Q. When is the United States moving to credit cards with better security?

A. Some American banks and financial institutions, like JPMorgan Chase, American Express and Citi, have already issued credit cards with new security technology. Other banks will do so by the end of the year, so contact your financial institution to find out when you can expect a new card. Often referred to as E.M.V. (short for Europay, MasterCard and Visa) or chip-and-PIN, these new cards use a combination of an embedded microchip and a personal numeric code to authorize payment transactions. Depending on the card issuer, some cards may have the chip but require just the old-fashioned signature instead of a PIN.

Most traditional credit cards in the United States today use a magnetic strip and a customer signature to seal a deal. The information embedded in the stripe can be easily cloned, however, and signatures can be forged. The chips in the newer E.M.V. cards — which encode account information when transferring it to the merchant — are harder to duplicate. And the PIN must be entered for each charge, which helps make the cards more secure for in-person purchases. The cards are not infallible, though: Criminals have still found ways to steal PINs and make fraudulent online purchases.

With new types of credit cards come new payment terminals, and many retailers must upgrade their equipment to make it compatible with E.M.V. cards. Instead of a slot to swipe the strip, the new credit card terminals typically need a chip reader.

Most merchants will probably have the new equipment in place by October 2015, when new rules about fraud liability kick in. Under these rules, the bank or the merchant could be held accountable for any fraudulent charges if one of them has not upgraded to the new system. The party with the weaker security measures must pay.