As a business owner you’ve likely followed news about the EMV liability shift, and wondered whether it’s time your store becomes EMV-compatible and starts accepting credit cards with embedded chips.
Although it isn’t illegal not to accept credit cards with embedded chips, and changing your point-of-sale system to accept EMV cards might seem daunting and expensive, shouldering the liability for fraudulent purchases could be far more costly. All brick-and-mortar stores except gas stations are affected by this shift. ATMs and gas stations are on a different timeline.
What is an EMV Card?
EMV stands for Europay, MasterCard, Visa. It’s the global standard for chip-based debit- and credit-card transactions. It’s a joint effort between Europay, MasterCard and Visa to ensure security and global acceptance so MasterCard and Visa cards can continue being used everywhere.
EMV cards are embedded with microprocessor chips that make it difficult for anyone to steal your account information while you make a payment.