Finance/Capital Access

What is EMV?

EMV is a technical standard that ensures chip-based payment cards (also known as smart cards) and terminals are compatible around the world. A chip-based payment transaction occurs when a microprocessor embedded in a plastic card or mobile phone connects to an EMV-enabled POS terminal (either contact or contactless) in order to execute a payment. The smart card technology provides an additional form of card authentication for the transaction—validating the legitimacy of the payment type being used and helping reduce the use of counterfeit, lost and stolen payment cards at ATMs and retail points of sale.

Implications of Smart Card Adoption

Payment industry experts generally agree that a chip-based standard (i.e., EMV) will come to the U.S., but predictions of when and in what form vary dramatically. Smart card adoption in the U.S. is an industry-wide issue, and there is substantial education required for all participants to understand what chip-based payment enablement means to them. In the face of this uncertainty, merchants should start considering how smart card implementation would affect their businesses, and look into options for accepting chip-based credit and debit cards. (more…)

Gift cards continue to grow in popularity, with huge potential for merchants who understand how to promote and manage strong gift card programs.

Consider the following…

– Over $27.8 billion was spent by consumers last year on gift cards during the holiday season alone².

– Over 93% of consumers purchase or receive gift cards every year¹.

– Over 71% of consumers report spending more than the value of their gift cards.

– And 31% of gift card recipients say they are more likely to buy a full-price item than an item on sale³. (more…)

The security of cardholder information is important to both your customers and your business. In fact, since 2005, there have more than 1 billion stolen records in over 2,000 separate data breach incidents – with payment card data being the theft target in 48 percent of all breaches in 2011 alone.¹ And yet, only 4 percent of all breached organizations were PCI compliant at the time of their data breach.^2,3

What Is PCI DSS?

The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) was created by the major credit card companies as a guideline to help business owners implement the necessary hardware, software and other procedures to guard sensitive credit card and personal information.

The object of becoming compliant with PCI security standards is to help protect sensitive cardholder data from data thieves who are shifting their sights to small merchants because they think they are easier targets. If your business fails to become PCI compliant,3 you could be putting your business at greater risk from the growing threat of payment card data breaches and theft, which may result in substantial penalties (such as fines from banks, regulatory agencies, and card organizations), fraud and charge backs, as well as legal costs and lost customers. (more…)

Most chargeback situations arise at the point of transaction—at the time the transaction is completed—and most can be prevented with a little training.

Consider these 16 tips to avoid potential chargebacks.

1. Do not complete a transaction if the authorization request was declined. Do not repeat the authorization request after receiving a decline.

2. If you receive a “Call” message in response to an authorization request, call your authorization center. Be prepared to answer questions. The operator may ask to speak with the cardholder. If approved, write the authorization code on the sales receipt. If declined, ask the cardholder for another Visa card.

3. If an embossed Visa card is presented for payment, make an imprint for all card-present transactions. If you have a point-of-sale terminal with a magnetic-stripe reader, swipe the card through the reader for every face-to-face transaction. (more…)