As established by influential report from that bastion of finances Barclay’s, the United States accounts for about one quarter of the world’s credit card sales. Reflecting just how badly behind that nation is in maintaining secure financial networks, according to that bank’s report, nearly half of all worldwide credit card fraud occurs there.
The reason for that difference in fraud results in the US has been the lagging behind of the Yanks in abandoning their current outdated magnetic strip payment systems. And in them adopting the more secure payment technology standard for card present transactions: Europay, Mastercard, Visa (EMV). No more.
EMV: State of the Art Payment System Delivers Improved Security to US Consumers with Smart Cards
As the US finally rolls out the better-secured EMV electronic payment card technology, that runaway credit card fraud stat may also be about to change for the better.
All merchants and others who accept debit and credit cards for payments are now required to have in place in their business establishments’ new EVM compliant credit/debit card terminals. The new equipment is needed to process the smarter cards.
Inexpensive EVM card processing stations are available and it is expected that the costs to enterprises –for the basically mandatory upgrades– will be more than offset by the savings from fraud reduction that the enhanced security of the computer chip embedded cards boast.
Deck Stacked Against Merchants Resisting Change to EVM
Those brick and mortar merchants not yet on board with EVM compatible chip card readers will begin to feel the pinch sooner rather than later. In the form of being zapped for any future fraud liabilities that come from their non EVM enabled sales registers.
While merchants with EVM enabled sales terminals will get off virtually scot-free from such fraud liabilities. That’s because the credit card powers that be are putting their money where their mouth is in support of the superior payment system. Reason enough to go along with the pack on this one.
So if you haven’t yet gotten with the EVM flow, get with it ASAP by teaming up with a credit card processing provider like Dharma Merchant Services. Let them be your gateway to the safer, fraud free commerce that EVM card sales will deliver to your business. Leaving you freer to concentrate on your enterprise.
What Will the Impact to Consumers Be of the USA’s Switch to EVM Debit/Credit Cards?
Debit/credit card users will not notice much difference in the use of the new cards. Except that instead of swiping them they must instead leave them in the card terminal during the transaction. That new step is referred to in the world of finance as ‘card dipping.’
During the new dipping transaction method of the chip card technology, the card holder’s personal data is kept in the card’s chip, rather than being communicated to the merchant. This will prevent merchants from acquiring too much personal information of their customers and contribute greatly to consumer security and privacy.
EVM Compliance Moot for Online and Phone-based Transactions
EVM’s improved security when handling debit and credit card purchases is only gained when the actual card is present at the specific location of the sale. Therefore businesses and other concerns that conduct their sales over the traditional landline phone and online –where no physical card is ever present– do not benefit from the fraud preventive features embodied in the newfangled smart cards.
Online and mail order telephone order (MOTO) sales merchants will instead have to keep on keeping on with whatever their current wise and prudent financial debit/credit card approval precautions may be.
