Make purchases entering your PIN

[img_assist|nid=7108|title=|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=67]Major card issuers are introducing new authorization system for credit card purchases. Now cardholders in Australia will be able to use PIN instead of conventional signature.

This option will be applied to American Express, MasterCard, Visa or Diners Club credit card. From June 4 users are to enter their PIN when making purchases at one of the 600,000 point of sale payment terminals all around Australia.

Thus on swiping a credit card in a store a customer will be given a question whether he wants to enter his PIN. He is to press OK and make authorization. If the customer prefers not to use his PUN he may press OK and sign the usual way.

The new system is expected to hasten purchases and lessen paperwork at the expense of a drop in the number of signed credit card vouchers.

"Australians are among the most prolific card users in the world, making more than 118 million card transactions per month," says Simon Greig, Pen or PIN project spokesman.

POS terminals of most retailers will not need any hardware upgrade to shift to a new system. "Most shops don't need to do anything. The banks are able to download the updated software directly to POS devices, and in fact many already have the capability," Grieg says.

Just a little number of retailers will have to change their POS terminal hardware, though it is not definite yet if they will have to pay for such update.

PIN system is already being used in many countries, among those are Great Britain and New Zealand.