October 30th, 2014 by Elma Jane
A partial authorization request enables an issuer to approve an amount that is lower than the total transaction amount in cases when the available card balance is not sufficient to cover the full transaction amount. It can also approve a $1500 authorization for a $15.00, and if the merchant does not look closely and pay attention to the details they may lose a lot.
Partial authorizations are used for prepaid and check / debit cards and are now supported by both Associations, as well as their issuers and payment processing companies. They make it possible for merchants to complete a transaction by using the remaining available balance on the prepaid or check card and accepting an additional payment form (e.g. cash, check or another bank card) for the remaining balance. This type of transaction is known as split tender.
Partial authorizations provide you with a way to eliminate decline authorizations due to insufficient funds. You should take advantage of this opportunity and understand how to process them. There are reasons for authorization declines where there is nothing a merchant can do.
Partial Authorization Process
Customer swipes a card with available balance that is lower than the sale’s amount.
Merchant submits an authorization request with a Partial Authorization indicator to the issuer for the entire sale’s amount.
Issuer sends a partial authorization approval back to the merchant.
POS terminal subtracts the partially approved amount from total sale’s amount.
The customer makes a payment for the remaining balance using cash, check or another card.
The sale is now completed and a receipt is printed displaying the split tender amounts.
If the prepaid card used in a split tender transaction is a gift or an incentive card, the remaining balance is automatically sent to the point-of-sale (POS) terminal where it can be displayed to the merchant and printed on the sales receipt.
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants Tagged with: bank card, card balance, cash, check card, debit cards, merchant, partial authorization, payment form, payment processing, point of sale, POS terminal, prepaid and check, transaction
October 23rd, 2014 by Elma Jane
The U.S. government will replace roughly 9 million government-issued payment cards with EMV chip-and-PIN versions early next year in a push to increase awareness and use of the more secure cards. Between 5 and 6 million prepaid debit cards used for issuing government payments, including Social Security and veterans benefits, will be reissued in January 2015. Another 3 million cards issued to federal government employees will also be replaced with EMV versions through the General Services Administration’s SmartPay program.
All the cards will be set up for Chip and PIN security as a U.S. government standard under the upgrade program, rather than the Chip and Signature approach required by Visa and MasterCard for most U.S. retailers starting late next year. However, there was no indication that the new cards will actually have the less secure magnetic data stripe removed.
Finding the right answers with the latest technologies to stop these cyber thieves and taking proactive and positive steps by adopting PIN and chip technology for government-issued debit and credit cards shows the importance of protecting financial transactions. While EMV is important, it’s not a total solution to the issue of data security.
POS devices at all federal agencies that accept retail payments will also be converted to accept EMV cards on a schedule set by the U.S. Treasury Dept. No timetable was given for the federal POS conversion.
The rollouts at four of the six largest U.S. retail chains will give a boost to EMV, which despite an October 2015 deadline has seen slow uptake among retailers. Under a mandate by Visa and MasterCard, retailers who experience credit or debit card fraud after next October but haven’t upgraded their POS equipment to accept EMV cards will be liable for the loss. If the bank that issued the card hasn’t upgraded it to EMV, the bank will take the loss.
But despite that October deadline, fewer than half of retailers’ POS terminals are expected to be able to accept EMV cards by the end of 2015, and barely half of U.S. payment cards will have been upgraded by then, according to the Payments Security Task Force, a banking industry group tracking EMV uptake.
The 9 million federally issued cards are a tiny fraction of the 1 billion credit and debit cards in use in the U.S., so the overall impact of accelerated EMV conversion is likely to be small. However, the Buy Secure initiative also explicitly includes a consumer-education component. Visa said it will spend $20 million in a public service campaign, and American Express said it will launch a $10 million program to help small merchants upgrade their POS terminals.
Small merchants are less likely to know about EMV than large retail chains, which have been making implementation plans for years.
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, Credit Card Security, EMV EuroPay MasterCard Visa, Payment Card Industry PCI Security Tagged with: American Express, bank, Chip and PIN, chip and signature, credit cards, data security, debit card fraud, debit cards, EMV, emv cards, EMV conversion, financial transactions, magnetic data stripe, MasterCard, Merchant's, payment cards, Payments Security, POS conversion, POS devices, POS equipment, POS terminals, retail payments, visa
September 24th, 2014 by Elma Jane
The CVV Number (Card Verification Value) on your credit card or debit card is a 3 digit number on VISA, MasterCard and Discover branded credit and debit cards. On your American Express branded credit or debit card it is a 4 digit numeric code.
The codes have different names:
American Express – CID or unique card code.
Debit Card – CSC or card security code.
Discover – card identification number (CID)
Master Card – card validation code (CVC2)
Visa – card verification value (CVV2)
CVV numbers are NOT your card’s secret PIN (Personal Identification Number).
You should never enter your PIN number when asked to provide your CVV. (PIN numbers allow you to use your credit or debit card at an ATM or when making an in-person purchase with your debit card or a cash advance with any credit card.)
Types of security codes:
CVC1 or CVV1, is encoded on track-2 of the magnetic stripe of the card and used for card present transactions. The purpose of the code is to verify that a payment card is actually in the hand of the merchant. This code is automatically retrieved when the magnetic stripe of a card is swiped on a point-of-sale (card present) device and is verified by the issuer. A limitation is that if the entire card has been duplicated and the magnetic stripe copied, then the code is still valid.
The most cited, is CVV2 or CVC2. This code is often sought by merchants for card not present transactions occurring by mail or fax or over the telephone or Internet. In some countries in Western Europe, card issuers require a merchant to obtain the code when the cardholder is not present in person.
Contactless card and chip cards may supply their own codes generated electronically, such as iCVV or Dynamic CVV.
Code Location:
The card security code is typically the last three or four digits printed, not embossed like the card number, on the signature strip on the back of the card. On American Express cards, the card security code is the four digits printed (not embossed) on the front towards the right. The card security code is not encoded on the magnetic stripe but is printed flat.
American Express cards have a four-digit code printed on the front side of the card above the number.
MasterCard, Visa, Diners Club, Discover, and JCB credit and debit cards have a three-digit card security code. The code is the final group of numbers printed on the back signature panel of the card.
New North American MasterCard and Visa cards feature the code in a separate panel to the right of the signature strip. This has been done to prevent overwriting of the numbers by signing the card.
Benefits when it comes to security:
As a security measure, merchants who require the CVV2 for card not present payment card transactions are required by the card issuer not to store the CVV2 once the individual transaction is authorized and completed. This way, if a database of transactions is compromised, the CVV2 is not included, and the stolen card numbers are less useful. Virtual Terminals and payment gateways do not store the CVV2 code, therefore employees and customer service representatives with access to these web-based payment interfaces who otherwise have access to complete card numbers, expiration dates, and other information still lack the CVV2 code.
The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) also prohibits the storage of CSC (and other sensitive authorization data) post transaction authorization. This applies globally to anyone who stores, processes or transmits card holder data. Since the CSC is not contained on the magnetic stripe of the card, it is not typically included in the transaction when the card is used face to face at a merchant. However, some merchants in North America require the code. For American Express cards, this has been an invariable practice (for card not present transactions) in European Union (EU) states like Ireland and the United Kingdom since the start of 2005. This provides a level of protection to the bank/cardholder, in that a fraudulent merchant or employee cannot simply capture the magnetic stripe details of a card and use them later for card not present purchases over the phone, mail order or Internet. To do this, a merchant or its employee would also have to note the CVV2 visually and record it, which is more likely to arouse the cardholder’s suspicion.
Supplying the CSC code in a transaction is intended to verify that the customer has the card in their possession. Knowledge of the code proves that the customer has seen the card, or has seen a record made by somebody who saw the card.
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, EMV EuroPay MasterCard Visa, Point of Sale, Visa MasterCard American Express Tagged with: (Card Verification Value), (CVC2), American Express, atm, authorization data, bank/cardholder, card holder data, card identification number, card issuers, Card Not Present transactions, card number, card numbers, card security code, card validation code, card-not-present, card-present transactions, cardholder, cards, cash advance, chip cards, CID, code, Contactless card, credit, credit-card, CSC, customer, customer service, CVC1, CVV Number, CVV1, CVV2, Data Security Standard, debit, debit card, debit cards, device, Diners Club, Discover, fax, gateways, iCVV or Dynamic CVV, individual transaction, internet, issuer, JCB credit, magnetic stripe, mail, MasterCard, merchant, payment card, Payment Card Industry, payment card transactions, payment gateways, PCI-DSS, Personal Identification Number, PIN, point of sale, post transaction authorization, security codes, telephone, terminals, unique card code, virtual terminals, visa, web-based payment
September 5th, 2014 by Elma Jane
A cup of coffee, a pack of chewing gum., a newspaper at the airport. For even the smallest, most casual purchase, credit cards and debit cards are replacing cash as the preferred form of payment. One in three usually uses a credit card or a debit card for in-person purchases of less than $5. Eleven percent prefer credit cards, 22% debit cards and 65% cash, but the generational divide is striking. A slight majority (51 percent) of consumers 18-29 prefer plastic to cash, the only age group to do so. A preference for cash becomes stronger in each advancing age bracket, until at age 65-plus, 82 percent prefer cash.
Survey conducted by landline and cellphone found that: Credit cards and debit cards are used more frequently for small purchases by those employed full time (42%) or part time (34%) than for the unemployed (23%). People with children are more likely to use the cards for small purchases (41%) than those without children (30%), perhaps because parents have less time to wait around for change. Income doesn’t seem to be much of a differentiator, except for those near the bottom of the scale. A combined 38% of those making $75,000 or more preferred plastic for small purchases, compared with 43 percent of those making $50,000 to $74,900, 32% of those earning $30,000 to $49,900 and only 23% percent of those making less than $30,000.
Politically, we’ve finally found something on which we all can agree. Thirty percent of Democrats and a nearly identical 28% of Republicans favor credit cards or debit cards rather than cash for small purchases. Interestingly, those describing themselves as politically independent also were more independent from cash, 40% of them prefer plastic for such transactions.
The casual use of plastic is moving steadily through age brackets and already has a firm grip not only on millennials, but also increasingly on Gen Xers. Crunched another way, the data show that if you’re 49 or younger, you’re almost as likely to pay for a $5 purchase with plastic as you are to pay with cash. Fifty two percent prefer cash, 46% prefer debit or credit cards. Now, if you’re 50 or older, you’re still somewhat unlikely to pay for a $5 purchase with plastic. Seventy seven percent still prefer cash, with 21% reaching for debit cards or credit cards. Those who graduated from or attended college are significantly more comfortable than others with using plastic for small purchases.
A combined 39% of those with college degrees prefer debit cards (21%) or credit cards (18%) over cash (59%). Only 16% of those who have not attended college usually use debit cards for purchases of less than $5, along with only 6 percent who prefer credit cards for that purpose.
The trend is clear. Regardless of some differences in magnitude based on demographic factors, plastic is replacing cash as the currency of choice even for small purchases. Plastic use will increase for small purchases, both for debit and credit cards.
Why the shift to cards There are many reasons:
Technological advancements at the point of sale have made it just as fast to pay by plastic as by cash. Rewards have become a common feature of credit cards, with two out of three credit cards offering rewards, encouraging rewards chasing. Debit cards, with their balances available instantly and online have largely replaced paper checks and tedious manual records.
Financial institutions have spent decades persuading consumers to use and merchants to accept cards universally. Small purchases represent particularly appropriate uses of a debit card, assuming you don’t get carried away and overdraw the card-linked bank account. Why keep going to the bank and then carry cash if you don’t have to? Moving away from cash and moving toward using cards for even small purchases is more convenient.
Debit cards are everywhere already, but because their use can’t be reported to the credit bureaus and thus, they don’t build credit, they should only be used as a matter of convenience. People who frequently use credit cards for small, casual purchases also could overdo it, but probably not to a great degree. It would take a lot of lattes to send someone into credit counseling or bankruptcy court. In truth, we like the idea of using credit cards frequently for small, manageable expenses. This gives users the benefit of an active credit history, but leaves them with monthly bills that are small enough to pay off in full, so they don’t have to pay any interest. It’s getting to the point where, if I’m out and about, I’m using plastic the whole time. It’s just so much easier.
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants Tagged with: account, bank, bank account, bankruptcy, bills, cards, cash, cellphone, credit, credit counseling, credit history, data, debit cards, financial, financial institutions, Merchant's, payment, transactions
August 21st, 2014 by Elma Jane
Package delivery giant UPS has become the latest company to admit that customer payment card details may be at risk after it discovered malware at 51 of its US stores. In a statement, UPS says that customers who used credit and debit cards at 51 of its 4470 franchised sites between 20 January and 11 August are at risk. Names, postal and email addresses and payment card information may all be compromised, but UPS says that it has no evidence of any fraud, and that the malware has now been eliminated. Earlier this month the US government took the step of putting out an alert warning retailers about a new family of malware, dubbed Backoff, targeting point-of-sale systems. The UPS Store, received a bulletin from the government among many other US retailers that made them aware of the problem. As soon as they became aware of the potential malware intrusion, they deployed extensive resources to quickly address and eliminate the issue. Customers can be assured that they have identified and fully contained the incident. US merchants have found themselves under siege from hackers in recent months, with the most notable case seeing thieves use a vendor’s credentials to infect POS devices with malware and steal the details of around 40 million Target customer cards.
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, Credit Card Security Tagged with: card, card details, card information, credit, customer, customer cards, debit cards, devices, fraud, Malware, Merchant's, payment, point of sale, POS, retailers
April 17th, 2014 by Elma Jane
Issuers participating in the MasterCard Rewards Platform can pursue greater engagement and value in their programs through a partnership MasterCard is announcing today with Points International Ltd. The companies say they struck the deal to take advantage of the popularity of travel and related experiences. Under the agreement, participating issuers can let their cardholders to exchange and trade earned airline miles, hotel points and loyalty currencies.
Travel happens to be one of the most popular redemption options for points on most programs today. So this is really about enabling consumers to get even more choice with regard to getting some redemption options.
Issuers individually will roll out the program later this year based on their own schedules. Any of the hundreds of banks that use the MasterCard Rewards Platform are eligible to participate. Participation is voluntary.
Enhanced flexibility in cardholder reward redemptions was a key driver behind the initiative, what this partnership allows to do is enable all customers that have points that they’ve gained from spending on their credit cards or debit cards to then exchange those points into a miles program or a hotel program that they tend to always have a lot of other points accumulated already.
Variable Exchange Rates
Cardholders will be provided with a conversation ratio applicable to the pair of rewards being exchanged. Ratios will differ by redemption transaction. Consumers also may choose to transfer small buckets of rewards points into one program and the rest in other programs. They can do transfers multiple times and across multiple rewards providers.
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, Credit card Processing, Gift & Loyalty Card Processing, Travel Agency Agents Tagged with: airline, airline miles, banks, cardholder, credit cards, debit cards, hotel, loyalty, MasterCard, platform, programs, reward, rewards, transaction, transfers, travel, travel related
March 17th, 2014 by Elma Jane
Young people and Londoners are leading the way in adopting cashless payments in the U.K., The U.K.-based market research firm also found that non-bank electronic payment methods such as PayPal are trusted more than contactless and mobile card payments.
According to research, 38 percent of British people are interested in being able to make mobile payments and an enthusiastic 8 percent claim they would apply for mobile payment services straight away. Eighteen percent of U.K. Internet users say they would prefer to be able to stop using cash altogether.
Support for a cashless society is strongest in London, with 30 percent prepared to stop using cash. And it is the nation’s youth who are leading the way in new payment forms. Twenty-two percent of those aged 25 to 34 have used Barclays’ Pingit peer-to-peer mobile payment system, compared to 5 percent of those aged 45-54. About 17 percent of 25- to 34-year-olds have used the virtual currency Bitcoin at least once.
However, consumers are more concerned about the security of mobile payments than card payments. Sixty-five percent of consumers showed some concern about mobile payment security and 61 percent showed some concern about contactless cards, compared with 34 percent who were concerned about using debit cards and the 33 percent who were concerned about credit cards.
Consumers were notably less concerned about using non-bank payment services such as PayPal, which protect users’ financial data from being seen by third parties. Only 27 percent of Internet users are concerned about using non-bank payment services such as PayPal.
Posted in Credit card Processing, Credit Card Security, Digital Wallet Privacy, Electronic Payments, EMV EuroPay MasterCard Visa, Mobile Payments, Mobile Point of Sale, Near Field Communication, Smartphone Tagged with: card payments, cashless payments, cashless society, contactless, contactless cards, credit cards, debit cards, electronic payment methods, financial data, internet users, mobile card payments, mobile payment security, mobile payment services, non-bank, non-bank payment services, peer-to-peer mobile payment system, Security, Virtual Currency
February 21st, 2014 by Elma Jane
NationalTransaction.com QR Code
Emerging economies, such as the BRIC countries and the next layer of emerging markets, are seeing particularly fast growth of alternative payments, said Kevin Dallas, chief product and marketing officer for e-commerce at WorldPay. This means the complexity of the payment landscape will increase further. Merchants will need to ensure they understand diverging regional and sector trends in preferred methods of payment.
In three years alternative payments will eclipse credit card payments as the dominant way to pay online, according to a report yesterday from London-based e-commerce processor WorldPay. In Your Global Guide to Alternative Payments (Second Edition), WorldPay found card payments online, which accounted for 57 percent of transactions in 2012, will fall to 41 percent in 2017. Alternative payment methods (defined by the report as anything other than credit or debit cards including bank transfers, direct debits, e-wallets, mobile, COD and others) will rise to 59 percent of online transactions in the next three years. Part of the reason is the preferred payment methods in some of the fastest growing e-commerce markets are not cards.
The report predicts e-wallet transactions alone will equal the number of credit card transactions online at 41 percent, becoming the most popular method of paying online globally by 2017. Currently, PayPal is the most popular alternative payment method in the world with a market share of 57 percent. China’s Alipay is second at 20 percent.
Posted in Credit card Processing, Digital Wallet Privacy, e-commerce & m-commerce, Electronic Payments, Internet Payment Gateway, Mobile Payments, Mobile Point of Sale, Near Field Communication, Visa MasterCard American Express Tagged with: alternative payments, bank transfers, card payments online, cod, credit card payments, credit card transactions, debit cards, direct debits, e-commerce, e-commerce processor, e-wallet transactions, e-wallets, methods of payment, mobile, online transactions, pay online, paying online, payment, PayPal, transactions
December 16th, 2013 by Elma Jane
1. Account Updater (Visa)
Incorrect billing information leads to declined credit cards, loss of sales and unhappy customers.
Visa touts its Account Updater as an easier way to keep customer data current. The tool appends all card data with up-to-date customer info so businesses can avoid difficulties over address changes, name changes, expired cards and more.
The tool can benefit any business that bills customers on a recurring basis.
It eliminates the need for manual administration, so it can lower your business’s operational costs and customer-service expenses. And by saving your clients the hassle of a declined payment, you can boost customer satisfaction and overall sales.
2. Netswipe
Paying online is convenient for customers, but keying in an unwieldy credit card number is still a pain.
Netswipe from Jumio gives customers an easier way: The tool lets users pay by snapping a photo of their credit card; it’s almost as easy as swiping your card through a traditional card reader.
According to Jumio, customers can use their smartphone or tablet to scan a card in as little as 5 seconds, whereas traditional key entry takes 60 seconds or more, on average. Having a quick and convenient way to pay could help contribute to a positive buying experience and encourage repeat business.
The system is compatible with any iOS or Android mobile device, as well as with any computer with a webcam.
3. Netverify
Jumio’s fraud-scrubbing tool helps you determine if your customers are who they say they are.
Net verify allows customers to snap a picture of their driver’s license or other identification using a smartphone, tablet or PC webcam. Once the image is taken, the tool can verify the authenticity of the documentation in as little as 60 seconds.
That’s much faster and more convenient than asking a customer to fax or mail a copy of their ID in the middle of a transaction.
The tool can verify identifying documents from more than 60 countries…including passports, ID cards and driver’s licenses, and even bank statements and utility bills. Jumio says its software is smart enough to automatically reject nonauthentic documents.
And customers can rest easy knowing that all submitted information is protected with 256-bit encryption to prevent identity theft.
Online merchants embed Netverify into their websites as part of the checkout process.
4. Payment Gateway
Payment Gateway service does all the heavy lifting of routing and managing credit card transactions online.
Portals like this one benefit small businesses by providing a fast and secure transmission of credit card data between your website and the major payment networks. It works a lot like a traditional credit card reader, but uses the Internet to process transactions instead of a phone line.
Payment Gateway also offers built-in fraud-prevention tools and supports a range of payment options, including all major credit cards and debit cards.
5. PayPal Here
Mobile credit card processing services like PayPal Here make it easy to accept credit cards in person using a smartphone or tablet.
PayPal Here and other similar services send you a dongle that attaches directly to your iPhone, iPad or Android device, allowing you to swipe physical credit cards wherever you are.
One major benefit of mobile credit card readers is that they work with the devices you already own. That means there’s no need to carry around additional hardware, aside from the reader add-on itself. Most credit card readers attach to your device via the headphone jack or charger port, and are small enough to fit in your pocket.
The smallest businesses have the most to gain by opting for mobile credit card readers, which are cheaper and far more portable than traditional options.
6. Virtual Terminal
If you do business online, your website needs the infrastructure to accept credit card information.
Web-based applications like virtual terminal offer the basic processing functionality of a physical point-of-sale system, and are easy to install on your business’s website.
The system allows merchants to collect orders straight from the Web, or take orders via phone or mail and before initiating card authorizations online.
It also includes extensive transaction history to help you manage payment data, split shipments, back orders and reversals. Business owners can even receive a daily email report of all credit card transaction activity from the prior day.
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, Credit card Processing, Credit Card Reader Terminal, Credit Card Security, e-commerce & m-commerce, Electronic Payments, EMV EuroPay MasterCard Visa, Gift & Loyalty Card Processing, Mail Order Telephone Order, Merchant Cash Advance, Merchant Services Account, Mobile Payments, Mobile Point of Sale, Near Field Communication, Point of Sale, Smartphone, Visa MasterCard American Express Tagged with: account, Android, authenticity, card data, card reader, checkout, checkout process, credit card number, credit card transactions, debit cards, declined payment, expired, fraud, id, iOS, mail, mobile device, nonauthentic, online, online merchants, passports, payment data, payment gateway, payment options, phone, point of sale, recurring, smartphone, tablet, verify, visa, webcam
November 22nd, 2013 by Admin
As we move to smartphones and tablets as payment methods security and privacy concerns are a real issue. With recent NSA leaks shedding light on our data and the access others have to it, we have to consider security, privacy and health implications. This year alone e-commerce transactions on smartphones and tablets during the holiday season are set to grow by 15%. Although tablets, not smartphones will drive the bulk of that growth, smartphones are set to overtake mobile-commerce payments over the next 5 years. Tablet payments in the U.S. alone are expecting to reach $26 billion in transactions. Currently tablets are more convenient for m-commerce due to their size, but as far as the future of electronic payment processing, smartphones are where it’s at.
The smart merchant sees this coming and realizes frictionless transactions increase sales. The more comfortable and less complicated a transaction is for a customer, the better. Smartphones, tablets, PCs, laptops and more can already process electronic transactions from credit and debit cards, gift cards, electronic checks and more. Money movement is easier than ever and more convenient than cash. Cash is king however in situations where internet connectivity and power are an issue. In India for example, a poor electric grid makes power outages a common occurrence. During natural disasters, when resources are badly needed, power outages or severed internet communications mean no electronic transactions can be processed. So physical currency remains a must, in the future we may see payment technology evolve to where digital money like crypto currency (BitCoin) may be stored on the device itself similar to having cash. As these electronic payment systems evolve, merchants need to position themselves to accept what their market prefers to transact with.
The smart citizen also sees this coming and has concerns that things like a National ID program being established may compromise their privacy.
As an extreme example of electronic transactions, a nightclub in Spain used subdermally implanted RFID chips in a woman that allowed patrons to pay for food and beverages without a credit card.
Posted in e-commerce & m-commerce, Electronic Check Services, Electronic Payments, Gift & Loyalty Card Processing, Merchant Services Account, Near Field Communication, Smartphone Tagged with: bitcoin, cash, connectivity, credit, crypto currency, currency, debit cards, digital money, e-commerce, electronic, electronic checks, frictionless, Gift Cards, health, internet, laptops, leaks, m-commerce, Merchant's, mobile-commerce payments, money, national id, nsa, pay, payment methods, payment processing, PCs, privacy, processed, RFID, Security, smartphone, tablets, technology, transact, transactions
