The United States is in the process of converting to EMV for credit card authorizations. Long the standard in most of the world, EMV stands for Europay, MasterCard, and Visa, and is an inter-operability standard that uses Integrated Circuit Cards (or chips) instead of magnetic strips to identify account information on a credit or debit card. The system allows for greater security than magnetic strips, using stronger encryption algorithms, as well as the use of PINs rather than signatures for user validation. This has led to the system frequently being referred to as “Chip and PIN.”
This is a major shift for credit card processing in the US, and new Credit Cards will be sent out in droves over the next few months. Along with new cards come new rules for merchants, and merchants need to be prepared.
Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover have all announced that as of October 1st, 2015 liability rules for credit card fraud will change. Referred to as a liability shift, the new rules come down to this: whichever party does not support EMV will be liable for the credit card fraud.
If an issuing bank has not sent out new chip bearing cards, they bear the responsibility for the fraud, and the monetary loss. This does not mean MasterCard or Visa, but the actual bank whose name is on the card. If the retailer has not upgraded their equipment to accept the new cards, instead relying on the magnetic strip reader, the retailer will be liable for the financial loss due to fraud.
This is a major change, one that anyone that accepts credit cards face to face needs to take very seriously. How many fraudulent charges would it take to have a serious financial impact on a small business? Probably not very many.
Secure, mobile payment systems can help with the conversion. Now, don’t let the mobile part of this make you think that this is only for businesses with employees in the field, though mobile payment solutions are ideal for this sort of business. Mobile payment solutions work just as well for establishments with a POS system at the counter, or with sales and service staff helping customers within the store. Think of the Apple store, where you don’t have to stand in line at the register to pay. Think of a tablet, a credit card reader, and a receipt printer at the register.
VantiveMobile Payments is fully PCI-Compliant, affordable, and comes in two versions, based on the needs of your business:
Vantiv Mobile Accept
- Credit Card swipe/mobile point of sale plug-in for existing smart device
- End-to-end security that allows highly secure swiping of a credit, signature debit, or pre-paid card
- Accept and track cash transactions
- Intuitive, user-friendly app to enter payments, email receipts, view transaction history and track inventory
- Apply refunds and voids
- Take payments in-store or on the go, virtually anytime, anywhere
- Android and IOS compatible
Vantiv Mobile Checkout
An all-in-one mobile POS solution that makes it easier for business owners to have a complete set of payment options, market to customers, track sales and profitability, manage inventory and process sales onsite or at any location.
- Accept credit card or cash payments
- Secure POS mobility, backed by a PCI compliant
- payment gateway
- Multi-store capabilities to manage Items, Categories and Employees with multi-level user roles
- POS Time and Attendance capabilities
- Advanced back-office tool for reporting and analytics
- on customers, products and employees
- Alerts and performance monitoring capabilities
- Targeted marketing platform including email
- marketing and social media
- IOS and Android Compatible
The liability shift is coming, and businesses need to be ready for it. Now is the time to look at new options to refine and improve your Point of Sale. Allied Communication is dedicated to helping businesses of all sizes harness the power of the cloud to improve their efficiency and security. Contact us today, we are here to help.
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