You may have heard that the United States is transitioning to full adoption of EMV chip-enabled cards to reduce credit card fraud. We wanted to share a bit more about EMV and the options you’ll have to accept EMV cards.
What is EMV?
EMV is the global standard for smart card payments and acceptance devices, named after the developers: Europay, MasterCard, and Visa. EMV microchip-enabled cards provide stronger security and other capabilities not possible with traditional magnetic stripe cards.
Credit card companies are already issuing EMV/chip cards. A special card reader is required to read these EMV chips, but you can still swipe the cards through the same magnetic stripe readers you’re using today. However, to encourage businesses to adopt the more secure technology of EMV/chip cards, a liability shift is going into effect on October 1, 2015. Today, if you swipe a counterfeit or stolen card, the bank assumes the loss. Starting in October, if you swipe a counterfeit or stolen EMV/chip card with a magnetic stripe reader, you could be liable for that charge.
What this means for you
If you conduct business online or over the phone, an EMV reader is not necessary. You may want to become familiar with the signs of fraud and steps you can take to prevent it. Click Visa or MasterCard to learn more about best practices for online and over the phone transactions. Intuit QuickBooks has answered many questions about EMV in their online support center if you would like to learn more, or give Gibson & Associates a call at 775-720-3282 to talk about your specific issues or concerns.
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