While the world is respectfully social distancing, it can really put things into perspective with how we live our day-to-day lives. Credit/Debit cards have been the most common way we pay for almost everything here in America, but with so many establishments shut down to flatten the curve, that doesn’t mean our credit cards can’t serve alternative purposes outside of the typical online purchase. Read more

Mastercard® and Discover® have introduced online authorizations for purchase return transactions. The availability of these authorizations is intended to enable a more positive cardholder experience and decrease the number of merchant service inquiries about returns. Read more

During times of national emergencies and natural disasters, it is not uncommon to see a sudden uptick in chargebacks, far exceeding “normal” for your business. Naturally, people start to consider ways to cut costs and eliminate services that are not necessities, which can wreak havoc on your business. Should this national crisis have a direct […] Read more

Base’s primary objectives have always been to educate its business partners on efficient payment processing, but now, the focus has shifted to teaching them to use a No-Cost-to-Biller™ model in a way that reduces risk and increases operational savings. The volume of information and documentation that an agency would have to review on its own […] Read more

In an industry webinar on The Permissibility of Fees in ARM, participants received valuable information on this important topic. The event was widely attended, with everyone from agencies to other payment providers interested in learning more about the potentially confusing area of convenience fees in ARM. With input from legal and compliance experts, the session […] Read more

As a business, ensuring that you have the ability to accept any kind of payment from your consumer is vital. While a good chunk of consumers prefer to use credit or debit cards, there are still plenty of consumers, especially businesses, that prefer to use checks. But if you ask any business, they’ll tell you: the use of paper checks is declining rapidly. More and more consumers and businesses are turning to the digital version of checks, or what it is most commonly referred to as, ACH transactions. Read more

Visa is introducing an authorization for purchase return transactions. The purchase return authorization message is intended to improve the customer return process by enabling cardholders to view a credit/return on their banking statements in real-time, and some cardholders can have these transactions included in other types of issuer services, like text alerts. Read more

At a high level, the processing of a credit card purchase seems very straightforward. The merchant’s total price is tallied, the customer swipes or dips their card, and money is transferred from the purchaser’s account to the merchant’s account. Simple. Read more

Most credit card readers are safe and secure. However, in some instances using one can result in your information being stolen. Credit card skimmers are devices that criminals attach like a clip-on to legitimate card readers in card present environments such as at an ATM or gas pump in order to steal your information and access your account. Read more

The technology for accepting payments from customers has become far more advanced in the last decade. Unfortunately, cyber criminals have kept pace with the changes, modifying their tactics as the devices and processes used by merchants have evolved. Read more

A chargeback is the return of funds to the instrument a consumer used to make a purchase. This return is typically initiated by the consumer’s issuing bank of the instrument, and when completed, it effectively reverses the outbound movement of funds from the consumer’s bank account, credit card, or line of credit. There are many reasons a consumer may request a chargeback. Read more

Myths…legends…fairytales…in your free time, they can be entertaining. But when it comes to the requirements around handling sensitive data, believing myths about the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), or PCI compliance as it is commonly called, can lead to problems. Read more