If you’re a business owner that accepts debit or credit card purchases, you may have already been aware of the chip-enabled transformation that could change the way you do business. On October 1st, 2015, a new rule was placed on merchants where they could be held fully liable for any losses caused from credit card fraud if they don’t have EMVchip-enabled readers on their POS terminals. What’s this mean? If a consumer has a credit card with an EMV chip and doesn’t have the option of sliding the card in the special reader, the merchant could be held liable for the fraud, if it were to occur.
Essentially, merchants and retailers need to provide consumers with this new card reader to provide them with a more secure way of paying with a card. However, it could end up costing the merchant a pretty penny to upgrade their POS terminals to accept the new form of payment. It seems to be a tough situation for some business owners because the upgraded payment terminals could cost over $1000. But, at the same time, the retailer could end up paying more if they don’t upgrade, because if consumers card information is stolen and fraudulently used, the retailer could have to pay for the financial damages.
Why the Change?
In short, EMV chip technology was developed by three major card companies – Europay, MasterCard and Visa – and they created the standard to make it harder for thieves to access consumers’ information. This new method of making a purchase uses the technology in the chip and the EMV-enabled payment terminal to generate a unique transaction code that cannot be duplicated and used again. This way, thieves cannot replicate the card information because it’s basically a one-time-only code.
Even though October 1st is the deadline for the change, banks and credit card companies haven’t issued the new chip-enabled cards to all consumers yet and roughly 60% of Americans still don’t have them. While the process will still take a considerable amount of time for both merchants and banks to fully change over, cardholders can continue to make purchases by swiping the magnetic strip.
Gas Pumps & ATMs
Gas station pumps aren’t required to replace the card readers to the EMV terminals until 2017 and ATMs will also need updating before then. In October 2016, Mastercard fraud liability will shift to ATM owners and following the next year, October 2017, Visa will also shift liability over to ATM owners. That means many ATMs are beginning to switch over to the EMV technology and National Cash is ready to get the initiative going!
If your business cannot afford to make the transition to EMV-enabled POS terminals and you don’t want to turn away customers with cards, you could look into an EMV-ready ATM machine for sale to handle your customers’ needs. ATMs use the latest technology and programs to securely give customers access to their money instantly and National Cash is ready to help merchants make the EMV chip transition. Talk with a National Cash representative today to for a free evaluation of your EMV readiness by calling 949.417.5000 or 888.642.CASH (2274).