Retailers in general have been critical of the U.S. banking industry's decision to avoid PINs on credit cards, calling it a half-step in the right direction.
The United Kingdom, for example, implemented chip-and-PIN and saw a dramatic decrease in fraud stemming from counterfeit cards and stolen cards. By using chips alone, the American upgrade would only cut down on counterfeiting.
However, both companies leading this upgrade -- Visa (V) and MasterCard (MA) -- note that counterfeiting makes up the vast majority of credit card fraud anyway. So, they're tackling the biggest problem currently hurting banks and annoying shoppers, who keep getting reissued cards.
Banks don't want to add a PIN to your credit card for other reasons too. Banks fight to be your most frequently used card. A PIN-required card might annoy you enough to make you relegate it to second place. No bank wants to be card number two -- even if it's safer, said Martin Ferenczi, a top executive at one of the world's largest card makers, Oberthur Technologies.
Also, it's expensive. Attaching PINs to credit cards is an extra batch of data running along the credit card network. That tiny addition requires a multi-billion dollar software upgrade at credit card companies, banks, makers of payment terminals and merchants, experts say.
Besides, better technology has already come around, like Apple Pay and Samsung Pay, tap-to-pay features that use your phone. They hide your credit card number from retailers, and they use unique one-time codes that are useless to hackers and thieves. Banks hope these will become main payment methods in just a few years.
"We don't see a need for it," said Visa vice president of risk products Stephanie Ericksen. "[Chip-and-PIN] will have a shorter shelf life. We're moving to new technologies and innovation.