Payment and Processing Basics
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Vantiv provides a summary of recent changes from payment networks: - Visa expanded its tax payment program to include government and higher education payments and removed requirements on debit transactions. - Visa modified rules for partial authorizations at fuel dispensers to no longer require reversals. - International interchange fees will now be assessed monthly instead of daily. - MasterCard eliminated registration for its CVC2 validation program and extended reversal windows for travel merchants. - Discover increased its no signature limit from $25 to $50.
Payment and Processing Basics
- 1. Vantiv EXCHANGE January 2013 | 1 Exchange The statements contained herein are based upon the information available to Vantiv as of the date and time of this bulletin and are subject to change. Not intended for further distribution. © Copyright 2013 Vantiv. All rights reserved. January 2013 We are committed to working closely with you to help achieve your business goals. As a part of this commitment, we closely monitor Network and Association changes and summarize them in the Vantiv Exchange. Following is the summary of information from American Express®, Discover® Network, MasterCard® Worldwide and Visa® U.S.A. regarding changes or updates to interchange rates, operating rules and regulations and other changes that may impact your company. We encourage you to call your Relationship Manager or our Contact Center at the number located on your monthly statement with any questions you may have regarding this information. Visa Tax Payment Program to Include Government and Higher Education The Program: The Visa Tax Payment Program allows registered eligible merchants to assess cardholder fees on qualifying tax payment transactions. The Change: Effective November 6, 2012, Visa expanded the Convenience Fee Tax Payment Program to include other government and higher education merchants. The program has been renamed the Government and Higher Education Payment Program. The Impact: The revised program is now available to the following MCCs: • MCC 9222-Fines • MCC 9211-Court Costs • MCC 9399-Miscellaneous Government Services • MCC 8220-College Tuition • MCC 8244-Business Schools • MCC 8249-Trade Schools Merchants in the above categories will now be able to charge a variable rate convenience fee in face-to- face and card-not-present payment channels. Visa has also removed the requirement to charge a flat fee on signature debit transactions. Registration is required for participation in the program. Requirements: Registering merchants must meet the following requirements: • Clearly disclose fees to the Visa cardholder and meet cardholder fee requirements (Variable fees are permitted) • Accept Visa as a means of payment in all channels where payments are accepted In This Edition: – Visa® Tax Payment Program – Visa® Visa AFD Partial Authorization – International Interchange – MasterCard® Processing Integrity Fee – Discover® No Signature Changes
- 2. Vantiv EXCHANGE January 2013 | 2 The statements contained herein are based upon the information available to Vantiv as of the date and time of this bulletin and are subject to change. Not intended for further distribution. © Copyright 2013 Vantiv. All rights reserved. • Process all government and higher education and service fee transactions according to the rules of the Government and Higher Education Payment Program • Feature the opportunity to pay with Visa at least as prominently as all other payment methods Please contact your Relationship Manager for additional information. Visa Partial Authorization Requirements Modified The Program: Domestic Automated Fuel Dispenser Merchants who participate in the partial authorization service must submit an authorization reversal for the difference between the amount approved in the partial authorization response and the final transaction amount of the cardholder’s purchase. The Change: Effective December 13, 2012, Visa will no longer require AFD merchants that participate in the Visa Partial Authorization Service to submit an authorization reversal for the difference between the approved partial authorization amount and the final transactions amount. The Impact: Although participating merchants will no longer be required to submit a reversal for the difference between the approved partial authorization and final transaction amounts, merchants are still required to submit an authorization reversal if the cardholder does not complete the AFD transaction. Visa/MasterCard/Discover International Interchange Rates The Program: Visa and MasterCard have International Interchange fees which Vantiv calculates within merchants’ daily interchange qualifications. The Change: Moving forward, these International interchange fees will be assessed monthly on the service invoice instead of calculated within the daily interchange qualifications. The Impact: Merchants will see a difference on the monthly service invoice which will now reflect these international interchange fees. The interchange billing modification will be reflected on the April 2013 Service Invoice for March’s 2013 processing. The Service Invoice descriptors and rates are described below: • Visa Acq POS ISA - 0.40% • Visa Acq POS IAF - 0.45% • MC Acq POS Program Support - 0.55% • MC Acq POS Cross Border - 0.40% • Discover International Processing Fee - 0.40% • Discover International Service Fee - 0.55%
- 3. Vantiv EXCHANGE January 2013 | 3 The statements contained herein are based upon the information available to Vantiv as of the date and time of this bulletin and are subject to change. Not intended for further distribution. © Copyright 2013 Vantiv. All rights reserved. MasterCard Revised CVC2 Validation Program The Program: In 2009, MasterCard introduced the Validation Program for U.S. merchants. When a merchant registered in the program processes a key-entered face-to-face transaction, the merchant may seek to obtain card validation code 2 (CVC2) instead of a card imprint. With respect to chargeback reason code 4837 (No Cardholder Authorization), such CVC2 validation is a valid substitute for a card imprint as proof of card presence. The Change: MasterCard is removing the registration requirement for merchant participation in the CVC2 Validation Program. The Timing: The change is effective for transactions occurring on or after April 19, 2013. The Impact: By eliminating the registration requirement, all merchants will be able to accept unembossed cards if the magnetic stripe cannot be read, preventing lost sales for the issuer and merchant. Registration is still required until January 15, 2013 for merchants who would like to participate in the program before April. Please keep in mind merchants should only use the CVC2 value for authorizations and never record or store the CVC2 value. MasterCard Processing Integrity Fee The Program: In 2011, MasterCard implemented a Processing Integrity Fee on transactions where they could not match an approved authorization to a clearing message or reversal request if all or part of a transaction was not submitted for clearing. The current reversal window is 24 hours on a card-present authorization and 72 hours on a card-not-present authorization. The Change: MasterCard is increasing the allowable window of reversals for specific TE merchant category codes to 20 calendar days from the date of the original authorization, effective April 19, 2013. The change impacts the following MCCs: • 3351-3441 (Car Rental Agencies) • 3501-3999 (Lodging – Hotels, Motels, Resorts) • 4411 (Cruise Lines) • 7011 (Lodging – Hotels, Motels, Resorts not classified elsewhere) • 7512 (Car Rental Agency not classified elsewhere) MasterCard will begin monitoring authorizations with the impacted MCCs in April 2013 and will report to the acquirer any authorization or merchant that exceeds the new limit. Fees for non-compliant reversals will begin to be assessed in October 2013, allowing merchants time to alter procedures. Incremental authorizations will be excluded from the monitoring program. The Impact: Merchants should ensure any approved amount that will not be included in the settled transaction is reversed by a partial or full reversal within the allowable time frame.
- 4. Vantiv EXCHANGE January 2013 | 4 The statements contained herein are based upon the information available to Vantiv as of the date and time of this bulletin and are subject to change. Not intended for further distribution. © Copyright 2013 Vantiv. All rights reserved. Discover No Signature Required Card Sales Limit Change The Program: Discover’s No Signature Required Card Sales Program eliminates the requirement that eligible merchants obtain a signature under a specified amount. The Change: Effective April 19, 2013, Discover is increasing the no signature required card sales limit from $25 to $50 or less for eligible merchants. Chip Card transactions of $50.00 or less by eligible merchants do not require the cardholder’s signature on transaction documentation if the merchant obtains a positive authorization response on a Chip Card terminal. Chargebacks: For No Signature Required Card Sales, merchants operating in the United States are only required to provide a copy of the transaction receipt upon request by the cardholder. Retrieval requests or chargebacks received on No Signature Required Sale transactions will require some type of draft from the merchant. Failure to respond to a retrieval request may result in a non-reversible chargeback. Card Present Card Sales of more than $50.00, including applicable taxes, gratuity, and/or cash over, except Chip Card transactions, are not eligible for treatment as No Signature Required Card Sales and are subject to dispute if merchants fail to obtain the cardholder’s signature on the transaction documentation. Exclusions: The following MCCs are not eligible to participate in the Discover No Signature Required Card Sales Program: • 4829 Money Transfer – Non-Financial Institution • 6010 Member Financial Institution – Manual Cash Disbursements • 6011 Member Financial Institution—Automated Cash Disbursements • 6050 Quasi Cash – Member Financial Institution • 6051 Quasi Cash – Non-Financial Institution • 6531 Payment Service Provider – Money Transfer for a Purchase • 6532 Payment Service Provider – Member Financial Institution – Payment Transaction • 6533 Payment Service Provider – Merchant – Payment Transaction • 6534 Money Transfer – Member Financial Institution • 7995 Betting (e.g., lottery tickets, OTB)