Recently, some Vietnamese banks have started sending notices to customers about stopping supporting cards from ATMs.
Specifically, according to the roadmap outlined in Circular 41/TT-NHNN of the SBV issued on December 28, 2018, by December 31, 2021, all payment cards in circulation of card issuers Vietnam will have to comply with the basic standards of domestic chip cards.
Therefore, from March 31, 2021, banks have stopped issuing magnetic cards. At the same time, banks are also racing to convert to domestic chip cards to ensure the correct implementation of the roadmap.
There are two common ways to convert magnetic cards to chip cards.
The first way, customers only need to bring valid CMT/Passport/Citizen ID card to the bank’s transaction point and request to convert from magnetic card to chip card.
The second way, customers can access digital banking applications, mobile banking to make and receive cards at home or at the bank’s transaction points.
Or at some banks, the process is even more convenient. For example, at TPBank, customers can exchange magnetic cards for chip cards at LiveBank 24/7 and receive cards in just a few minutes. Accordingly, customers go to “Card management” at the main screen on the App and select “Lock card”, then select “Reissue card” and select “Receive card at LiveBank”, enter the verification code and complete the payment. socks.
In order to encourage customers to change magnetic cards to chip cards, most banks have offered this service free of charge in the past time and many banks are still free.
For example, at NamABank, the bank will completely convert magnetic cards to VIP cards for free from now until December 31, 2021. Similarly, Techcombank is also offering this activity free of charge.
Some banks have stopped the promotion program, PVComBank only applies it for free until September 30, 2021, Agribank and Kielongbank until November 15, 2021, etc. After the free period, customers will change the card from to a chip card with a fee similar to the normal card exchange fee, and depending on the regulations of each bank, the most common is 50,000 VND/time.
It is known that the conversion of magnetic cards to chip cards is very beneficial for users, contributing to improving the security level, transaction speed, safety and ensuring the interests of customers.
Specifically, a magnetic card is a card containing a magnetic stripe with the task of storing customer’s encrypted information. The data on the magnetic card is permanently stored on the magnetic strip (the back of the card) and is encrypted only once, so it easily leads to the risk of card information theft and transaction fraud.
Chip cards are also known as “smart cards”. Cards have a microchip attached to the surface of the card, and this is the basic difference between chip cards and magnetic tape cards. For chip cards, transaction data includes data stored on the chip (front of the card) and the transaction password that changes with each transaction. Specifically, every time a chip card is used for payment, the chip will generate a unique transaction code and never repeat. In case the customer’s card is stolen from a certain store, the fake card will never work because the stolen transaction code will not be reused, the card will be rejected.