5 things EMV chip technology means to your business’ credit card processing and why not to panic

Why should I care about EMV technology? Here is what we know, as experts in this industry.

1. What the heck is EMV?

EMV is the new security standard adopted by major card brands in the United States. The EMV standard has been used in Europe and Canada for many years now and is intended to lower fraud by making it very difficult to counterfeit. The major difference is the new cards will have an embedded microchip on them, versus the cards you are accustomed to today. The EMV standard uses a microchip to authenticate a transaction instead of the magnetic-stripe. To use an EMV card a merchant will slide the card into a reader and leave it in the reader during the entire process of the transaction. Here are some additional points your business needs to know.

• EMV is not something to be losing sleep over.
• Your existing credit card equipment will not magically stop working. EVM cards are backwards compatible and have magnetic-stripes just like current cards.
• BNG will help your business by providing advice and options, if and when you are required to make equipment changes.
• EMV changes mean nothing for you, if you are accepting all of your credit cards over the phone or website.
• There will be a liability shift, come October 1, 2015. Read on to learn more.
• Shady telemarketers and unscrupulous sales reps, from other credit card processing companies, will call you. These shady sales reps will try and trick your business into spending money unnecessarily on new EMV equipment.

2. Benefits of EMV chip cards.

EMV chips use a much stronger authentication method than traditional magnetic-stripe cards. The stronger authentication makes it very difficult to counterfeit making it much more difficult for fraud when used in a face-to-face “swiped” transaction.

3. Watch out for these things.

You will get calls from deceptive telemarketers.

They will tell you that you need to upgrade your credit card terminal now because your terminal will stop working on some made up date. This is not true. Do not believe their scare tactics. BNG will be here for you, if and when you are required to change equipment. BNG will present you with options for new equipment or payment acceptance methods that support EMV. If someone calls your company and you are unsure if they are truthful get their name and phone number. Give us a call, we will let you know if you can trust them.

4. What changes you may need to make.

If and when you are required to make any changes BNG will provide you with some options to help you along the way. BNG has your best interests at heart. We will do everything we can to make sure you are running payments in the most secure, cost effective, and efficient, manner possible. Learn more about us here.

5. What you need to know about the liability shift.

The liability shift that is going into effect on October 1, 2015 is only for the case of counterfeit cards and has nothing to do with lost or stolen cards. For example, after October 2015 if you run a counterfeit EMV chip card through your credit card terminal or POS and swipe it using the magnetic-stripe instead of using the EMV chip to read the card you could potentially be on the hook for the chargeback amount. Your business, be it a bar, restaurant, service business, or IT company is already on the hook for the chargeback amount on any fraudulent transactions including stolen cards or counterfeit swiped transactions. In other words the liability shift should be a minimal change to you. To minimize your risk of chargebacks due to stolen cards have your staff properly trained to check cardholder signatures on the back of your customers cards against the signature on your receipt.

Do you still have questions about EMV?

We are here to help. We will shoot it to you straight about what EMV means to you.
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Written By: Ryan Theis @RyanMTheis