European merchants made the switch years — sometimes decades — ago.

Credit card companies announced three years ago that everyone should be ready by Oct. 1.

But only weeks before the target date, just how ready are local banks and merchants for the adoption of new “smart” credit and debit cards?

Read the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's report on the computer chip cards, which are supposed to help slow the wave of credit card info-hacking and fraud that has swept the country.