Global Data Breach: Update #3

For today’s installment of The Official Merchant Services Blog, we are bringing you the most recent developments of the now infamous Global Payments Data Breach.

Back in March

When we first reported the breach, it had supposedly affected 50,000 cardholders and revolved around a taxi and parking garage company in the New York City area.  Over a short time, media outlets hyped up the story until the alleged number of affected cardholders hit 10,000,000.  Global CEO Paul Garcia estimated that closer to 1.5 million card numbers were compromised. Garcia also said that the breach was “self-reported” and “absolutely contained.”

In a quick response to the breach, Visa decided to remove the Atlanta-based processor from its list of “compliant service providers.”  This meant for the first time, Global would no longer be Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliant, a major problem for one of the world’s largest payment processors.  However, more consequences were to come for Global.

Update # 2

Host Merchant Services logo art for Blog Series on Global Payments Data BreachIn May we learned that the breach might have actually dated back to June of 2011, a full eight months earlier than previously predicted.  Global stuck by it’s story that that the breach only affected 1.5 million cards or less, and occurred in February 2012.  The initial source of the breach, however, Brian Krebs and his blog krebsonsecurity.com revealed that “a hacker break-in at credit and debit card processor Global Payments Inc. dates back to at least early June 2011, Visa and MasterCard warned in updated alerts sent to card-issuing banks in the past week.”  Krebs also found that Visa and MasterCard were sending periodic alerts to the banks about cards that may need to be re-issued following a security breach at a processor or merchant.

The 3rd time’s the charm

Global Payments executives estimated Thursday that the data breach revealed earlier this year could cost them upwards of $120 million to fix.  A large part of which is an $84 million dollar charge from the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2012 to cover fines and initial remediation costs from the payment card networks.  Global CFO David Mangum said that the company also anticipates breach-related expenses and insurance payments in fiscal 2013 that could total $28 million or more.  All the while, Global is working with a ‘Qualified Security Assessor’ in order to regain the PCI compliance certification they lost when the breach went public.

Tracking Track Data

Track data, is the raw cardholder data contained in a magnetic strip in a credit or debit card.  In late May, Global asserted that only Track 2 data had been lost in the breach, which contains account numbers and expiration dates.  Track 1 data contains cardholder names, addresses and other crucial data.  Global seemed to be insisting that this would lead to less fraud since the thieves could not produce counterfeit cards with the stolen data.  Union Savings Bank, based in Danbury, Conn was one of the banks alerted by Visa and MasterCard early, about potential fraud.  Visa alerted USB that about 1,000 of its debit accounts were compromised in the Global Payments breach.  These details show how Track 2 data alone was enough for criminals to encode the card numbers and expiration dates onto any card equipped with a magnetic strip.  These cards can then be used at any merchant accepting signature debit, any transactions that do not require the cardholder to enter a PIN number.

Host Merchant Service’s PCI Compliance Initiative

Looking at the threat of a data breach, Merchants must wonder what the solution can be. Is there protection available? PCI Compliance is a great foundation for transaction security. The standards and protocols set up by the PCI-DSS Council are the first step a merchant needs to take to protect their data. And Host Merchant Services offers a PCI Compliance Initiative that helps its merchants quickly and seamlessly take that step.

Also, one thing to consider if you are a merchant and you are worried about data breaches affecting your bottom line: Host Merchant Services Data Breach Security Program. Click that link to download a PDF explaining the value-added service HMS provides its merchants that goes above and beyond just simple PCI Compliance and helps ensure a merchant’s peace of mind.

Industry Terms: Near Field Communication

This is the latest installment in The Official Merchant Services Blog’s Knowledge Base effort. Well we want to make the payment processing industry’s terms and buzzwords clear. We want to remove any and all confusion merchants might have about how the industry works. Host Merchant Services promises: the company delivers personal service and clarity. So we’re going to take some time to explain how everything works. This ongoing series is where we define industry related terms and slowly build up a knowledge base and as we get more and more of these completed, we’ll collect them in our resource archive for quick and easy access. Building off of our recent foray into Mobile Payment Technology, today’s term is Near FIeld Communication (NFC).

Near Field Communication (NFC)

Near Field Communication, or NFC, is a short-range high frequency wireless communication technology which enables the exchange of data between devices with a touch. This touch capability allows for sharing, pairing, and transaction capability between the NFC devices. A smartphone or tablet that is NFC capable can be used as a keycard or an ID card. The same device can also be used to make credit card payments.

iPhoneNFC builds upon Radio-frequency identification (RFID) systems by allowing two-way communication between endpoints, where earlier systems such as contactless smart cards were one-way only. Since unpowered NFC “tags” can also be read by NFC devices, it is also capable of replacing earlier one-way applications.

This technology is being embraced by some major companies in the e-commerce industry for its ability to process credit card transactions. PayPal purchased Zong for just that reason. Visa invested heavily in mobile payments, as seen by their marketing plans for the 2012 Olympics. Google is making its Google Wallet and Google+ beta work toward that same vision of mobile payments made through NFC-based touch technology. And, as reported by Mashable, American Express’s Serve platform actually does support Visa, Mastercard, Discover, debit cards and other types of accounts.

Mobile Payment

Mobile Payment Options [2023 Update]

mobile payment

Yesterday, The Official Merchant Services Blog reported that the Mobile Payment market was predicted to expand exponentially over the next few years. Analysis by research firm Juniper has been heady and bold since 2011.

A second research operation, Gartner, recently reported that worldwide mobile payment users increased 38 percent in 2011 — jumping from just over 102 million to 141 million. Gartner also predicts the continued growth to be staggering in the next few years, suggesting that by 2016 there will be 448 million users worldwide.

Michael Koploy of Software Advice addressed these statistics in a blog entry for Credit Card Processing Terminal manufacturer Verifone on July 23 and in doing so, offered up some really sound analysis of Mobile Payment Processing Solutions which we are going to summarize here.

There are, according to Koploy, four basic forms of mobile payment that people can use:

  • Smartphone Credit Card Sleds  

    These are some of the most commonly used m-payment gadgets. They can range from the Square “dongle” attached to a mobile device, to the extensive selection of iPhone, iPad and Android attachments that Host Merchant Services offers through their cutting edge Mobile Payment Technology Solutions. They run payment processing applications through the device and the “sled” that the merchant attaches to their device is what captures the payment information by swiping a credit or debit card through its scanner.

  • Smartphone Barcode Apps

    These solutions are pretty straightforward. They usually consist of an application on a merchant’s device that allows them to scan a barcode, or a QR Code. The QR Code scanning is becoming extremely popular, giving companies the ability to run marketing promotions as well as purchases through the use of the QR Code and its ability to capture information. Fandango’s Mobile Ticket program allows you to purchase your movie ticket through their application and then just scan the QR Code they send to your device when you arrive at the theater. This program has been gaining increased success and popularity this summer, and as we reported, set record highs for the company with the release of the blockbuster Avengers Movie.

  • Smartphone Check-In Apps

     these solutions are a bit more esoteric in terms of actual purchasing, and end up being utilized more for direct and focused marketing strategies. Essentially the merchant is utilizing an application that is a take on the “check-in” format you find on social media sites like Facebook. The information logs a consumer’s location; and for marketing purposes also tracks their purchases, allowing merchants to make note of the consumer’s buying history and market deals appropriately. PayPal has taken this technology a step further, allowing shoppers to check-in at a location and then the Point of Sale software then calls that customer up and confirms payment through PayPal by confirming the matching profile photo on the terminal screen with the shopper. Not necessarily the most direct style of mobile purchasing, but one that relies on a more secure form of identification and thus confirmation of purchase.

  • Smartphone NFC Apps

     This form of mobile payment technology is one of the most talked about and heavily depended upon solutions when you consider the future of mobile payments. As we reported yesterday, Near Field Communication (NFC) is a key mobile payment technology that leads research firms like Juniper to suggest the market will grow by hundreds of billions of dollars in the next few years. The technology itself is the most direct and convenient form of mobile payment. The consumer simply swipes their smartphone past a terminal at the point of sale and the transaction is charged to the consumer. It’s essentially the next step in the evolution of convenient payment processing.

Koploy then gives a rundown of what retailers need to accept any of the four types of mobile payments detailed above:

Smartphone Credit Card Sleds

The simplest option for new retailers, Koploy suggests that retailers need little hardware investment to prepare to accept payments this way. You just need the mobile device, the application on the device, and the sled-attachment itself.

PayPal Check-In Apps

Directly opposite the credit card sleds, Koploy suggests that the check-in apps are the most particular and tricky technology for retailers to implement. It runs directly through PayPal, and currently PayPal only partners with four POS software vendors to even support the integration of the check-in app as a sales option. Leapset, ShopKeep, Vend and Erply are the only choices right now and require heavy investment from retailers into the software to get it up and running. On the bright side, Koploy points out that the investment carries with it the buying history of those that utilize the check-in, giving the merchant access to a powerful marketing tool that extends beyond just the simple point of sale transaction.

Smartphone Barcode Apps

Koploy suggests these options are only available in the UK, and we here at The Official Merchant Services Blog can only conclude he means the Verifone options exclusively since we’ve personally experienced the aforementioned Fandango Mobile Ticket program — yes, I bought my own Avengers movie ticket through the mobile ticket app, right here in Delaware. It was a QR Code that was emailed to me, and I simply had to call it up and let the local Regal multiplex scan the code to let me into the theater. Going off of that, I’d conclude that this is one of the more competitive solutions for Mobile Payment Technology, but that the fandango example shows a larger investment in technology and devices is needed than the card sleds option.

NFC Payments

Koploy states that merchants have two hardware options for NFC Payment solutions. The first is a stand-alone terminal designed solely for NFC payments. The second is an integrated credit card machine that is NFC capable. This solution, thus, also requires a heavier investment in hardware, but as the NFC movement groans — powered primarily right now by the Google juggernaut the company’s massive investment in Google Wallet — the NFC options becomes a solid choice. The transaction method still needs to gain more traction in the U.S. but it’s convenience is what has analysts banking on NFC fueling the rise of mobile payments.

Final Words

I really like Koploy’s rundown of what’s out there, and find his article a really good resource. It helps give perspective on what’s out there right now, and provides useful insight into the future of mobile payment processing from a company that is very much tied into the market’s growth — Verifone makes credit card terminals and so they need to stay on top of the mobile payment technology tidal wave as the very concept of mobile payments could make the standard equipment Verifone puts out obsolete.

But I find myself extremely intrigued by the check-in app and the QR Code apps. The check-in app, as currently being used by PayPal, addresses the biggest concern that U.S. consumers have with mobile payments — security of the transaction. The two variables that have kept Mobile Payment growth in check the past few years in the U.S. are:

  1. It’s still being tested in small groups and in only select areas. So basically you can’t just roll up to your local Wal-Mart and start swinging your iPhone around trying to buy Pringles and Energizers.
  2. There are a lot of people who are worried that actually swinging your phone around to be scanned will open you up to identity theft and fraud as scammers and thieves will swipe the signal.

The Check-In App hinges on a check-in alert and requires visual identification for the sale to happen. This seems a tad more secure than swiping a phone and letting your information be captured.

Then there’s the QR Codes. These really intrigue me. Part of that is because I’ve already successfully used this technology myself, so have seen it in action. And the other part is that I’ve seen the codes everywhere and are seeing them utilized for a variety of purposes in terms of marketing products and promotional programs. The technology hinges on using devices that already exist and you don’t have to add any dongles or devices to your phone.

As always, my take on Mobile Payments is that the analysis is correct. I look at how ingratiated E-Commerce has become in the U.S. economy, and even though identity theft and credit card fraud remains somewhat rampant, E-Commerce is booming because of how convenient the process is. I feel the same holds true for the future of Mobile Payments and so the predicted growth in the industry will be realized. Being able to utilize your phone to be scanned by a QR Code reader, or an NFC chip reader, will just be that much easier for consumers who will be grateful to carry less things like cards and cash. And this Verifone blog demonstrates how much closer we are getting to mobile payment and virtual wallets becoming an everyday thing.

mobile payments

Keepin’ it Mobile

Today The Official Merchant Services Blog brings an update on Mobile Payment Technology.

The Mobile Payments Technology sector has been the topic of overt optimism for quite some time now. We’ve reported multiple times that industry analysts have predicted large gains in Mobile Payments profits over the short- and long-term future. Our article from 2011 showcased three different research groups and their take on the successful future they felt was in store for Mobile Payments.

More pieces of that predictive puzzle have been falling into place. According to a mobile payments survey conducted by IDC Financial Insights, mobile payments use in the United States has doubled. The May 2012 study looked closely at emerging pay method technologies and discovered that 33 percent of respondents had used their devices for mobile payments at least once.

iPhoneIDC’s practice director, Aaron McPherson, told QRCode Press that “Based on our results, we expect to see continued growth in open-loop prepaid cards and mobile payments next year, and believe that the improvements being offered in electronic-bill delivery will break electronic-bill presentment and payment out of its doldrums as well.”

The Next Big Affirmation for Mobile Payments

Visa is convinced new payment tech, including mobile payments, are definitely the trend of the future — so much so that the card association giant is poised to showcase the power of the future in the spotlight of the 2012 Olympic Games in London. One of the new technologies Visa is thrusting into the public eye at the Olympics is EMV Chip Cards — something we highlighted back in February. Visa is heavily invested in Smart Card technology so it’s no surprise the company is using its Olympic Games partnership to point some attention at its EMV efforts. But right alongside that EMV push, Visa is also Mobile Payment Technology as a safe and convenient payment option for consumers throughout the London games.

visa olympics

Jim McCarthy, Head of Products at Visa Inc., said “This summer we will be demonstrating the future of payments in London – a future where most consumers will rely on mobile devices, tablets and PCs to manage their daily financial lives.” Visa’s Olympics marketing push for the future of Mobile includes:

  • Visa Mobile Payments and Services: A limited edition of the Samsung GALAXY S III, Samsung’s Olympic Games Phone during the London 2012 Games, will be provided to Visa sponsored athletes and trialists. The device will feature an Olympic-branded version of Visa’s mobile payment application, Visa payWave. To make purchases, consumers simply select the Visa icon on the Samsung device and hold the phone to a contactless payment terminal to pay.
  • Visa Mobile Prepaid: During the London 2012 Games, Visa Inc. will also showcase its newest product – Visa Mobile Prepaid – the first mobile-based Visa product providing consumers in developing countries a payment account that offers Visa’s high standards of security, reliability and global interoperability. By accessing their Visa Mobile Prepaid account on their mobile phone, consumers can send and receive international remittances, pay bills, top-up wireless minutes, and access Visa ATMs.

Setting New Standards

Looking at last year and then at this year’s statistics, Mobile Payments are doing their best to meet the bold predictions analysts have lined up for the future. The sector is growing rapidly and consumers in both the U.S. and around the world are embracing the convenience that the technology brings to their shopping habits. Juniper Research, a company that specializes in the identification and appraisal of high growth opportunities in various mobile telecommunications and applications sectors, put out a publication on July 5, 2011, titled “Mobile Payment Strategies.” Juniper predicted worldwide mobile spending would jump from $240 billion in 2011 to $670 billion in 2015.

juniper logoWell Juniper is back with a new forecast that focuses on Near Field Communication (NFC) and this study predicts that in just five years the NFC Mobile Payments market will will exponentially increase and eventually exceed $180 billion — a whopping seven times what it is today. The study forecasts that one in four people from Western Europe and the United States will use NFC as a payment mechanism by 2017.

Juniper cites last year as a turning point for NFC payments and suggests that major consolidation of the technology is the impetus for the predicted growth in the market as consistent standards and protocols will help fuel rapid growth and assuage the security concerns of consumers. Juniper says that in 2011 major technology infrastructure standards were finalized within the NFC Mobile Payments market so that many mobile network operators committed to the market and NFC payment pilots from both mobile operators and financial institutions transitioned to commercial service. And the research firm pointed to NFC-enabled smartphone models being announced by almost all handset manufacturers and Google as a key factor for igniting interest in the mobile payment usage in the U.S.

“This is a critical time for the NFC retail payments market,” said report co-author Dr. Windsor Holden. “Despite the significant progress being made today, the full potential of the market can only be fulfilled if all ecosystem players are equally committed and mobile wallet consortia remain in place.”

The Big Cash Comeback?

Today, The Official Merchant Services Blog is going to tackle a big picture topic in the world of credit card processing. Two weeks ago there was a proposed settlement of a lawsuit against Visa Inc., MasterCard Inc. Lawyers involved in the case claim it is the largest antitrust settlement in U.S. history. The card companies agreed to pay more than $6 billion to settle lawsuits from retailers claiming that the card issuers engaged in anti-competitive practices.

The July 13 settlement proposal — which still needs the OK by a judge — has stipulations that drop requirements that retailers charge the same price for cash and credit purchases. This opens the way for millions of businesses to add checkout fees when customers pay with plastic. In short, the settlement lets retailers push the cost of swipe fees off of them and onto the consumer directly.

A Paradigm Shift

This decision has really started to hit home for me personally. Just last week I was in the emergency room at Christiana Hospital waiting for a family member to be admitted. I got there around 5 a.m. and was in a rush so didn’t really bring much of anything with me. Hours later, I was hungry and in need of a snack. And I didn’t have any cash on me. But the vending machines at this hospital are state of the art. Which means they have fully equipped credit card swipers, allowing you to purchase snacks from them without pocket change or single dollar bills. That realization hit home with me as I noted both the power of credit card processing to be present in all aspects of my own life, and just exactly how much closer we’ve really gotten to being a cashless society. One of the last holdovers from the previous generation’s use of coins — vending machines — were now accepting credit cards. It was convenient and really helped me out in a time where I was far too worried about everything but having cash on me.

Cash Still Rules

But then came this settlement, and a quick reminder of the Wu-Tang Clan credo: Cash Rules Everything Around Me (C.R.E.A.M.). This decision will do two things:

  1. It will allow merchants the power to offset their processing fees in a very direct fashion that gives them control and power.
  2. It will give the consumers themselves the incentive to start using cash again.

 

cashless 2That first bullet point is good for the credit card processing industry as it allows merchants to feel more in control of their business and lets credit card processors offer more attractive savings directly to potential merchant accounts. But that gets offset by the second bullet point, as the consumer is then the direct decision maker on the purchase and has the power to affect the entire credit card processing industry by not using the plastic at all.

So Something’s Gotta Give, Right?

This boils down to an issue of convenience for the consumer. Plastic has always been the more convenient option. It’s easier to carry around than cash. And with a huge push still being made by Mobile Payment Processing Technology to make it even easier than plastic, cash still seems like it can be on the way out as we still careen quickly toward a cashless society.

But when faced with a choice between using cash and saving money, or using plastic and taking the hit on added surcharges directly, there will be a lot of consumers who will gladly switch back to cash. It won’t be that hard an adjustment to ease back into one’s daily life for shopping habits.

But, E-Commerce

The thing is, though, there’s still a really big chance these surcharges are going to hit consumers hard as too much advancement has been made in the technological infrastructure of a cashless society — namely the rise of e-commerce. Consumers today have taken to shopping online, and all of those sales utilize a credit card. A Rasmussen Reports poll in April 2012 showed that 43% of Americans said they have gone through a full week without paying for anything in cash or coins. And The Official Merchant Services Blog has reported avidly on how pervasive and commonplace online shopping has become for the typical U.S. Consumer. A move back to cash may simply not be all that effective now that people are used to the convenience and control that online shopping — and mobile shopping — provides.

Don’t Forget Durbin

cashless 3This decision is the second major event concerning limitations placed on swipe fees in credit card processing. Last year the Durbin Amendment to the Dodd-Frank Act took effect. This amendment placed a hard cap on debit card swipe fees. And it’s affect is still rippling through the payment processing industry as big banks, the credit card associations, and processors all try to figure out ways to recoup the billions of dollars in projected losses that stem from having the swipe fee capped at 24 cents or so.

The one thing we can learn from the Durbin Amendment, however, is that the use of convenient swiping that debit cards provide has not been ground to a halt by Durbin, and e-commerce is still booming. It seems unlikely that this settlement concerning credit card swipe fees will curb the growth of e-commerce to the point where we take a huge step back into a cash-filled society.

 

Hello From HostingCon!

HostingCon2012 is in full swing, and Host Merchant Services is in the thick of the action. Here’s a picture from today:

Host Merchant Services at HostingCon 2012

That’s our very own dynamic duo Ken and Justin Hemmel working the booth with our partner OpenSRS.

This partnership — which began in April — brings Host Merchant Services, the premier provider of payment processing and e-commerce services for small businesses and medium businesses, to OpenSRS Offers, the platform that allows OpenSRS Resellers to extend valuable third-party offers and discounts to their customers.

The partnership is bolstered by HMS’ experience with the web hosting industry and HostingCon is a perfect venue for the company to present its ongoing initiative to provide E-Commerce focused companies a robust solution for processing credit cards online.

“We don’t write a business off as high risk just because it sells its products or services online,” says Host Merchant Services CEO Lou Honick. “HMS understands the needs of e-commerce merchants and works tirelessly to provide them with the right services at the best possible rate.”

Also, don’t forget that  Honick will participate in a panel discussion on the topic of Best Practices for Payment Processing at 9 a.m. on Wednesday July 18. The panel offers hosting providers tactics for reducing payment processing costs and reducing risk. Honick is part of a panel of payment processing industry experts addressing the conference.

Industry Terms: Cloud Hosting

This is the latest installment in The Official Merchant Services Blog’s Knowledge Base effort. Well we want to make the payment processing industry’s terms and buzzwords clear. We want to remove any and all confusion merchants might have about how the industry works. Host Merchant Services promises: the company delivers personal service and clarity. So we’re going to take some time to explain how everything works. This ongoing series is where we define industry related terms and slowly build up a knowledge base and as we get more and more of these completed, we’ll collect them in our resource archive for quick and easy access. Today’ we’re going to break from the norm, and provide a definition for a term from the web hosting industry: Cloud Hosting. We’re breaking from the norm for two reasons.

First, Host Merchant Services is at HostingCon 2012 this week. Second, Cloud Hosting is an integral aspect of the future of E-Commerce, something Host Merchant Services specializes in.

Cloud Hosting

Cloud Hosting is a type of hosting platform that allows customers powerful, scalable and reliable hosting based on clustered load-balanced servers and utility billing. Web hosting services allow individuals and organizations to make their website accessible via the World Wide Web.

Web hosts are companies that provide space on a server owned or leased for use by clients, as well as providing Internet connectivity, typically in adata center. Web hosts can also provide data center space and connectivity to the Internet for other servers located in their data center, called colocation. Host Merchant Services CEO Lou Honick — who is speaking at HostingCon 2012 this year — founded and ran a successful Web Hosting company prior to beginning his credit card processing venture with HMS. This experience gives HMS an edge in terms of understanding the needs of E-Commerce merchants.

Cloud hosting gets its name from the use of a cloud-shaped symbol as an abstraction for the complex infrastructure it contains in system diagrams. Cloud hosting entrusts its data, software and computation over a network — the cloud.

A cloud hosted website can be more reliable than alternatives since other computers in the cloud can compensate when a single piece of hardware goes down. Also, local power disruptions or even natural disasters are less problematic for cloud hosted sites, as cloud hosting is decentralized. Cloud hosting also allows providers to charge users only for resources consumed by the user, rather than a flat fee for the amount the user expects they will use, or a fixed cost upfront hardware investment. Alternatively, the lack of centralization may give users less control on where their data is located which could be a problem for users with data security or privacy concerns.

HMS will be at HostingCon 2012

HostingCon 2012 is right around the corner. And The Official Merchant Services Blog is pleased to announce that Host Merchant Services CEO Lou Honick will be there to participate in a panel discussion on the topic of Best Practices for Payment Processing. The discussion, scheduled for 9 a.m. Wednesday July 18, offers hosting providers tactics for reducing payment processing costs and reducing risk. Honick is part of a panel of payment processing industry experts addressing the conference.

“As a three-time keynote panelist, I’m excited to return as a speaker this year,” said Honick of his speaking engagement. “Panel discussions at HostingCon have been consistently excellent at packing a high level of knowledge and experience into a single session.  Having been the CEO of a hosting company for 11 years, and now at the helm of Host Merchant Services for three years, I’m able to bring a great perspective on best practices for credit card processing in hosted services.”

hostingcon logoHostingCon, celebrating its 8th anniversary, is the foremost conference and trade show for the hosted services industry. The best and the brightest from the industry will be attending the event from July 16 – 18 at the John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center in Boston, MA.

“As a specialist in partnering with web hosting companies, I’m glad to share my experiences from both sides of the table to help attendees reduce costs, decrease fraud, comply with regulations, and maintain security.”

Host Merchant Sercies CEO Lou Honick, image taken by Ashley Salada www.ashleysalada.comHost Merchant Services specializes in providing world-class customer service and support to its credit card processing customers. The company takes a different approach to merchant services, focusing on delivering the industry’s lowest processing rates while providing industry-leading service and support. Host Merchant Services, headquartered in Newark, Delaware, specializes in partnering with web hosting and other professional services companies to offer payment processing to their customers.

This approach stems from Honick’s experience in the web hosting industry. Honick got his start in the hosting industry as the founder of HostMySite.com, growing it from a two person operation in 1997, to an industry leader with 240 employees and over 100,000 customers at the time it was acquired by a private equity firm in June of 2008. He transferred the same successful approach to the credit card processing industry when he began Host Merchant Services in 2009.

To learn more about HostingCon 2012 visit their website.

Host Merchant Services will also be there in force to promote their special offer program with partner OpenSRS. OpenSRS partnered with Host Merchant Services back in April.

This partnership brings Host Merchant Services, the premier provider of payment processing and e-commerce services for small businesses and medium businesses, to OpenSRS Offers, the platform that allows OpenSRS Resellers to extend valuable third-party offers and discounts to their customers.

The partnership is bolstered by HMS’ experience with the web hosting industry and HostingCon is a perfect venue for the company to present its ongoing initiative to provide E-Commerce focused companies a robust solution for processing credit cards online.

“We don’t write a business off as high risk just because it sells its products or services online,” added Honick. “HMS understands the needs of e-commerce merchants and works tirelessly to provide them with the right services at the best possible rate.”

Industry Terms: Transaction Integrity Fee

This is the latest installment in The Official Merchant Services Blog’s Knowledge Base effort. Well we want to make the payment processing industry’s terms and buzzwords clear. We want to remove any and all confusion merchants might have about how the industry works. Host Merchant Services promises: the company delivers personal service and clarity. So we’re going to take some time to explain how everything works. This ongoing series is where we define industry related terms and slowly build up a knowledge base and as we get more and more of these completed, we’ll collect them in our resource archive for quick and easy access. Today’s term is Transaction Integrity Fee.

Transaction Integrity Fee

logo VisaVisa introduced the Transaction Integrity Fee (TIF) in April, 2012 — the same time it introduced the Fixed Acquirer Network Fee (FANF). It is a new $0.10 fee that will apply to U.S. domestic regulated and non-regulated purchase transactions made with a Visa Debit card or Visa Prepaid card that fail or do not request Custom Payment Service (CPS) qualification. The CPS rates are Visa’s best rates and apply to both regulated and non-regulated transactions.

This fee can be viewed as a definite response from Visa to offset the losses they incur from Durbin Amendment’s interchange rate cap and finance reform/regulatory changes. As a result, The TIF is charged in addition to the applicable interchange fee and discount rate — meaning that regulated debit transactions still receive the regulated interchange rate (0.05% + $0.22), but are also subject to the TIF if they fail to qualify for a CPS program. For example, a transaction that qualifies for Standard Debit – Exempt or Regulated – will be assessed an extra $0.10 for the TIF.

Tips to Avoid the TIF

  • Always settle your  transactions within one day of authorization. This means always batch out your terminal, POS, or payment gateway at the end of every day’s business.
  • Always read and transmit complete magnetic stripe data.
  • Always authorize and settle for the same amount. If a customer changes an order before that day’s settlement, always void the original order and start over. Do not adjust the amount of the existing order.

In addition, Card Not Present transactions need to do these things to avoid TIF:

  • Always obtain an exact AVS (Address Verification System) match on Card Not Present, Key-Entered, and E-Commerce transactions. An exact match is the street address number and zip code matching the billing street adress number and zip code on file with the issuing bank. If you are an E-Commerce merchant that allows sales with partial or no AVS match (to increase conversions), you may want to consider requiring an exact match, depending on average ticket size, the effect this has on conversion ratios, and other steps you might take to screen for fraud (like 3D-Secure, etc.).
  • Ensure that your processor is transmitting the correct MOTO/ECI Indicators with your transactions. If you have changed your business model or added an e-commerce capability to an existing merchant ID confirm with your processor that the correct MCC and Indicators are attached to your transactions, and open additional or new merchant IDs if necessary.
reminder

FANF Reminder [2023 Update]

reminder

Today The Official Merchant Services Blog wants to review the details of VISA’s new Fixed Acquirer Network Fee (FANF). On April 1, 2012, Visa began charging this new fee. But it has taken about this long for it to catch up to merchants and their statements. The process sort of knocked its way down like dominoes falling — The fees went in effect in April, but were based on May’s activity, so didn’t show up until June’s statements, that many merchants are now noticing here in July.

These fees are new, and start to show up on statements where they hadn’t appeared before and they have the appearance of being hidden fees. This development goes against the Host Merchant Services policy of no hidden fees. Which is why we’ve attacked this story so vigorously in our blog, trying to keep our readership up to date on these new card association fees affecting the credit card processing industry.

The HMS Guarantee

Host Merchant Services wants to assure its customers that it sticks by its guarantee. HMS will never increase their fees for their customers. HMS continues to offer the guaranteed lowest rate. And that rate is frozen. Unfortunately, Card Association Fees are new, and are not part of any current pricing model. They are also mandated and initiated by the credit card companies themselves — Visa, MasterCard and Discover. All processors everywhere will be adding them to their pricing structure. So your statement will start showing new fees moving forward. But we here at Host Merchant Services will help explain what they are, where they come from and why they’re just now appearing on your statement. So please feel free to contact us if you have any questions about your statement.

Now About Those Fees

FANF is the most high profile of the new fees. But it’s name is a bit misapplied, as the fee itself is not “fixed” in any sense of the word.  The FANF is a monthly fee that will affect all merchants to a varying degree. For card present businesses like retailers, the amount of the Fixed Acquirer Network Fee will be based on the number of locations a business has. For card not present businesses like e-commerce operations, the FANF will be based on gross Visa processing volume. So the “Fixed” fee’s actual amount varies based on multiple factors. Those variables are:

  • Merchant Category Code (MCC)


    The merchant category code used to classify a business plays a role in the amount of the FANF charged each month. However, the impact of the MCC is very minimal, amounting to a difference of $0.90 – $1.10 for most businesses (less than fifty locations).

  • Acceptance Method


    The main factor in determining the amount of the FANF is whether a business processes the majority of its transactions in a card present or card not present environment.

  • Card Present Businesses

     (Excluding Fast Food Restaurants / MCC 5814)
    The amount of the Fixed Acquirer Network Fee for card present businesses will be based number of locations. Businesses with one location will be charged $2 – $2.90 a month, up to $85 a month for businesses with 4,000 or more locations.

  • Card-Not-Present Businesses

     (As well as Fast Food Restaurants / MCC 5814)
    For card-not-present businesses, the amount of the FANF will be based on gross Visa processing volume. Card-not-present businesses will see a greater impact from the FANF than card-present businesses due to the fee being determined by volume.

For example: card-not-present business processing between $8,000 and $39,999 will be hit with a Fixed Acquirer Network Fee of $15 a month opposed to just $2 for a card present business with similar volume and one location.

Other Fees

Besides FANF, Visa also is implementing a Transaction Integrity Fee and making revisions to its Network Acquirer Processing Fee. Visa’s Transaction Integrity Fee is a new $0.10 fee that will apply to U.S. domestic regulated and non-regulated purchase transactions made with a Visa Debit card or Visa Prepaid card that fail or do not request Custom Payment Service (CPS) qualification. On the other hand, the Network Acquirer Processing Fee on Visa-branded signature debit will be reduced — going from $0.0195 per authorization to $0.0155 per authorization. The fee for credit card authorization will remain $0.0195 per authorization.