-31 deadline ends, all private as well as public banks, in line with the RBI mandate, will deactivate all magstripe credit and debit cards from January 1, 2019.

The apex bank, in an earlier notification, had asked all the banks to convert all existing Magnetic Stripe cards to EMV Chip & PIN cards before the last day of the year 2018, irrespective of their validity. Over the past over a year, several banks have taken measures to upgrade these magnetic strip cards to EMV cards for free, but still, there are many customers who have not upgraded debit and credit cards to EMV cards.

A magnetic stripe card stores card data on the magnetic stripe present on the card, while the data in EMV Chip & PIN cards are stored in a chip on the card. There's another type of card, Contact-less NFC card, which is read by keeping it near the card reader.

Also read: Credit cards, ATM cards without this feature will stop working after December 31

As per the RBI, the EMV Chip & PIN cards and contactless NFC cards are considered to be safer when compared to magnetic stripe cards, a reason the RBI has asked all banks to replace them. Several banks have been sending notifications to its customers to upgrade their ATM to EMV chip card.

For example, SBI is offering to upgrade old ATM cards with the new EMV chip cards for its users free of cost if they apply within the December 31 deadline. The bank might levy a late fine from customers who apply for new debit cards on or after January 1, 2019. The cards, irrespective of when they have been applied for, will not attract any maintenance charges, though.

Also read: One more day before your old SBI debit card is blocked forever

How to get EMV card

1. To check whether your debit card has an EMV chip or not, look for a golden chip located on the centre-left position of the front of the debit card. If there is no such chip, then it is a magstripe card.
2. If you do need to get an EMV chip card, you can either have one issued from your home branch or visit the respective bank website to place a request for a replacement card. You can also talk to customer care service to apply for the EMV card.
3. If you have already placed a request for a new EMV chip debit card online, but have not received one yet, visit your home branch for further information about the dispatch status.

Edited by Manoj Sharma