What is an EMV Chip and how does it differ from Tokenization?

Both the EMV chip and Tokenization work to fight fraud by introducing additional security to prevent U.S. Credit Card fraud.

Tokens help enhance the security of digital payments online and with mobile phones, while the EMV chip is critical to enhancing security at the physical point of sale.

EMV stands for Europay, MasterCard and Visa which are the payment systems that initially developed the standard for "chip" cards. These credit, debit or prepaid cards have an embedded microchip that generates a dynamic one-time use code and is virtually impossible to counterfeit.

Tokenization works by replacing sensitive information found on plastic cards with a digital account number or "token" that can be safely stored on mobile devices and used for in-store and in-app purchases. These digital account numbers are only valid with a specific device, merchant or type of purchase. If a digital account number is stolen in a data compromise, it can only be used in a very limited way because it doesn't contain the primary account number.

View information on Redwood Credit Union's Visa Credit and Debit Cards

View more information on EMV