If you recently received new credit and debit cards from your financial institutions, you may have noticed an added feature: a small rectangle, likely gold or silver, above the card numbers. That rectangle is a new security feature called an EMV chip.

Here are five things you should know about your new EMV chip cards (also known as smart cards, smart chip cards, and other similar names).

• 1. They’re Smarter Than Your Old Cards
  EMV technology was developed to help fight credit and debit card fraud. With traditional cards, sensitive account information is stored on magnetic stripes as static data. This data can be copied and re-used repeatedly for fraudulent transactions. However, the computer chip embedded in each chip card creates a unique code for each transaction when used at an EMV-enabled terminal. This code cannot be used for other card transactions.
• 2. They Speak French - and German and Italian
  EMV stands for “Europay, MasterCard, and Visa,” which support the chip technology. EMV cards have been the standard in Europe for more than a decade, and they’re now the global standard for credit and debit card transactions. So if you travel abroad, you can use your card at EMV-enabled terminals worldwide.
• 3. They’re Inserted, Not Swiped
  Using EMV-enabled terminals is easy. Simply insert your EMV card into the terminal and leave it there until the transaction is complete. To verify your chip card transaction, you’ll need to sign or provide a PIN, depending on your card issuer’s protocol for that type of chip card. For example, an issuer may support signatures for chip credit cards, and PIN for chip debit cards.
• 4. Mag Stripes Have Not Gone Away
  Along with chips, today’s EMV cards also typically come equipped with magnetic stripes, just like the ones on your old cards. So they can be used for both chip-based and magnetic stripe-based transactions.
• 5. They’re Not Foolproof
  EMV chip technology provides additional security when EMV-enabled terminals are used. But not all merchants or ATMs have chip-enabled terminals. Plus, online transactions will continue to be processed the usual way, though strides are being taken to improve the security of these transactions, as well.

It’s also important to remember that no method is foolproof, so you should continue to use the same credit card security measures as in the past.

Learn more about chip technology and EMV chip credit cards and debit cards from Regions.