New credit card liability rules for businesses go into effect

SAN JOSE (KGO) -- Consumers across the country are receiving new debit and credit cards from their banks equipped with micro chip technology to protect them from fraud.

The micro-chip technology has been available in other parts of the world for a little while. But as of today retailers who haven't upgraded to the new system, could be held liable for fraudulent charges.

San Pedro Square Market restaurant managers in San Jose are keeping a close eye on their expenses. "It's going to cost me between $200 to $500 per P.O.S that I have now to update to a chip-enabled swiper," San Pedro Square Market Bar employee Brian Rhett said.

Rhett is referring to the new EMV card and the fact that his bar now has to upgrade its point-of-sale system. "I've seen at other stores it takes about 10 seconds per transaction and in a bar where I'm doing 3,000 transactions on a Friday night in about a 6-hour period, that's a big lag in time," Rhett said.

The micro-chip embedded into your debit or credit card is like a mini computer that provides enhanced security for every transaction, generating a unique one-time code that's needed for the process to be approved.

Security experts say this should help crack down on fraud, but some consumers are skeptical. "Anybody can crack a code, anyone can get into your data at any time, so even if they implement something like a little better security, I don't really feel all that safe," San Jose resident Dee Bennett said.

The new technology has been adopted by many large retailers, but smaller stores are a little behind. Some say they're still waiting for their payment service providers to swap out their old equipment.

Some retailers are worried about being on the hook for any fraud, but say they'll continue to do business as usual. "We're definitely willing to conform, but we're going to have to pay for the upgrade and wait for it to arrive, so it's going to take a little bit of time for us to put it all into effect," Bray Butcher Block & Bistro employee Joshua Hanoka said.

Consumers hope the new technology will put a stop to all of the hacking.