Everyone was better under the old system.
I agree with you that we will see an increase in violent muggings. As usual the weaker people of society such as the old and women will be more at risk.
You only have to look at some of the feeble number pads located in shops to see many of them are not secure. My partner works in a shop and everyday someone says their pin number out loud when paying for goods by card. A lot of people go searching in their bag for the number.
Yes I know people have had debit cards with numbers for a while, but people are now expected to know more than one number (yes I know you can change it, but I am referring to people who really don't have a clue). When people are at a cash point they have their backs to people, in the shops people can look from all angles. I know that everyone on this newsgroup would cover their typing hand and look around to make sure no one is watching, but I am not on about us.
You only generally hear about violent muggings with the mugger taking the victim to the cash point late in the evening/early morning, but I believe you will hear a lot about this and about people being watched typing their number in a shop and then being mugged and their credit card being used before it is stopped and the banks will turn round and say that the victim has been negligent with their pin number and they will have to pay for the muggers transactions. There will be nothing the victim can do.
In this instance it is probably best that you don't have more than one card on you and if you do they are different pin number. Imagine if you have 3 cards on you with 10k limits you could be liable for 30k. You might say that if you have been mugged then you will know to report the cards stolen immediately. What if you were pickpocketed and didn't realise the cards were missing for a considerable time.
The banks have never cared about card fraud, they make so much from credit cards they can afford it. I believe the banks real reason for wanting us to know our pin numbers is so we can take money out on our credit cards at such extortionate interest rates. I once made the mistake of putting my credit card into the ATM instead of my debit card.
If I am forced to use chip and pin, I want a card that doesn't allow cash advances and I would also like daily credit limit of say 200 that this new chip and pin technology should be able to stop me from over spending this limit and my full credit limit. Will this happen, will it heck, this new chip and pin technology works only one way and that is to the advantage of the banks.
I have many cards and don't know any of my pin numbers, I bin the pin number slips without opening them. I refuse to remember these numbers along with all the other crap I have to remember. I know eventually I will have to know and use them but I refuse to do this until the majority of the population know and use their numbers, at which point it should make me less of a target.
I expect to read the issues raised above about others, not be the victim of them myself.