BANKS are clamping down on offline
speed point transactions.
Neither MasterCard nor Visa will
any longer accept an imprint of a card
as protection against chargebacks
for manually entered transactions
with effect from the end of October,
Standard Bank notified its clients
last week.
In future, credit card transactions
will only be approved if a credit card
holder is present at the time that the
transaction is processed while the card
is either tapped, inserted or swiped.
However, Standard Bank did say that
merchants would be able to maintain
the manual key entry if they reapplied
to the bank for approval. In this case,
Standard Bank would retain the right
to suspend payment of any manually
entered transaction for a period of up
to 180 days while the transaction’s
risk was evaluated. Merchants would
also remain fully liable for the full debt
should a transaction be disputed by
a client.
Kevin Lomax, head of corporate cards
for Diner’s Club says Standard Bank’s
decision to withdraw the offline speed
point transactions was applicable for
Visa and MasterCard transactions
specifically. He advised that speed
point machines would continue to
operate in the same way but that the
manual processing functionality for
these credit card types would
be disabled.
“Diner’s Card will continue
to allow manual transactions
as we are aware of the
travel industry’s need for this
functionality. The continuation
of these services also forms
part of our roll out strategy for
virtual cards,” said Kevin.
FNB and Bidvest told TNW
that manual speed point
facilities were still being
offered in the market place,
but that the application
process was very lengthy
involving bank manager
motivational letters and risk
indemnity forms for merchants
to sign off on. If a client
queries the transaction, the
bank can immediately reverse
the transaction. Both banks
recommended online payment
solutions such as Paygate
as safer and less costly
alternatives.
Edrei Allan, account manager
for Wappoint, another payment
solutions company, told
TNW that their company was
currently phasing out manual
credit card transactions.
“Clients are offered an online
3D secure payment link as
the alternative for credit card
processing which is a safer
and more secure option due
to its one time password
functionality,” said Edrei.
The alternatives suggested
by Standard Bank offer client’s
the option to process their
credit card payments using an
online 3D secure payment link,
which is PCI DSS compliant.
Tracey Kojetin, owner of
The Travel Set said about
90% of their transactions are
processed offline without the
card holder present. After
chatting to Standard Bank, she
decided to cancel her speed
point and to sign up with
Paygate instead.
In the instance that a lodge
card with an enabled one time
pin functionality is used for a
travel credit card transaction,
the processing of the function
would be exactly the same
as the procedure for an
individual client’s credit card.
The agent would need to send
the client the virtual payment
link for them to process the
transaction directly using the
unique one time password.
