Are You Ready For The New Credit Card Rules?

Have you received a letter from your financial institution informing you about replacing your Debit/Credit Card with an embedded microchip?

Are you ready for the New Credit Card Rules?

Are you EMV Ready?

Have you wondered what the word "EMV" means?   Most People have been confused and lost in the meaning of EMV; the fact that the Global Standard for computer chip based cards goes into full force on October 1st 2015 is not helping matters. Today, we will unravel the meaning of EMV, as well as the features. What is EMV? EMV stands for Euro pay MasterCard and Visa. It is a Global interoperable standard for chip-based payment cards. The New EMV Cards literally feature a computer chip on the front and they require a new point -of- sale card reader to verify the chip. Why EMV? It is a technology standard that resides in a secure computer chip embedded into a payment device. It offers the following features:

Smarter Technology.

Added Security- The computer chip renders the card not to be replicated and legitimately makes the card genuine and not counterfeit.

Reduce Liability that will otherwise shift to merchants on October 1st 2015.

 What it does?

 It operates where the terminal machine will read the microchip and not a magnetic stripe.

 It allows the issues and people processing the transactions to know that the card is legitimately, what it's meant to be and not a counterfeit.

Beginning October 1st this Year, no one is expected to swipe their card anymore instead we would be expected to insert our card into a terminal slot.

Below are the steps to using the New EMV Cards: a) Insert Card: Instead of Swiping, Card is now inserted as it appears on the picture. b) Leave Card In: Card Stays in terminal for the duration of the Transaction. c) Sign Receipt or Enter Pin: Sign Receipt Or enter PIN to complete transaction. d) Remove Card: Remove Card when the purchase is complete.

What This Means.

Presently, when counterfeit fraud occurs, merchants are not liable and consumers don't end up paying for it either. Rather, the Card issuers take the liability. With the introduction of the EMV Chip Card, there is a liability shift, which means that if there is an incidence of card fraud, whichever party has the lesser technology will bear the Liability.For instance, if a merchant is still using the Old System after October 1st 2015, they can still run transactions with a Swipe and Signature system, but they will be liable for any fraudulent transaction, if the customer has a chip card.

The same goes for a merchant with a new terminal, for which the Bank has not issued a chip and PIN card to the customer, the Bank would be liable. The key point of a liability shift is to create co-ordination in the market, so that issuers and merchants can invest in the migration at the same time. The sooner the migration takes place, the faster fraud will be driven out of our system.

 HOW TO BE EMV READY (as a Business Owner). 1) Check if you are in an EMV Card Operation environment. An EMV Card Environment is a point of Sale Transaction environment, where consumers use their cards at the point of Sale.

2) Check if your equipment is ready to handle the new EMV Chip Card operation. Most Businesses already have Machines with terminals, that are ready to handle the new card, but they are currently not utilizing it. You may need to upgrade your machine or get a new one to be EMV enabled.

3) Contact your POS (Point of Sale) vendor.

4) Ensure that consumers INSERT their card into the terminal slot, instead of swiping.

HOW TO BE EMV READY (AS A CONSUMER).

1) Ensure that you contact your Bank to issue you a New Chip card, if you are yet to receive yours by now.

2) Get ready to start INSERTING your card into the terminal slot at any point of Sake Transaction and remember to STOP Swiping.

3) A Consumer can choose to add the PIN Number feature to their card instead of signing. (this enhances added security).

Exemptions to EMV.

1) EMV Chip card Rules does not impact E-Commerce Based Transactions.

2) It does not operate in a Not-Present environment, since this pushes counterfeit fraud away from the system.

It is advisable that Business Owners with an E-Commerce presence would be wise to beef up their online payment security.As a Reminder, the Euro pay, Merchant and Visa (EMV), the Global standard for Computer -Chip based cards goes into full force on October 1st 2015. 

If your Business is not equipped to process chip card at the point of Sale transaction, you will be liable for any credit card fraud.Do not risk the potential cost of a credit card security breach; the result can be devastating to your Business. If you need more information on the EMV Rules, Feel free to call us on 202.422.4586 for more information.