Chip cards? Most small business owners unaware of upcoming credit card transaction changes

A majority of small-businesses owners are unaware of an impending shift that could leave them liable for fraud committed with a new generation of chip-imbedded credit cards.

That's the finding of a survey by Wells Fargo & Co., which asked 600 small-business owners about the Oct. 1 deadline to get card readers and software to handle the new credit cards. Retailers and other businesses without equipment to handle the cards could be liable starting Oct. 1 if a customer commits fraud with a chip card.

But in the Wells Fargo survey, only 49 percent of owners of businesses that use card readers for transactions said they were aware of the deadline.