As your payments partner, we are committed to keeping you up-to-date with industry changes and card brand developments.
With effect from April 2020, both Visa and Mastercard will require all transactions - relating to returned products, cancelled services, or a price adjustment related to a prior purchase - are authorised in much the same way as debit transactions are authorised today.Following the introduction of Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) as part of the Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2), Visa have introduced two new authorisation response codes (1A and 70) to help the payment ecosystem achieve an optimal and frictionless experience for cardholders.
Action required:
Visa have been monitoring the usage of the new response codes across the EEA and, although many are using the new response codes as intended - leading to transaction completion with PIN entry - the table below shows some common issues that have been found, and suggested solutions:
|
Findings |
Action Required |
|---|---|
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Outdated terminals that are incapable of processing new response codes, resulting in declines. |
Retailers must ensure all point of sale equipment is updated to act on the new response codes, providing the best possible customer experience and limiting unnecessary declines. |
|
Increase in declines for magnetic stripe and chip transactions without PIN (no cardholder verification method [CVM]) |
Retailers with points of sale that are either magnetic stripe-only or chip with no PIN capability need to upgrade to chip and PIN capability to reduce risk of declines (excludes unattended transit fare and parking fee terminals). |
|
Incorrect classification of merchant category codes (MCCs), particularly parking meters, some of which are being classified under hospitals, passenger railways, etc. |
Retailers should ensure they are classified under the correct MCC to ensure appropriate use of PSD2 SCA exemptions. Refer to Article 12 in the PSD2 SCA Regulatory Technical Standards for guidelines on transit fares and parking fees. |
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Incorrect classification of unattended devices to support Article 12 exemptions. Terminals are sending back value 3 in Field 60.1 rather than value 2. |
Retailers should ensure their devices are classified correctly. |
Review the list of findings and report issues to Elavon, or your terminal provider, as soon as possible so plans can be put in place to resolve them.