Is Your Small Business Ready for New Credit Card Laws?
Every business owner, big and small, who uses POS credit card processors needed to be in compliance with the new credit card processing laws as of October 1, 2015. Are you in compliance? If not, you are not alone.
While more than half of business owners know about the new credit card payment compliance laws, not everyone is in compliance - and not all business owners are planning to upgrade their point of sale systems to prevent credit card fraud. As a matter of fact, many small business owners are not planning to upgrade their POS technology even though the new rules may have a dramatic effect on their business. But why?
Small business owners are saying "the cost of upgrading their POS equipment" is one reason they are not planning to upgrade their system. Although compliance to the new regs is not mandatory (yet), the cost of failing to upgrade is potentially far higher than the upgrade itself. If your POS system is not EMV-compliant you may find yourself financially and legally liable for any fraud or security breach coming from your system. Another question to consider, who do you thing the white collar criminals are gong to target, that's right, those that don't protect themselves with EMV-compliant processing solutions.
Our recommendation is that you call Proxe Pay today. We can set you up with EMV-compliant POS systems for free! Call 855-958-0230 and become compliant today.
The Question is... What is Stopping You Now?
Just 32 percent of small business owners know of the upcoming Europay, MasterCard and Visa (EMV) rules, which stipulate that businesses that do not upgrade to credit card equipment that can read chip-enabled credit cards will be liable for fraud and security breaches, according to a Gallup study.
It used to be if an in-store transaction is made using a counterfeit, stolen or compromised card, consumer losses from that transaction fall back on the payment processor or issuing bank, according to CreditCards.com. However, beginning Oct. 1, that liability shifted to whichever party is the least EMV-compliant in a fraudulent transaction.
Part of the reason for such low awareness of the new rules is that just 35 percent of the businesses surveyed currently accept point-of-sale credit card payments. However, even among businesses that accept credit cards, awareness of the upcoming changes is just 49 percent, compared with 23 percent among those that don't accept credit cards.
Part of the reason for such low awareness of the new rules is that just 35 percent of the businesses surveyed currently accept point-of-sale credit card payments. However, even among businesses that accept credit cards, awareness of the upcoming changes is just 49 percent, compared with 23 percent among those that don't accept credit cards.
"About half of small-business owners who accept credit cards are not aware of the major changes that came forthcom this past fall," the study's authors wrote.
Even companies that are aware of the changes aren't in any hurry to upgrade their equipment. Less than 30 percent of small business owners who accept credit cards but who do not have chip-enabled technology plan to comply by the October deadline, 34 percent expect to comply at a later time and 21 percent do not plan to upgrade their systems at all.
Overall, small business owners are divided on whether the new EMV rules will actually provide companies with better fraud protection, which is the law's major objective. The research discovered that 42 percent of the businesses surveyed believe the new law will greatly or somewhat improve protection, while another 42 percent think it will improve protection not very much or not at all.
The study was based on surveys of 600 U.S. small business owners in all 50 states.
The article above was original published by the Legalzoom Blog
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