NEW YORK – Even as the October 1 EMV liability shift deadline approaches, the vast majority of Americans still have not received their new chip-enabled cards and only a small minority are using the chips at all, a new Associated Press-GfK poll shows.

The poll found that only about one in 10 Americans has received the new chip-enabled credit cards. Of those who have received the cards, only one-third said that they've actually used the cards as intended in new specialized credit-card readers.

In an effort to combat mounting credit-card fraud, U.S. banks are making a push to replace the magnetic-stripe credit cards Americans use with new ones that have tiny computer chips embedded in them, which are far more secure. Even though the United States accounts for 25% of all global credit-card transactions, half of all credit-card fraud happens in America, according to a report by Barclays.

The chip cards, which have been used in Europe and elsewhere for more than a decade, transmit a one-time code when they're inserted into a card-reading device to make a purchase. Even if the code is stolen, thieves can't use it to make other purchases.

Digging into the numbers, the poll finds that 41% of Americans have received a new credit or debit card in the past few months. But only 30% of those who have received new cards, or 13% of all Americans, have received a new card with a chip embedded on the front of it. Of those who have received the card, just 35% say they've actually used them as intended.

The new chip-enabled cards also come with magnetic stripes, and many users are still swiping them just like they always have. The new cards require users to insert their card into an ATM-like slot in a card reader for several seconds.

The poll shows that Americans, once given the cards, are figuring out how to use them. Among those who do have a new card, 70% say they know how to use it. But just a quarter of Americans, including a little over a third of those who have received the new cards, say they understand very or extremely well why they're being sent the cards in the first place.

The Associated Press-GfK poll also found that Americans are more likely to say they're very concerned about their personal information being secure when making purchases online (45%) than in stores (38%). However, the new chip cards can't prevent a thief using a person's stolen credit card information to make fraudulent purchases online. (For more on the limitations of EMV, read the NACS Magazine article, “Half Covered.”)