Equipment Rental Credit Card Processing Rules Change

Bobcat, Caterpillar, and other companies that offer rental equipment, all are impacted by new credit card processing rules for rentals. equipment rentals credit card processing

While businesses expect their software, including ERP, Point of Sale, and ecommerce shopping carts to help them manage compliance with credit card acceptance rules, the reality is that many don’t. Compliance increases profits; non-compliance increases new chargeback risks, interchange fees, penalty fees and authorization declines.

Traditional desktop terminals don’t support the new transaction data requirements. If merchant is not using EMV chip device, now is the time to upgrade to a cloud-based solution and fix two problems at once. Rental merchants cannot meet both card acceptance and Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards compliance requirements using traditional paper credit card authorization forms. Cloud technology and a compliant payment gateway are needed. For example, pair the Verifone MX 915 with the CenPOS validated Point to Point Encryption (P2PE) solution and use either a standalone or integrated to ERP such as Microsoft Dynamics AX.

Key elements for compliance:

  • Initial authorization transaction must send new transaction indicator that it’s an estimate; the final amount could change for example because the renter kept it longer or damaged the equipment. This is technically managed by the payment gateway.
  • If applicable, send incremental authorizations with related indicator.
  • If storing the card, the Visa Stored Credential mandate outlines the specific requirements for agreement with customer, cardholder authentication, and procedures to use a stored card on file. For example, perform cardholder authentication with either security code or 3-D Secure. 3-D Secure can only be invoked if the customer self-pays; it shifts friendly fraud liability to the issuer and merchants can also qualify some cards for even lower interchange rates.
  • Update language in agreements for opt-in to terms and conditions as required by Visa.

Card issuers and acquirers were mandated to be compliant in 2017, and merchants by October 2017, however, there’s no mandate for payment gateways. Even if an existing payment gateway supports the new requirements, merchants must make changes. Visa is the most complex, however other brands have similar rules.

From tokenization to Express Checkout, CenPOS creates a seamless commerce experience throughout the enterprise. Innovations, including Express Checkout via text or email, help businesses maximize profit in all departments. CenPOS takes the heavy lifting out of payment acceptance offering a range of solutions that simplify every aspect of implementing, operating and maintaining a payment system enabling merchants to focus on their business. CenPOS Express Checkout via text or email includes 3-D Secure capability as part of a layered security approach.

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. Powered by its enterprise-class, end-to-end transaction engine, CenPOS’ secure, cloud-based solutions seamlessly integrate with a merchants existing infrastructure minimizing disruption and saving time and money. Committed to a merchant-centric approach CenPOS provides a one-to-one level of service and support, enabling merchants to focus on their core business.

Headquartered in Miami, Florida, CenPOS is reshaping the future of commerce through technology innovation and the secure, flexible and simple solutions this enables. Christine Speedy, CenPOS Global Sales, 954-942-0483.

Reference:

https://usa.visa.com/dam/VCOM/global/support-legal/documents/stored-credential-transaction-framework-vbs-10-may-17.pdf

See also core rules, especially section 5 https://usa.visa.com/dam/VCOM/download/about-visa/visa-rules-public.pdf

American Express SafeKey Video and B2B tips

American Express SafeKey® leverages the global industry standard, 3-D Secure®*, to detect and reduce online fraud by adding an extra layer of security when Card Members shop online. Merchant and customer experience answers in this article.

American Express SafeKey

 

How does Amex SafeKey impact the customer shopping experience? The cardholder may have some or no difference in the checkout experience, based on many factors, including prior online shopping history. The cardholder may be asked authentication question(s) to confirm it’s really the cardholder.

How does Amex SafeKey impact merchants?

  • Fraud liability for “It wasn’t me, I didn’t authorize it” goes away as liability shifts back to the issuer.
  • For business to business, where cardholder billing and shipping address frequently vary, cardholder authentication plays an important role not available with four digit CID security code validation only.
  • At this writing, American Express merchants do not receive a specific interchange discount as may be available with other card brands.

How can merchants adopt the Amex SafeKey service?

  1. Enroll your company on the American Express web site. https://network.americanexpress.com/globalnetwork/safekey/us/en/merchants-acquirers
  2. Receive e-mail from SafeKey Certification Team with your SafeKey ID and next steps.
  3. SafeKey Certification Team gets approval from Acquirer.
  4. Acquirer and SafeKey Certification Team complete required setup.
  5. Activate 3-D Secure on the application. (Ecommerce shopping cart, payment gateway, or ERP.) Both payment gateway and application must support the service.

* 3-D Secure is a registered trademark of Visa International Service Association in the United States and other countries.

Have a question about how to add to your business? Contact CenPOS global sales and integrations reseller, Christine Speedy, 954-942-0483 for more information.

Credit Card Testing Explosion Hurts Merchants Profits

If you accept payments online, have you hardened security to protect from card testing? Card testing is a big criminal business. They’re sophisticated and use hardware and software that can send thousands of stolen credit card data in less than an hour to your payment portal or ecommerce shopping cart before you even know you’ve been hit.

Brute-force authorization attacks can be very expensive for merchants. For every attempted authorization, merchants pay a payment gateway fee, plus a fee to the merchant services processor (acquirer).

Example:

  • $.30 per transaction gateway
  • $.10 per transaction processor
  • 20,000 cards tested @$.40= $8,000

There’s no getting back the $8,000. The gateway and processor passed the data you gave them. In the event orders are approved, there’s the additional cost of lost product shipped and the associated chargeback fee. Then there’s the cost of damaged brand reputation from cardholders who voice on social media, where it lives on forever, how their card was used unauthorized.

How can merchants protect online payments from card testers?  Google reCAPTCHA is a free service that protects your website from spam and abuse. reCAPTCHA can prevent bots from submitting a transaction that you’ll pay for. For most shopping carts, it’s the payment gateway that must support reCAPTCHA. If the integration does not include reCAPTCHA or similar service, merchants might want to review if their gateway is compliant with current rules acceptance in general.

Protecting against both bots and fraudulent transactions is tricky.

Fifteen percent of all cardholders have had at least one transaction unnecessarily declined in the previous 12 months, according to a 2015 study by Javelin.

Unnecessary declines are also called False Positives. Cardholder authentication is a layer of security to protect against fraudulent purchasing, increasing approvals and reducing False Positives. 3-D Secure is a global XML protocol for Cardholder Authentication; The card brands each has their own name- Verified by Visa, Amex Safekey, MasterCard SecureCode. Benefits of 3-D Secure include automation, shifting liability to card issuers without manual review of orders, increased approvals, and sometimes reduced Visa and MasterCard interchange fees.

Which payment gateways support recaptcha and Cardholder authentication?

reCAPTCHA is easy to implement, just check with your payment gateway provider or web developer. 3-D Secure is quick, easy and requires a few steps:

  • Confirm your payment gateway is 3-D Secure certified for your credit card processor (merchant services provider or acquirer). Ask which are certified: Verified by Visa, Amex Safekey, MasterCard SecureCode. Some have certifications, some don’t.
  • If there’s an application such as a shopping cart or e-invoicing, confirm the payment gateway integration will support 3-D Secure.
  • Contact your acquirer and ask them to register your merchant account for 3-D Secure. Some can, some can’t. It’s usually done in a day.
  • Turn on 3-D Secure in the payment gateway.

FAQ

Is there a cost for reCAPTCHA? No, it’s free from Google. If your payment gateway supports reCAPTCHA, it may just need to be activated on your account, no programming needed. Contact your payment gateway support or check their FAQ to find out.

Is there a cost to register for 3-D Secure? That’s up to the individual company doing the registration. Costs start at $0.

Is there an ongoing cost to use 3-D Secure? Yes, and it’s up to the individual company offering the service. Costs typically range from $.075 to $.30 per attempted authorization.

If hit by a card tester, can I negotiate to reduce fees? It’s unlikely because services were delivered as per your agreements.

Christine Speedy, authorized CenPOS reseller, provides universal payment processing solutions, including reCAPTCHA and 3-D Secure cardholder authentication, to maximize merchant profits and mitigate risk across multiple sales channels. Contact Christine at 954-942-0483.