But Inadvertent Magnetic Damage Still An Issue

One of the most common causes for the failure of magnetic stripes on credit and ATM cards is damage caused when people stick their cards on refrigerators with magnets. [Are these people bright, or what? -Ed.]

In order to prevent this type of damage from obliterating the financial institution and account data encoded on ISO Track 2 (thereby rendering the card useless), the MagStripe Committee developed a new "high coercivity" magnetic stripe standard.

"High Coercivity" magnetic materials require much greater magnetic flux to encode data.

An unexpected beneficial side effect of the use of this material, however, is that this higher magnetic flux produces a significant residual magnetic effect. According to Joe Cowherd, former chair of the committee and now just hanging around looking for something fruitful to do, "HiCo materials now have a great enough residual magnetic field that credit and ATM cards can themselves serve as refrigerator magnets.

"Not only does this significantly reduce the possibility of inadvertent damage, it also opens up a whole new market for magnetic stripe card manufacturers," he added.

One issue that has not been successfully addressed is inadvertent magnetic damage -- that is, potential damage to refrigerator magnets by this new media. The committee is currently working with magnet manufacturers on warnings to print on all new magnets advising consumers of the possibility of inadvertent magnetic damage if they are used to affix HiCo credit cards to refrigerators.

"Payback is hell," Cowherd chuckled in conclusion.

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