3 Critical Payment Processing Questions Answered

When it comes to running a business, there’s an overwhelming amount of items to check off your to-do list. Processing payments is just one of them.

Ken Harwell, senior payment processing advisor at i3 Commerce Technology, shares the answers to three important questions you likely have about your processing environment.

#1 Who Do I Contact When I Have Questions about My Account?

Your best bet is to reach out to support. That’s where you’ll find helpful documents about your processing equipment, frequently asked questions and a helpful phone number.

“The support team can either answer questions on behalf of your advisor, or put you in contact with your advisor, if the issue is beyond their scope,” Ken says.

The EMV liability shift primarily affects retail businesses because these merchants typically process

• Contact i3 Commerce Technology’ support team at 1-800-621-8931.

#2 Does the EMV Liability Shift Affect My Business?

cards in a card-present environment. “There are serious implications of the EMV liability shift because the merchant assumes the loss. It costs them money,” Ken points out.

To avoid this, you need to either purchase EMV-compliant equipment or update the download in your existing EMV-compliant equipment.

A regular chargeback due to something not EMV-related, like a disputed charge or unhappy customer, however, is a different story. “Those issues have the ability to be challenged. Merchants can attempt to resolve those,” he adds.

You can attempt to resolve those disputes by responding to the chargeback notice you receive in the mail, which will include instructions and contact information for support.

• Learn more about the EMV Liability Shift.

#3 Why Do I Need to Complete My PCI Self-Assessment Questionnaire?

PCI Self-Assessment Questionnaires need to be completed annually. Quarterly security scans are required if any of your equipment is internet-based. The questionnaire you take is tailored to your processing environment because each merchant’s level of fraud exposure varies, depending on card acceptance practices.

“Merchants need to understand where their vulnerabilities are,” Ken explains. “The survey points out and asks very poignant questions about how you process cards. What do you do with receipts? Do you store card data in any way – and if so, is it written on paper or stored electronically? Is it password protected? All of these things fall into the realm of a merchant being PCI-complaint.”

The Most Common Reasons Merchants Aren’t Compliant

The most common reasons merchants aren’t PCI-compliant are:

• Lack of awareness
• Failure to understand their liability when it comes to cardholder data protection.

PCI registration offers 50 to 100 thousand dollars of indemnification protection. This means if your business is at fault for a security breach of card data, you are protecting your business assets to cover monetary assessments, fees, fines or penalties, etc…, per occurrence.