Thread: Visa to allow un-embossed cards

Today Visa announced that it would start allowing issuers to use un-embossed credit and debit cards. That means the numbers and name would be printed on the card instead of embossed. They've allowed their prepaid debit cards to be unembossed since '05 and now they're allow all cards to be.

The reasons they cite are they are no longer necessary since the carbon copy card readers are rarely used today. They also says it's cheaper and quicker to produce them that way. Surprisingly another reason they mention is it's safer for fraud because you would no longer feel the embossed letters through an envelope.

I disagree with the last point. If there's a card in an envelope you will feel it no matter if it has raised letters or not. It doesn't seem safer to me, if anything it sounds like a con artists dream. Now they can print cards using printers and no longer have to worry about the raised letters. An easier card to counterfeit if you ask me.

The sad truth is you probably could crank one out on your printer.

When I think about it though, if a criminal is advanced enough to print up professional credit cards, they probably have the resources to buy a card embosser and emboss the credit card numbers anyway.