Between merchants and customers, there are so many different ways to take and make payments, but working with a payment processor can help to keep them all straight. When you accept credit cards at your business, it can be online, through mobile apps or through an in-person POS terminal. As more options have become available, card and data security have also seen many changes, and one of the most notable changes has come with the introduction of EMV technology.
A quick recap on EMV: EMV stands for Europay, MasterCard, and Visa. As told by CreditCards.com, it provides a global standard to accept credit cards with a special embedded chip that heightens security and reduces the risk of counterfeit fraud. The EMV chip card contains technology that individualizes a transaction a bit more than magnetic strip cards. With a magnetic strip, the data used from each swipe remains the same. This makes it extremely easy for thieves to replicate the data and use it to acquire the necessary customer information to make unauthorized purchases.
The chip takes away some of the ease of thieves replicating credit card information. To accept credit cards with EMV technology now takes a few extra seconds, but unlike the magnetic strip, the data cannot be so easily stolen. The chip creates a brand new transaction code with each use that is unable to be replicated, making more secure transactions all around. While there is still some risk to credit cards when used in online and mobile platforms, the chip makes it much harder for criminals to make profits.
Since 2015 when it first arrived in the U.S., there have been debates back and forth about whether it was a worthwhile change, liability shifts, and how secure it really makes payments across the board. Amid all of these debates there have been both positive and negative points of view, but either way, there is still a question coming from both sides: what will happen next? Inc. and CreditCards.com have predictions for what 2017 will bring.
The Transition is Over: 2016 was the year that EMV really started to make its way around to merchants as the new standard. While it is still doing that, it is expected in 2017 that there will be improvements to the process. One, in particular, we are hoping to see is more speed to accept credit cards with chip technology. Merchants want to reduce long lines with the introduction of “dipping” over using an insert slot. Currently, only 29% of retailers are able to accept chip cards, but 2017 is expected to increase that number to a whopping 98%.
Priority #1 is Security: With the presence of chip technology cracking down on the security of payments, other payment options will continue to be more vulnerable than EMV, such as online and mobile. There is potential for criminals to try and find ways to threaten the security of chip cards, giving overall fraud prevention priority status for all payments in 2017 – EMV technology included.
Speed Will Soar: The average time to process a chip card payment has been recorded between 12-15 seconds, followed by several loud beeps to indicate the end of processing. MasterCard and Visa have already introduced some faster chip processing, Quick Chip, and M/Chip Fast, in 2016. Coming in the future, processing time, as well as the volume of beeps across the board, are expected to go down.
Be Ready to Adapt: The change for merchants big and small are inevitable. Soon it will not be just large businesses that upgrade their POS terminals for chip adaptability, but also small businesses will have no choice in the change. Procrastinating this update could end up costing you more money than converting would due to the shift in liability, which could possibly result in chargebacks.
Online and mobile payments offer a convenience that is hard to match in today’s world of payments, but EMV still has plenty of perks. Much like eReaders vs. regular books, it is sometimes preferable to have a physical alternative, not to mention a secure one. 2017 is a year of big changes in payments, and EMV technology will continue to change how merchants accept credit cards.
This piece was written by Lauren Minning, Content Specialist for Payline.
