We are getting ready to start the project to issue EMV debit cards. I have been doing a lot of research trying to figure out the pros and cons to picking a PIN preferred chip over Signature Preferred chip. I am curious what type of chip other banks have chosen and why you chose that method. I have numerous bullets that are pros and cons to both. But a lot of the statistics I have seen are from a credit card perspective, which makes sense to go with a Signature preferred chip. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

We re-issued our entire debit portfolio with sig preferred. We were concerned about the loss of revenue by going with PIN preferred, as it is our understanding that by having the PIN, the merchant will have the ability to route it via the PIN networks, resulting in lower interchange. That being said, nobody could really answer with 100% certainty if that is accurate, however is seems logical that merchant terminals would be configured that way at some point.

I am working on this project as we speak. My EMV Frequently asked question says:

Q: If I am PIN Preferring, does that mean that my transactions will not route as signature based and I will lose my interchange?
A: Interchange is NOT impacted by whether a card is PIN os SIG Preferring. All transactions (regardless of a PIN being entered) that use the Global AID, will route to the national networks of Visa or MC (or whatever brand is on the front of the card.) These are not PIN based transactions.

Has anyone else looked into these two options??

We reissued our debit card portfolio as PIN preferring about 6 months ago and did not see a dip in interchange income. PIN preferring add chargeback rights when it comes to fraudulent transactions. I witnessed PIN transactions coming over via MasterCard signature network and not Maestro, so interchange is not impacted.