EMV is coming to the USA and it's time to plan for the EMV transition.
17-20 million EMV cards were in use in the USA as of May 2014, according to the EMV Migration Forum. A report by the Aite Group projects up to 70% of US credit cards will have EMV chips by 2015.
As a result of the EMV transition, some fraud liability will shift to merchants beginning on October 1st, 2015, which is right around the corner. The Novera team wants to ease your transition to EMV with important information that you need to know.
We'll be publishing a series of blogs over the coming months to help you with the transition, and we thought the logical place to being is with a basic timeline of the EMV transition.
EMV Transition Timeline for Merchant Liability
APRIL 1, 2014
The transition actually started in early 2014 with these two items for VISA merchants:
- VISA : Card issuer liable for all unattended, online chip card terminals that support transactions without a signature or PIN
- VISA : New, unattended, online chip-enabled terminals must support transactions without a signature or PIN
JULY 1, 2015
VISA : All new and existing unattended, online chip-enabled terminals, except ATMs, must support transactions without a signature or PIN hardware upgrades are recommended by this date.
OCTOBER 1, 2015
ALL CARDS
Counterfeit liability shifts to merchants if a Non-EMV-enabled POS device is used for a card-present EMV chip transaction, except for automated fuel transactions and ATMs (excluding previous liability shift for International Maestro ATM transactions)
AMERICAN EXPRESS & MASTERCARD
Liability for lost or stolen cards shifts to merchants using Non-EMV-enabled POS device
for a card-present EMV chip transaction, except for automated fuel transactions.
DISCOVER & PULSE
Liability for lost or stolen cards shifts to merchants using, 1) Non-EMV-enabled
POS device or, 2) EMV-enabled POS device that does not support PIN for a card-present EMV chip transaction, except for automated fuel transactions.
OCTOBER 1, 2017
ALL CARDS
Counterfeit liability shifts to merchants using Non-EMV-enabled POS device for a card-
present EMV chip transaction for automated fuel transactions.
MASTERCARD & DISCOVER
Liability for lost or stolen cards shifts to merchants for automated fuel transactions using Non-EMV-enabled POS device for a card-present EMV chip transaction for automated fuel transactions
As a Business Who Accepts Credit Cards, Here's What you Need to Know About EMV Now
In a nutshell, the USA credit cand debit card payments industry has been chugging along on old technology while the rest of the world has implemented EMV card technology for more than a decade.
As recent data breach headlines suggest, criminals focus on the easiest targets and right now, that is the USA. But not for much longer.
In order to avoid potential liability while ensuring customer transaction security, many merchants plan to implement EMV technology. As a country, the USA is moving toward the EMV standard as a direct result of the payment networks shifting specific fraud liability to merchants starting on October 1, 2015.
The bottom line is that you need to understand what your liability is as a merchant and how to protect yourself. This is where the Novera Payment Solutions team comes in. If you are aren't sure where to start, or even what questions to ask, please take the time to contact us. Our goal is to make your transition as easy as possible. Our hands-on, consultative approach to the credit card payments industry, not only saves our clients money in credit card processing fees, it also saves them in lost time trying to weave through the complicated maze of credit card processing liability. Novera Payment Solutions is a team you can count on for all aspects of your credit card processing needs.
