content: Card companies foot the bill if there is a chip used. if the chip isn't used I think it defaults to the vendor. At least that is what my memory is telling me from when they got rolled out here. Kind of like the bank vs the vendor on Credit vs Debit, stores always default to debit making you do more to use credit as they get a processing fee for credit cards but banks get the fee for debit that is why some offer points or whatever if you use it as credit.