Credit card authorization form 2019

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Credit card authorization form 2019 templates are starting to pop up on the internet. The forms are never PCI compliant nor compliant with card network rules, plus the form might introduce malicious code into your network, leading to a future data breach. In this article learn about compliant credit card authorization form problems and solutions.

Merchants must replace traditional credit card authorization forms with other payment methods where the customer self-pays in 2019. The services are typically provided by a payment gateway, acquirer or software solutions provider. I recommend using an independent payment gateway for the checkout because if other changes are made, such and changing acquirer, it’s non-disruptive to customers and business processes.

Three solutions to replace traditional credit card authorization forms:

  1. Hosted pay page is a third party hosted web page where buyer can enter all their payment information for immediate payment, and in some cases store it for future payments.
  2. Pushing out a payment request via text or email includes link to a hosted prefilled pay page that can include an invoice number and amount due.
  3. Electronic invoicing may be standalone or integrated and empowers buyers to pay online.

Per Visa, merchants are never allowed to ask for the security code in any written form.  Merchants also cannot store the form with full card numbers nor store the security code after authorization. Traditional credit card authorization forms increase risk of fraud and identity theft and nobody likes them!

pci security standards
PCI Security Standards Council guidelines for storage of cardholder data.

Cardholder verification with 3-D Secure shifts fraud liability to the issuer, so instead of responding to chargebacks, merchants can prevent them from happening. This is far more powerful than using security code or address for cardholder verification, and eliminates the need for traditional credit card authorization forms. 3-D Secure is a set of global security standards, for example, Verified by Visa.

Phone order payments risk identity theft:

  • Phone orders expose card data to employees.
  • Employees often write the cardholder information down on paper first to avoid making a mistake that requires them asking for the information again.
  • While less than 15% of data breaches occur from insider threats, trusted employees do steal data for financial, espionage, and grudge reasons.
  • It costs more to process the card both in actual labor and in card acceptance fees because it’s impossible to qualify for the lowest card not present rates possible on manually key-entered transactions.

Fax order payments risk identity theft:

  • All of the phone order risks apply, plus new risks for fax.
  • Digital faxes have memory where data can be stored, risking theft during use and after disposal of hardware.
  • Depending on access to the hardware or software, many people might have access to faxed forms, including evening cleaning service personnel.
  • Merchants cannot ask for security code on the form, yet it’s required for card not present transactions.
  • The card number must be masked after use if being stored
  • Storing the form has no value because if proper card not present rules are followed, there’s no need for it to defend chargebacks.

Cloud digital credit card authorization forms may not be PCI compliant:

The rise in digital credit card authorization forms is downright scary, because despite claims by sellers, merchant implementation of them is often not PCI Compliant. Here’s a few reasons why:

  • Neither merchants nor third parties can store the security code after authorization.
  • Neither merchants nor third parties can store the card number unmasked after authorization.
  • Merchants will be hard pressed to prove PCI Compliance in the event of a data breach. Who had access to the forms and when? How is the server wiped of the data? What about back up servers?
  • What’s the point of getting a signed form if you can’t save it?
  • If the service offers an authorization to verify cardholder, but the merchant then types card number into another system with no connection to the initial verification, all subsequent transactions are in violation of rules for storing and using stored cards thus are open to issuer chargeback risk.

Benefits of compliant solution:

  • Reduced merchant fees for some cards (3-D Secure cardholder authentication such as Verified by Visa must be enabled.)
    Increased approvals with cardholder authentication.
    Mitigate chargeback risk – with 3-D Secure cardholder authentication, fraud liability shifts to issuer.
    More convenient for buyers- 24/7 payments on their schedule, not yours.
    Buyers are in control of choosing to store payment methods

How can merchants get 3-D Secure? Contact us for the latest instructions or call your acquirer aka merchant services provider.

See also Visa Stored Credential Mandate & Framework – Improving Authorization Management for Transactions with Stored Credentials.

Call Christine Speedy, PCI Council QIR certified, for simple solutions to card not present payment transaction problems, 954-942-0483, 9-5 ET.

References: Search the blog for credential or form or click on the navigation for links for more resources on rules and compliance.

Microsoft D365 ERP Invoice Custom Email Subject with CenPOS

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Microsoft Dynamics AX and D365 users need a more customized invoice and sales receipt subject and body than they have with their current solution. The CenPOS F&O accounts receivable module includes the 3 most common requests users ask for.

  1. Create a custom subject and automatically insert the invoice number. For example, Sales Invoice # 231255.
  2. Create a custom body plus automatically insert subtotal, invoice #, sales tax, discount, total invoice etc and a click to pay link.
  3. Attach a PDF invoice

Invoices can be delivered via multiple methods and customers can pay via ACH, wire, credit card and other payment types directly from the email or text; customers can also login to a portal to view and pay multiple invoices. This increases efficiency for both parties and is proven to reduce DSO Because CenPOS is both the invoicing solution and a PCI Level 1 Service Provider, merchants can eliminate Red Maple Advanced Credit Cards, Billtrust and similar other third party solutions.

The sales receipt works pretty much the same way, with receipts automatically delivered via the customers preferred communication method.

The CenPOS F&O module is quick and easy to implement. All these features and more are available standalone or integrated. Integrators, developers and Dynamics users can contact Christine Speedy at 954-942-0483 for the module.

Call Christine Speedy, CenPOS Global Sales, PCI Council QIR certified, for the CenPOS Dynamics AX and D365 modules to make your business more profitable, efficient and secure. 954-942-0483, 9-5 ET.

CenPOS is an integrated commerce technology platform driving innovative, omnichannel solutions tailored to meet a merchant’s market needs. Providing a single point of integration, the CenPOS platform combines payment, commerce and value-added functionality enabling merchants to transform their commerce experience, eliminate the need to manage complex integrations, reduce the burden of accepting payments and create deeper customer relationships.

Hotel Third Party Credit Card Authorization Form Alert

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Is your hotel third party authorization form compliant with both Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI) compliance and card network acceptance rules? Beware solutions that are neither, risking an expensive data breach, lost reputation, and reduced profits. Due to significant rules changes in 2017, hotel management and hospitality advisors must adopt new technology solutions to comply.

Shifting from a paper credit card authorization form to a digitally signed cloud form often fails to meet intended goals to prevent fraud and increase security. For example, some digitally signed third party credit card authorization form solutions authenticate the cardholder with address and security code verification. Authorized merchant employees access and decrypt the signed document, then key-enter the cardholder data into another system for subsequent authorizations. The document containing PAN and security code remains on file for some period of time.

“This method is rife with compliance problems, leaving hotels unprotected from friendly fraud, ‘it wasn’t me, I didn’t authorize’ and data breach risk”, per Christine Speedy, PCI Council QIR certified.

For instance, per PCI Compliance 3.2, the security code, must not be stored after authorization, even if encrypted. Whether the security code can be stored prior to authorization, PCI leaves up to card brands and acquirers. Per Visa Core rules, section 5.4.3.1, merchants cannot even ask for the Card Verification Value 2 (CVV2) from the Cardholder on any written form.

A series of card not present acceptance rules changes are driving an urgent need for hotels to update. These significant changes include the process to store cards, use stored cards, and obtain authorizations. All this means, whatever worked in the past is no longer valid today. In the digitally signed form example, there’s no relation between the initial cardholder authentication transaction and any future authorizations. However, if done properly, the issuer would have returned a response acknowledging the merchant notification that they’d gotten permission to store the card; future authorizations would include that response.

Hackers continue to target the hospitality industry and they’ve been quite successful. With 338 breaches in the 2018 Verizon Data Breach report, the accommodation sector ranks in the top three of most incidents and breaches. InterContinental Hotels Group, Marriott International, Radisson Hotel Group, Hilton, and Hyatt have all had breaches as have suppliers to the industry like Sabre Hospitality. If you know you’re going to be attacked, why not eliminate employee access to cardholder data completely?

How can hotels better protect against card not present credit card fraud? 3-D secure is a global protocol designed to be an additional security layer for online credit and debit card transactions. By combining a web-based authorization form with 3-D Secure cardholder authentication, including Verified by Visa, fraud liability shifts to the issuer, much like EMV chip shifts liability to the issuer. By using a payment gateway to manage initial and subsequent authorizations, with the capability to invoke 3-D secure, merchants mitigate chargeback risk and avoid the time consuming process of fighting to get their money back after they occur. As a bonus, some issuers support reduced interchange rates, the bulk of credit card processing fees, when 3-D Secure is invoked. No cardholder data is ever visible to employees.

With every part of the payment ecosystem needing to make changes- card issuer, acquirer (merchant account processor), payment gateway- it’s inevitable that there will be gaps in compliance. Non-compliance with rules can result in fines, penalty fees, and removal from card acceptance. 

Key questions to ask when evaluating hotel third party credit card authorization solutions:

·      Is the security code ever stored?

·      Is 3-D secure supported?

·      Is it compliant with the Visa stored credential mandate, including unscheduled credential on file?

·      After the initial authorization, are subsequent authorizations submitted with retail, MOTO (telephone order), or e-commerce transaction type?

·      Correct Answers: no, yes, yes, MOTO

Keywords: #creditcardfraud #databreach #lodging #hotels #pcicompliance #creditcardauthorizationform

Call Christine Speedy, PCI Council QIR certified, for PCI compliant web-based third party authorization forms and other hotel payment technology to make your business more profitable and secure. 954-942-0483, 9-5 ET.

Elavon Acquires CenPOS, Enhancing Elavon’s Digital Capabilities, Integrating Payments into CenPOS Software

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MINNEAPOLIS–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Elavon, a global payments provider and subsidiary of U.S. Bancorp, has acquired CenPOS, a Miami-based company offering integrated payment software solutions to large enterprises.

“More and more, businesses are choosing their payment provider based on the software solutions they use to manage other parts of their operations. With this acquisition, customers of both companies will benefit from the strengths and opportunities these organizations offer in important industry segments.”

CenPOS focuses on three industry verticals: automotive, travel and entertainment (T&E), and general business-to-business transactions, which aligns well with Elavon’s strengths. In addition, CenPOS’ distribution strategy and product capability complement Elavon’s assets, all of which make the two entities an excellent fit.

Increasingly, business owners expect that the software packages they use to run their businesses will come with payments acceptance and processing embedded in the software offering. Elavon is paving a way to future growth by integrating with these software packages.

“Elavon recognizes the tremendous potential we have to bring greater value to our customers by integrating with software companies like CenPOS,” said Jamie Walker, CEO of Elavon. “More and more, businesses are choosing their payment provider based on the software solutions they use to manage other parts of their operations. With this acquisition, customers of both companies will benefit from the strengths and opportunities these organizations offer in important industry segments.”

“The CenPOS team is elated to join Elavon,” said Jorge Fernandez, CEO, who cofounded CenPOS with German Gonzalez. “Elavon’s suite of payment products, coupled with the stability and array of financial offerings from U.S. Bank, gives CenPOS an unparalleled competitive edge in the market. Likewise, CenPOS’s technology brings new market expertise to Elavon’s current technology solutions.”

U.S. Bank has a long history in payments, with scale and deep experience that offer a unique value to customers. Elavon accepts and processes payments on behalf of more than a million businesses in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Europe. Adding CenPOS to the U.S. Bancorp family will provide even greater scale and payments capabilities.

The acquisition closed on January 8, 2019. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Elavon provides end-to-end payment processing solutions and services to more than 1.3 million customers in the United States, Europe, Canada, Mexico, and Puerto Rico. As the leading provider for airlines and a top five provider in hospitality, healthcare, retail, and public sector/education, Elavon’s innovative payment solutions are designed to solve pain points for businesses from small to enterprise-sized.

U.S. Bancorp, with 74,000 employees and $465 billion in assets as of September 30, 2018, is the parent company of U.S. Bank, the fifth-largest commercial bank in the United States. The Minneapolis-based bank blends its relationship teams, branches and ATM network with mobile and online tools that allow customers to bank how, when and where they prefer. U.S. Bank is committed to serving its millions of retail, business, wealth management, payment, commercial and corporate, and investment services customers across the country and around the world as a trusted financial partner, a commitment recognized by the Ethisphere Institute, which named the bank a 2018 World’s Most Ethical Company. Visit U.S. Bank at usbank.com or follow on social media to stay up to date with company news.