Card Acceptance Guide Your Guide to Debit and Credit Acceptance and Processing
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Card Acceptance Guide Your Guide to Debit and Credit Acceptance and Processing wwww.monerisusa.comw w .monerisusa.co m Important Information Your merchant account representative Merchant Help Desk Telephone authorization number Merchant ID number Terminal ID number To verify issuing bank, call: MasterCard® 1-800-622-7747 Visa® 1-800-VISA-750 1-800-847-2750 Discover® 1-800-347-1111 American Express® 1-800-528-2121 Other © 2011 Heinrich Marketing, Inc. 1350 Independence St. | Denver, CO 80215 03/11 Merchant Guide to Card Acceptance Table of Contents What’s in this guide? Card Basics . 4 This quick-reference booklet will help you take full advantage of the How cards work . 4 benefits of accepting credit and debit cards . It explains acceptance and Issuance . 4 processing procedures, and offers tips to help you optimize your profits Acceptance . 4 from these sales . We have provided you with this booklet because, as your merchant acquirer, we have a vested interest in the success and growth of Settlement . 4 your business . Please follow these guidelines . Accepting Cards . 5 Which cards can you accept? . 5 This guide is part of your Merchant Agreement with us . In order to remain General acceptance guidelines . 6 in compliance with that agreement and retain your card acceptance Card Identification Features . 7 privileges, you must follow the requirements and procedures outlined in this guide . How to determine if a card is valid or fraudulent . 7 Visa card features . 8 How to use this guide MasterCard card features . 9 We’ve provided a Table of Contents on p . 3 and a Definitions section on Discover Card features . .10 p . 22, where you’ll find definitions for the terms that appear in this guide . American Express card features . .11 What to do with an unsigned card . .12 We’re here to help Warning signs of fraud . .12 We work hard to make sure your card acceptance program works Code 10 procedures . .13 efficiently and is flexible enough to grow and change with your business . If you have questions or comments we haven’t covered in this guide, please Processing Transactions . .14 contact your merchant representative . Electronic processing . .14 Processing key-entered transactions . .15 Card acceptance supplies Telephone authorization and manual processing . .16 Your Merchant Welcome Kit should contain everything you need to begin Processing returns . .17 card acceptance . If you need to order additional supplies, you should Processing mail, telephone and Internet orders . .17 contact customer service . Processing preauthorized orders/recurring payments . .18 Touch-tone processing . .18 Beware of draft laundering Depositing sales slips that are not yours is called “draft laundering” or After the Sale . .18 “factoring .” This practice is in violation of your merchant agreement Closing out your electronic terminal . .18 and could result in chargebacks, termination of your card acceptance Adjustments to your account . .19 privileges and criminal prosecution . If anyone asks you to deposit payment Chargebacks and retrievals . .19 card sales slips on their behalf, report the incident immediately to us and Tips to reduce chargebacks . .21 to the U .S . Secret Service . Draft retrieval request . .21 Definitions . .22 Card Acceptance Guide | 2 3 | Card Acceptance Guide In most transactions, that’s all there is to it . Occasionally, processing Card Basics errors or customer questions about a transaction may occur . Please refer to pp . 18–21 for more on how such errors and questions are handled . How cards work Credit and debit cards issued by financial institutions are a convenient alternative to cash and checks . MasterCard and Visa, along with American Accepting Cards Express and Discover® Cards, are now accepted by millions of merchants worldwide . Payment cards are generally issued by a bank, credit union or other financial institution . American Express and Discover, while not Which cards can you accept? banks, are also called card issuers . Your Merchant Agreement specifies which card types you should honor . You can accept them with confidence when you follow the guidelines Payment cards include both credit cards and debit cards . A credit card in this booklet . In addition to Visa, MasterCard, American Express and accesses a credit account, while a debit card accesses funds in a deposit Discover Credit Cards, your customers may present any of the following: account (checking account) . MasterCard, Visa and Discover debit cards You are authorized to accept all debit cards . Debit cards resemble Visa, Processing credit and debit cards involves three basic elements: issuance, MasterCard and Discover Credit Cards (see pp . 8–10) . Newer Visa debit acceptance and settlement . cards will have the word “Debit” printed on the front above the hologram . Issuance Most MasterCard debit cards will have a unique debit hologram, while To issue MasterCard, Visa, American Express or Discover Cards, a card some will have the word “Debit” printed on the front . On Discover Debit issuer must first enter a membership agreement with one or more of Cards, the name “DEBIT” must appear anywhere within the gray shaded the card associations (MasterCard or Visa) . Many issuers offer both area on the front of the card . MasterCard and Visa cards . American Express and Discover issue cards either directly to consumers or through financial institutions . Debit cards can be authorized using offline or online systems . Online cards are authorized through the debit card networks for funds availability, and To obtain a credit or debit card, your customer opens a deposit or credit require entry of a Personal Identification Number (PIN) . Authorizing debit account with a card issuer . Your customer may have cards from several cards in the offline mode requires a customer’s signature on the sales slip different issuers . instead of a PIN entry . Acceptance International cards Your Merchant Agreement with us specifies which cards you can accept: Credit and debit cards are issued by financial institutions throughout the Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover or other . Details of the world . You can accept any valid card, regardless of where it was issued . acceptance process begin on page 5 . If you are a U .S . merchant, all payment card transactions you accept are processed in U .S . funds . Conversion differences are applied to cardholder accounts without affecting cash value to you . Settlement You receive payment for transactions you accept through a process Other types of cards called settlement . When your customer uses a card at your business, There are a wide variety of other card types in today’s marketplace . Stored the card issuer pays you on behalf of your customer via a credit posted value cards, including payroll cards, gift cards and travel money cards, will electronically to your merchant account . The card issuer then bills your all bear the name and brand mark of one of the card associations . These customer . cards should display the same basic features you look for on credit and debit cards (see pp . 8–11) . Card Acceptance Guide | 4 5 | Card Acceptance Guide General acceptance guidelines • Do not charge fees or impose restrictions . The card associations 1 . Install and maintain a firewall configuration to protect data . and/or Discover prohibit you from adding a surcharge, assigning a 2 . Do not use vendor-supplied defaults for system passwords and other minimum or maximum purchase amount or imposing other restrictions security parameters . on card transactions . 3 . Protect stored data . • Do not process split sales . Attempting to avoid authorization (required on all transactions) by processing partial transaction amounts on 4 . Encrypt transmission of cardholder data and sensitive information separate sales slips is prohibited by the card associations and/or across public networks . Discover, and will result in chargebacks . 5 . Use and regularly update antivirus software . 6 . Develop and maintain secure systems and applications . Protect your customers 7 . Restrict access to data by business need-to-know . Never record a customer’s address, phone number, photo ID number or other personal information on a payment card sales slip . You can 8 . Assign a unique ID to each person with computer access . record such information elsewhere if your telephone authorization center 9 . Restrict physical access to cardholder data . requests it (see p . 16) or if you need it to deliver merchandise . Here are 10 . Track and monitor all access to network resources and cardholder a few other things you should do to protect your customers’ safety and data . privacy: 11 . Regularly test security systems and processes . • Store card sales slips in a secure area, accessible only to select 12 . Maintain a policy that addresses information security . personnel . • Destroy any documents showing card account numbers before discarding them . • Provide space on the inside of your mail-order forms for card Card Identification and Features account numbers, expiration dates, phone numbers and other sensitive information . How to determine if a card is valid or fraudulent The first step in accepting a card is making sure the card is valid . Examine Data security With the explosive growth of identity theft, data security has become every card presented to you to be sure it has the features outlined below more than just important — it’s mandatory . In an effort to slow the and on the following pages . If features are missing or altered, call your continued growth of identity theft, Visa, MasterCard, American Express telephone authorization number for a Code 10 (see p . 13) . (Note: Some and Discover have collaborated in creating a worldwide standard for features pictured in this guide are optional, and do not appear on all valid consumer data protection . This common approach combines Visa’s cards .) Cardholder Information Security Program (CISP), MasterCard’s Site Data Protection (SDP) Program, Discover Information and Security Compliance The following are features you should check for on every card: (DISC) and American Express’ Data Security Operating Policy (DSOP) .