CARSON, Calif. – There's another tool available for members to choose their own Personal Identification Number without visiting a branch. Typically members are assigned PINs for card products, and receive the PIN via mail. The problem is they can't select a PIN that means something to them. MagTek, Inc., a branch automation firm, released its Easy PIN Remote PIN Selection (RPS) System, a software-based process that enables consumers to select their own PINs without visiting the branch. "Financial institutions that let consumers select their own PINs see higher volumes of card transactions, shorter times to first card use, and increased consumer satisfaction and loyalty," said Kiran Gandhi, MagTek's Vice President of Marketing The Easy PIN RPS System includes the Easy PIN Software Suite, as well as a supply of Easy PIN single-use forms for PIN selection and encryption. The consumer uses the form, which resembles a scratch-off lottery ticket, to specify his or her PIN, encrypt it as a PIN Transit Value (PTV), and deliver it securely to the financial institution's data center. The PIN itself never appears on the portion of the form that is returned to the institution, and because the PIN is converted to the PTV using a single-use encryption scheme, the PTV itself is highly secure; the form can safely be returned by mail with no risk of compromise. When the form is received, the financial institution enters the consumer's Easy PIN serial number and PTV into the Easy PIN software, which decrypts the PTV, calculates an offset or PVV, and prepares the card record to be added to an encoding batch for processing either in-house or by an outside vendor.