Mastercard to phase out magnetic stripes

(Gray News) – The magnetic stripe on your Mastercard is going away.

Starting in 2027, banks in the United States will no longer be required to issue chip cards with the stripe.

“It’s time to fully embrace these best-in-class capabilities, which ensure consumers can pay simply, swiftly and with peace of mind,” Ajay Bhalla, president of Mastercard’s Cyber & Intelligence business, said on the company website. “What’s best for consumers is what’s best for everyone in the ecosystem.”

The stripe will be gone sooner in Europe, where they’ll start to disappear in 2024.

By 2029, no new Mastercard credit or debit cards will be issued with them.

The magnetic stripe has had a good run.

They first appeared in the early 1960s but have begun to lose favor with the development of chip cards with microprocessors. Many also are embedded with tiny antennae to enable contactless transactions.

Biometric cards are another development, which combines fingerprints with chips for another layer of security.

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