San Diego County Credit Union EMV debit cards reach consumers this month
SAN DIEGO, CA (September 28, 2015) — Payments processor TMG (The Members Group) today announced the first successful in-market deployment of EMV chip debit cards from among its financial institution clients.
A few thousand debit cardholders of San Diego County Credit Union (SDCCU) began receiving their EMV chip debit cards the first week of September. The $7 billion credit union is mailing out the remainder of its chip debit cards to members weekly. This “mass reissue” strategy is the most popular among those TMG financial institution clients currently undergoing EMV migration of their debit portfolios. More than 60 percent are choosing this method over sending out new cards upon natural expiration.
According to Carolyn Kissick, SDCCU SVP of operations and card services, both the fraud-prevention benefits and brand perception were important factors in the credit union’s decision to move ahead on debit EMV chip cards.
“Early adoption of solutions like EMV for both credit and debit cards keeps us in a position of relevancy to our influential members,” said Kissick. “Although debit migration is more involved than credit, TMG has guided us every step of the way, working with our core processor and PIN networks to ensure we will have a smooth transition for our members. Partnering with a processor that thinks through the idiosyncrasies and course-corrects quickly when necessary has been crucial.”
Chole Casber, TMG product manager and leader of TMG’s debit EMV migration team, emphasizes the complexity of debit card migration to the EMV standard. “Unlike credit migration, debit requires a customized approach. There are many moving parts, and yet it’s critical to ensure the issuer, its core processor and its PIN networks are in alignment. Through great working relationships with our clients, strong partnerships with our vendors and years of experience with EMV, we’ve been able to help our U.S. financial institution clients be among the first to get EMV chip debit cards into the hands of consumers.”
TMG was among the first group service providers in the U.S. to issue and complete live testing with EMV chip debit cards and is now among the first to deploy EMV chip debit cards. The payments processor began testing the U.S. common application identifier (AID) in April of this year and has partnered with multiple pilot clients nationally to issue and successfully execute in-market transactions using EMV chip debit cards. The processor expects more than 30 percent of its debit-issuing clients to complete the transition to EMV by the end of 2015.
On the credit side of the coin, nearly 98 percent of TMG’s issuer clients have completed or initiated EMV migration. TMG began assisting credit-card issuing clients with EMV conversions in 2010 and rolled out its first EMV chip credit card alongside United Nations Federal Credit Union that same year. Since then, the processor has developed a simple, expedited conversion process for clients implementing EMV for both credit and debit portfolios.
About San Diego County Credit Union (SDCCU)
SDCCU is one of the nation’s top credit unions, proudly serving the financial needs of customers in Southern California counties including Imperial, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura. SDCCU has assets of over $12 billion, more than 433,000 customers, over 40 convenient branch locations and 30,000 surcharge-FREE ATMs. SDCCU provides breakthrough banking products that meet the demands of today’s lifestyle and delivers banking services that save customers money. SDCCU is leading the way, offering FREE Checking with eStatements, SDCCU mobile banking, mortgage loans, auto loans, Visa® credit cards and business banking services. Federally insured by NCUA. Equal Housing Opportunity. NMLS #580585. For more information, visit sdccu.com.
