5 Common Myths About EMV

The details surrounding  credit card processing can be overwhelming.

Clearent, Credit card processor and North American Retail Hardware Association Business Services Partner, presents some of the most common myths about EMV technology below. For more information about Clearent and to take advantage of a plan designed for independent retailers, visit clearent.com/NRHA.

Myth 1: Merchants are protected if they are PCI-compliant.

PCI compliance is still critical, but EMV is a different security method. The goal of the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is to protect cardholder and sensitive authentication data during the payment process. For example, the PCI DSS restricts the storage of card numbers to reduce the likelihood of theft. EMV adds another layer of security, using advanced cryptography to make it extremely difficult to create counterfeit cards. Retailers need PCI DSS to protect cardholder data and EMV to reduce counterfeit fraud.

Myth 2: EMV leads to slower transaction times and longer customer wait times.

While standard EMV can lead to longer transaction times, Quick Chip technology makes EMV transactions just as fast as swiping a magnetic stripe card. With Quick Chip technology, merchants can process EMV transactions in just two seconds, instead of 15 seconds, like with standard EMV. Ask your merchant services provider if they offer this new technology that can help you dramatically reduce checkout times and improve the overall checkout experience for your customers.

Myth 3: Upgrading to EMV is too costly.

The cost to upgrade to EMV is reasonable for many merchants. While the upfront cost of upgrading equipment and training staff may seem cost-prohibitive to some, each business operator needs to carefully evaluate if its future fraud losses will be higher than the costs of upgrading. Credit card terminals that support EMV can be purchased for just a few hundred dollars.

So, businesses that use a single POS terminal can upgrade to EMV for the cost of a night out with their spouse. On the other hand, many businesses use POS systems to manage their business. It can be expensive to upgrade such systems depending on many factors, including the specific POS software and hardware, the number of stations and service fees charged by the reseller or dealer. For most retailers, the long-term benefits will outweigh the costs because EMV can help merchants decrease fraud, lower chargebacks, increase customer satisfaction and build trust and adopt new technologies, such as contactless payments.

Myth 4: Small merchants don’t need to worry about EMV.

All merchants who accept card-present payments will be impacted by the transition to EMV. Many small operations may have low fraud rates now, but that is likely to change. Criminals are good at finding the most vulnerable targets to defraud. As the larger retailers implement EMV-capable point-of-sale systems, small retailers who don’t implement EMV will become an increasingly attractive target for counterfeiters.

Myth 5: EMV won’t solve the fraud problem because fraud will shift online.

Fraudsters may shift their efforts online, but reducing card-present fraud is highly beneficial. EMV has proven to significantly reduce card-present fraud around the world, especially counterfeit card use. Plus, EMV card manufacturers are working on other features to make card-not-present transactions more secure, such as one-time passwords, on-card displays and other features accessible through personal card readers.