The most common application for an embossed card is a credit or debit card. Many credit card issuers still use embossing for the account number, name, and expiration date, though this information can also be printed on the card.
How Does an Embossed Card Work?
Embossed cards have been around since 1928. In the past, merchants would use them to make copies of the customer’s account information with a mechanical imprinting device. As time went on and credit card usage increased, retailers used rectangular manual card imprinters for credit card transactions. Your embossed card would lay down on the imprinter’s rectangular base, the cashier would place a sales slip containing a carbon-paper layer over the card, then whip the imprinter’s slider over the sales slip and card. The raised characters were the key, as they’d push the carbon paper against the sales slip and leave an imprint of all its information after the slider passed over it. This method replaced manual, hand-written ledgers made by store clerks. Embossing is no longer necessary as a result of electronic card processing. These days, if your card is embossed, it’s more for design purposes. Examples of cards that can be embossed include:
Credit cardsDebit or bank cardsATM cardsUniversity student IDsGift cardsEmployer identification badgesAccess or key cardsMembership ID cardsLoyalty cards
Visa is a good example of a credit card issuer that uses embossed and unembossed cards. Unembossed Visa cards started appearing at least as far back as 2007, when Commerce Bank made mention of the novel cards in an exclusive merchant newsletter it sent out. Today’s unembossed Visa cards feature a thermal- or laser-printed card numbers, expiration date, and security code.
Do I Need an Embossed Card?
Embossed cards were invented before electronic transactions took place to relay account information to store owners. Now, account information is encoded on magnetic stripes and EMV chips, making the embossed account information more for informational purposes of the customer. Because the embossed account information is not the way transactions are processed, account information can also be printed onto a card. Many credit cards issued today are laser-printed with account information on the back.
Embossed Card vs. Unembossed Card
While embossed cards have been the norm for nearly a hundred years, unembossed thermal- or laser-printed card numbers with encoded account information are taking their place. There are some key differences between the two.
