by: Charisse Jones

The push to boost credit card security by switching to those with a microchip is off to a slow start, according to two surveys released Thursday.

As of January, 31% of cardholders had the microchip-enabled technology that would make fraud more difficult, according to CreditCards.com.

That falls well short of the one in two credit or debit cards the nation’s biggest card issuers said should have a chip by the end of this year. Matt Schulz, senior industry analyst with CreditCards.com, says businesses are taking their time setting up terminals that can accept the new technology, despite a deadline in October that would make retailers liable for any fraudulent transactions made with a chip card that they were unable to process.

“The deadline is rapidly approaching, and progress has been slow,” Schulz says. “Most cardholders don’t have a chip card yet, and if they did, they’d probably have trouble finding a place to use it.”

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