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Visa Inc., sued by Walmart over its continued use of signature debit cards as well as chip-and-PIN cards, says consumers should be allowed to choose.

Last week, Visa Vice President of Global Risk Products Stephanie Ericksen told Bloomberg, "We really want consumers to make that choice and decide what payment works best for them, whether that's a card or a phone or a PIN or a signature. Visa cardholders have been able to choose whether or not they complete their purchases by signing or entering a PIN in the mag-stripe world and there's nothing that should change as we move to chip."

Walmart, in a statement, said chip-and-PIN cards "offer greater security." It alleges that Visa "demanded that we allow fraud-prone signature verification for debit transactions … because Visa stands to make more money processing those transactions."

The EMV transition (to chip-and-PIN cards) began last October, though millions of merchants have yet to upgrade. NAFCU has noted that chip-and-PIN cards are not a cure-all and would not have prevented breaches like the ones suffered by Target and Home Depot, as they were caused by malware.

Last month, a bipartisan group of 20 House members asked the Federal Trade Commission for more information on the effectiveness of the EMV/chip-and-PIN technology rollout. NAFCU continues to advocate a broader data security standard that would increase consumers' security in online transactions and help prevent further large-scale breaches.