Visa Announces Non-EMV Compliant Fees

The nationwide shift to EMV-enabled cards - also known as chip or smart cards - began in 2015 with the liability shift, making the party with the least secure technology responsible for chargebacks and fraudulent transactions. Since then, EMV transactions have become a way of life, and consumers have grown more comfortable with the seamless checkout process and security they receive. 

Major card brands have continued to push EMV transactions over swipe. Together we must continue to remain vigilant against the threat of fraud and ensure our shared customers continue to operate in a secure transaction environment.

As a trusted Heartland partner, we wanted to make you aware of two new programs that will be implemented starting with transactions processed on April 1, 2021 to encourage broader adoption of EMV technology in the marketplace...

Visa has announced that they will be issuing a non-EMV Fallback fee beginning in April. If an EMV card is swiped instead of using the EMV chip a fallback fee will be assessed per transaction. These fees will be displayed on the merchant statement in the Visa portion of the Fee Summary section. It is important to note that Visa is the only one that can control this fee and there is no way to bypass it.

We have been urging our clients to upgrade their credit card systems, if necessary. Now may be your last opportunity to do so before being assessed with extra fees.

Give us a call or reach out to your account representative today.

IES, Inc.
781-816-9437
www.iesAdvisors.com

Is your business PCI compliant? Avoid fines for breaches!

Major breaches like TJMaxx and Target have been widely publicized in the past, but breaches at smaller businesses have received very little attention. This is mainly because information about these smaller occurrences have been very hard to come by due to two reasons.

First, not all states have disclosure laws requiring merchants to disclose breaches and secondly, card associations are not required to disclose individual cases.

According to a Wall Street Journal article, most breaches come from small businesses who are not up to date with technology or compliance laws. Here are some of the article highlights:

• More than 80% of the credit card breaches have occurred at small businesses.
• Visa levied $3.3 million in fines for non compliance against small businesses in just one year.
• MasterCard did not disclose their fines.
• Any business that accepts credit cards must agree to be PCI complaint.

Take for example the case study of Lodi Beer, a microbrewery and restaurant in California who unknowingly stored 11,728 credit card records in their point of sale system. (Track data from the credit card's magnetic strip cannot be stored according to PCI standards). When that data was breached, Visa and MasterCard fined Abanco, the restaurant's merchant account provider, $27,000. Abanco then in turn passed that fine onto the restaurant. In addition to the fines, this merchant has spent over $50,000 in remediation costs, legal fees, upgrades, etc. That is a huge amount of money for a small business. Had they been up to date with their technology, this situation could have been avoided.

Here are some interesting facts that you should know about PCI compliance standards:

• Visa, MasterCard and the other card brands have put the responsibility  of maintaining compliance status on the processor or merchant account provider. They've successfully done this with a policy of making them responsible for paying fines when breaches occur.
• While these processors are responsible for fines, they will almost always pass whatever they're fined onto the merchant.
• If merchants are ultimately responsible for the fines, it is their responsibility to maintain PCI standards and stay up to date with their technology.

IES would love to help you become compliant. Give us a call at 781-816-9437 or check us out online at iesAdvisors.com.

IES is pleased to announce our new partnership with Heartland Payment Systems - the largest credit card processor in the United States.

Heartland Payment Systems is a Global Payments company. Global Payments Inc. (NYSE: GPN) is a leading worldwide provider of payment technology services that delivers innovative solutions driven by customer needs globally. Their technologies, partnerships and employee expertise enable them to provide a broad range of products and services that allow our customers to accept all payment types across a variety of distribution channels in many markets around the world.

Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia with more than 8,500 employees worldwide, Global Payments is a member of the S&P 500 with merchants and partners in 29 countries throughout North America, Europe, the Asia-Pacific region and Brazil.

What Heartland Stands For
Founder of the Merchant Bill of Rights: Heartland created The Merchant Bill of Rights to promote fair credit, debit and prepaid card processing practices on behalf of owners of small- to mid-sized businesses. The aim was to create an industry standard, that calls for the clear and straightforward presentation of card processing costs. The purpose of The Merchant Bill of Rights is to enable business owners who don’t have the resources of large purchasing organizations to effectively manage their costs, determine which processor best meets their needs and realize significant savings.

Making Sure Your Money Stays in Your Hands: In 2011, legislation was passed that could mean significant savings for many businesses. The Durbin Amendment, part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act, placed a cap on interchange or transaction fees and was intended to provide merchants relief from card processing costs. Since the amendment was passed, Heartland has delivered every cent of savings to the rightful recipients - business owners.

“We will help businesses prosper by providing them with effective solutions in a fair, honest and transparent manner.”
– Bob Carr, Heartland’s Founder

Why IES Has Partnered With Heartland
From lodging to hospitality, restaurants, bars, clubs, convenience stores, and even the government & education sectors - Heartland processes credit cards for every industry. IES is thrilled to be able to partner with a company that holds itself to such high standards.

What This Means For IES Clients
If you are an IES client, we can help you save on your merchant processing fees. Not only do we pass along the savings to you, but if you run into trouble down the road, you know you can count on us to resolve any issues! With our partnership, we have a direct link to support personnel and a dedicated account representative to guide us through anything that is thrown our way.

The Ultimate Question
How are your credit card processing rates? Give IES a call at 781-816-9437 or email contactus@iesadvisors.com to see how we can save you on merchant fees!