With Congress returning for a four-month sprint this month, one policy area continues to receive deserved attention in Washington, D.C, especially by Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va.: data security.

President Obama and Congress continue to point out the hard truth that America is falling behind the world and that without significant reforms, Americans, particularly the underserved, remain highly vulnerable to dangerous threats. Despite a very complicated situation surrounding data security, the financial sector continues to deflect and stall on what is a no-brainer, baseline solution that includes increased security for credit card purchases through technology known as “chip and PIN.”

Thankfully, Senator Warner has been on the forefront of this issue, and so has President Obama. The administration has proposed sensible reforms that are straightforward and even gel with similar, ongoing efforts on Capitol Hill. Rather than rely on a patchwork of state laws for data breaches — specifically, how consumers are made aware — the president and Congress seek to implement a national standard. A bipartisan caucus is certainly eager to pass a data breach bill as early as this month.

The conversation, however, is largely evading security for Americans using credit cards.

Enhanced financial security measures continue to be introduced this year. Banks and credit card companies have begun replacing nearly half a billion cards containing the old-fashioned magnetic stripe technology in use today with updated versions that employ computer chips. The overhaul will put in place cards that create a unique code for each transaction, making cloning by thieves infinitely more difficult.

Unfortunately, those cards will still have a glaring vulnerability. “In a retreat for the industry,” the Wall Street Journal reported, “the new cards don’t use [Personal Identification Number (PIN) technology] that could prevent fraud if a card is lost or stolen.” Financial institutions will do this despite the fact that “PINs are widely considered to be more secure than signatures, which can be easily copied.”

So it was especially peculiar when several national trade organizations representing financial firms and credit unions circulated a letter around Capitol Hill about their supposed commitment to protecting Americans’ personal financial information, while simultaneously shifting blame to the nation’s retailers, who are stuck with the very same flawed payment systems the banks have propped up.

Perhaps this is why Warner, consumer groups and the public are calling on America’s financial regulators to ask why financial institutions insist on chip-and-signature technology when chip-and-PIN is clearly more secure. “I have concerns,” the senior senator from Virginia wrote recently, “that as merchants spend billions of dollars this year to upgrade their infrastructure to accept chip-and-PIN enabled cards, there is an insufficient emphasis being placed by federal banking regulators on ensuring a meaningful improvement in consumer safety with the corresponding issuance of chip-and-PIN debit and credit cards in the private sector.”

Warner is correct, and both his and the President’s efforts to put in place a security system already in use throughout the world are common sense. They may even help the growing minority populations. For many black and Latino families who are disproportionately impoverished and often one paycheck removed from fiscal distress, this type of damage can lead to financial ruin. Efforts to repair the damage and subsequent negative impacts of fraudulent activity can take years and may impede their access to the use of bank accounts, a critical financial lifeline for many families with limited access to credit. The result of this negative spiral often leads them to check-cashing businesses where even more of their gainfully earned income is siphoned away through fees.

Chip and PIN is not a one-size-fits-all solution to this issue, but it is a must have starting point.

Virginians deserve the maximum protections available when using their credit cards, and if banks and credit card companies won’t implement chip-and-PIN technology voluntarily, our leaders in Washington should begin exerting pressure for them to do so. Virginia’s consumers cannot afford to wait any longer.

Jeremy White White is founder of DiverseTech. He is a former special assistant for the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives under President George W. Bush, and is a national diversity advocate.