Visa’s attempts to help businesses gain customers, all while proving safety, may have backfired. The Durbin Amendment produced transaction requirements, for which issuers must offer at least two unaffiliated networks on the debit cards they issue. That rule broke up a number of long-settled deals by which major issuers had combined Visa and Interlink, or MasterCard and Maestro, on the same card, effectively leaving merchants with no choice in routing. This is scary, because if you think about it, there isn’t a 100% reliable way to know where your information is going.
Processors, especially high risk merchant account processors, have been unde the gun for years because of its merchants run ins with fraudulent charges and hackings. We now that that every business is at a higher risk of fraudulent charges and hackings, even though many in the industry deny it. Merchants need to make sure that their high risk merchant accounts are in responsible, knowledgeable hands, such as EMB, otherwise known as eMerchantBroker.com. There are many high risk merchant account processors around, but few have the resources, experience, and knowledge that EMB and its staff does. This is important, since the PIN industry seems to be in a tailspin, thanks to the new reports about the Durbin Amendment. According to www.digitaltransactions.net, the Interlink/Maestro combination in 2012 saw its transaction count shrink by 22%, it was able to post a 6% increase for 2013, according to the report. And that eye-popping 58% growth rate the competing networks achieved in 2012 turned slightly negative in 2013. In terms of market share, the Interlink/Maestro combo increased from 47.3% to 48.8%, while the all-others group fell from 52.7% to 51.2%.
The Durbin Amendment was meant to help smaller PIN processors succeed. However, some of these smaller PIN processors may not be as equipped and up to code on security issues as the bigwigs, such as Maestros and Visa. This makes it even more important that you, the merchant, knows your information is safe. Safety starts with the merchant’s processing abilities, and a good processor can help give an added layer or protection from hackings and fraudulent issues.