Friday, October 24, 2025

Tap Cards: Convenience Meets Caution

Tap-to-pay, or “contactless,” payments have become one of the fastest and easiest ways to complete a transaction. With a simple wave of a card or smartphone, customers can pay in seconds — no swiping or inserting required.

At Bankcard Solutions, we know how valuable that speed and convenience can be for both businesses and customers. But it’s also important to understand the risks and best practices that come with this technology.

The Benefits

  • Faster checkouts: Tap cards reduce transaction time, keeping lines moving and customers happy.
  • Touch-free convenience: Ideal for restaurants, retail, and service industries where hygiene and speed matter.
  • Enhanced security: Tap payments use encrypted, one-time transaction codes — so your actual card number isn’t transmitted.

The Risks

  • Unattended or lost cards: Because tap limits are often below the PIN threshold, a lost or stolen card can be used for small purchases without verification.
  • “Digital pickpocketing” myths vs. reality: While RFID skimming is rare with modern cards, it’s still smart to use RFID-blocking wallets and stay aware in crowded areas.
  • Business responsibility: Merchants should ensure their terminals (like the Valor Paytech VP800) are PCI compliant and properly updated to minimize fraud exposure.

Stay Secure with Bankcard Solutions

Our goal is to keep your business running smoothly — with the latest technology, local support, and guidance to help protect your transactions.

If you have questions about contactless payments or want to review your system’s security settings, reach out to John Haire at Bankcard Solutions. He’s local, experienced, and here to help you process with confidence.

Tuesday, October 21, 2025

5 Reasons to hoose Vivid for credit card processing over Square

 

Switching from Square to Vivid's Credit Card Processing can be a significant decision for your business, and it should be based on a careful evaluation of the advantages and disadvantages of each option. Here are five potential reasons why you might consider choosing Vivid for Processing:
  • Lower Transaction Fees: Vivid offers more competitive transaction fees compared to Square. Lower fees can directly impact your bottom line by increasing your profit margins on each sale.
  • Customizable Payment Solutions: Vivid provides more flexibility in tailoring payment solutions to your specific business needs. Whether you need customized pricing structures, specialized reporting, or other features, Vivid's offerings may be more adaptable.
  • Enhanced Security: Vivid offers advanced security features to protect your transactions and customer data. Improved security can help you gain your customers' trust and reduce the risk of data breaches and fraud.
  • Customer Support: Vivid offers a higher level of customer support and assistance than Square. Better support can help resolve issues quickly and ensure that your payment processing runs smoothly, reducing downtime and potential revenue loss.
  • Integration and Compatibility: If your business relies on specific software, hardware, or integration needs, Vivid's credit card processing system offers better compatibility or integration options that align with your existing tools and systems.
Remember that the decision to switch credit card processors should be made after careful consideration of your unique business needs and a thorough evaluation of the costs and benefits. It's essential to compare the specific offerings of both Square and Vivid to determine which is the better fit for your business. Additionally, you should factor in any contract terms, early termination fees, and potential challenges associated with making the switch - all of which Vivid does not implement. Source


Saturday, October 18, 2025

Why Banks are Losing Ground to Square & Toast | Rethinking Payments with Vivid Commerce

 

Tune in as Vivid Commerce's CEO, Derek Henmi, outlines the essential trends driving banks to adopt modern technology. Discover how rising customer expectations, competitive pressure from FinTech companies, and the need to limit attrition are pushing banks to offer more advanced solutions. 



Wednesday, October 15, 2025

Who is Involved in Credit Card Processing?

The key participants involved in credit card processing include:

  • Cardholder: The individual who receives a card from an issuing bank and uses the card to make payments. This individual can be either the card owner or an authorized user of the card.
  • Issuing bank: The entity, also known as a card issuer, that underwrites and issues cards to individual and business cardholders who meet certain credit standards. The issuing bank maintains card accounts, bills and collects payments from cardholders and monitors the performance of credit card receivable portfolios.
  • Merchant: A business that accepts cards as a method of payment. These payments can be made in person, online, or by mail order or telephone.
  • Merchant bank: The entity, also known as an acquiring bank, that maintains the merchant’s account where deposits from credit card payments are accepted. Some merchant banks also provide merchants with credit card terminals, which may be purchased or leased.
  • Payment processor: The entity that helps many merchants and merchant banks manage the daily settlement and information flows related to credit card activities.
  • Issuer processor: The entity that provides a system for issuing banks to board accounts, provides authorizations and offers risk management tools to issuers to manage their card portfolios effectively.
  • Card network: The organization, also known as a card association, that maintains infrastructure to support card transaction activities such as authorization, clearing and settlement. Examples of card networks include Visa, Mastercard, Discover and American Express.
  • Payment gateway: The technology that provides the link between the point at which the credit card data is received by the merchant and the merchant bank. The payment gateway encrypts the data before sending it to the merchant bank and transmits both the authorization request to the issuing bank and the issuing bank’s response back to the merchant.


Sunday, October 12, 2025

What to Expect in Crypto in 2025

In 2024, crypto came roaring back. Bitcoin reached a new high, surging above $100,000, as the cryptocurrency was packaged for the first time into exchange-traded funds offered by major investment companies. The crypto industry has proven that it has matured, characterized by innovations that have made its technologies useful to many more people, not just crypto enthusiasts.

This year should continue that trend as traditional finance applies blockchain — the distributed ledger technology that underpins cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin — to some of the economy’s trickiest and most long-standing problems, and the U.S. embraces a far more ambitious agenda to mainstream some — but not all — digital assets.

At Mastercard, we have long argued that if blockchain technology is to fully realize its potential, security, trust and ease of use must be at the center. With these in place, fintechs and financial institutions would increase their adoption of blockchain technologies and create scalable use cases that could impact millions of people. In fact, many are moving forward with tokenized versions of both money and assets on blockchain networks. Behind this trend is a desire to improve efficiency and lower the costs of the everyday transactions that power the world economy. 

As we look ahead to the rest of 2025, I see many changes coming to this sector, some due to a shift in the regulatory environment but most driven by the needs of consumers, businesses, banks and the economy.

Here are four areas to watch in the year ahead:

1.) Stablecoins or tokenized deposits? Both should find their place.

According to a 2023 report from the Federal Reserve, American banks have nearly $18 trillion in commercial bank deposits from businesses and individuals, including checking, savings and time deposits. These deposits fuel large parts of the world economy — funding bank loans and other financial services, powering consumer spend and driving trade and commerce. Still, innovations are needed to provide this form of money with the latest fintech advances.

To make that happen, banks are experimenting with what are known as tokenized deposits, which require issuing a token on a blockchain that represents a deposit on a bank’s own ledger. By doing so, banks hope to speed up the settlement of transactions and enable programmable payments, in which money can be distributed only after certain criteria are met. Stablecoins, which are backed by fiat currency at a 1-to-1 ratio, have been gaining traction, driven not only by trading activity but also by growing use cases such as remittance and business-to-business payments. As of this writing, there are about $200 billion worth of U.S. dollar-based stablecoins in circulation. Stablecoins, while requiring a lockup of capital, move in real time and enable programmable payments. Clearer regulatory framework will make stablecoins safer and attract additional participants and issuers. 

I believe we will move to a world where both tokenized commercial bank deposits and stablecoins coexist, where transactions such as tokenized asset purchases start with tokenized money in bank accounts and settled through stablecoins. 

2.) Clearer rules give banks and other institutions a green light to adopt digital assets.

The U.S.’s more crypto-critical stance got turned on its head with the inauguration of President Trump, who has vowed to be the first “crypto president.” Notably, on Trump’s second full day, the Securities and Exchange Commission launched a crypto task force to develop its own regulatory framework, led by SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, and two days later the president issued an executive order on digital assets that set up a working group of key regulatory agencies to recommend clearer policies, where new laws are needed.  Meanwhile, the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation went into full effect on December 30, making the EU the first major jurisdiction to establish a comprehensive regulatory framework for crypto. It offers financial institutions much more clarity on how regulators view digital assets and currencies and what a firm needs to do, for example, to issue a stablecoin. It has already emboldened more traditional players to act. It’s safe to say there will be more — if not crystal — clarity from lawmakers and regulators in 2025. Perhaps more of a plea than a prediction: More clarity on both crypto rules and how banks can participate in the public blockchain system will encourage more experimentation with the blockchain, allowing innovation to flourish while keeping bad actors at bay.

3.) Central banks will likely lean away from issuing digital currencies and into products for institutions.

Just a few years ago, many of the world’s central banks were looking at the feasibility of issuing their own currencies in digital form. Today, more and more central banks have concluded that the private sector is innovating well on its own and that central bank digital currencies  aimed at the general public needn’t be a high priority. In fact, another element of Trump’s executive order on digital assets bans the development and issuance of CBDCs, calling them a threat to the stability of the financial system.  

In 2025, I expect that more central banks will follow this trend, moving away from consumer-focused CBDCs, known as “retail” CBDCs. But they will continue to pursue digital assets aimed at the banking sector and other financial institutions, also known as “wholesale” CBDCs. These CBDCs could fundamentally increase institutional settlement capabilities and enable the faster movement of capital across jurisdictions.

4.) Interoperability, standards and trust will take on even more importance.

The crypto industry is now on a stronger foundation. The bad players have been pushed out of the space (or crashed spectacularly). Easier access to digital assets has attracted more everyday investors, and that, in turn, has caught the attention of traditionally risk-averse financial players like mutual fund companies. These changes have also reinforced how much trust, standards and seamless connections still matter to the larger financial system, where the lion’s share of monetary value still resides. 

That’s why we’ve seen so much momentum behind Mastercard’s Multi-Token Network, which makes transactions using digital assets more secure, scalable and interoperable. For example, the MTN project last year completed its first live test, in partnership with Standard Chartered Bank, and partnered with Kinexys by J.P. Morgan. Blockchain technology that is safe and trusted can unleash innovation for both the crypto and traditional finance industries. In 2025, look for blockchain technology to embed even more deeply into banking and financial services, enabling faster transactions, more transparency, new capabilities and more innovation. 

Source


Thursday, October 9, 2025

What is Friendly Fraud and How Do You Prevent It?

What is friendly fraud?

Friendly fraud is when a customer commits fraud by (accidentally or purposefully) requesting money back from a business for a purchase without a legitimate reason. 

There are two approaches to committing friendly fraud:

  • Chargeback fraud: When a customer files an illegitimate chargeback. For instance, they buy something from a business and initiate a chargeback without a legitimate reason.
  • Refund abuse: When a customer buys a product, claims they haven’t received it (even though they have), and gets their money back.

Friendly fraud vs chargeback fraud

Chargeback fraud is a type of friendly fraud when a customer files an illegitimate chargeback. A chargeback is when a customer disputes a charge on their account statement after completing a card payment. Although chargebacks offer an easy way to reverse suspicious transactions and protect cardholders from fraud, they're often used to commit friendly fraud. 75% of chargebacks are due to friendly fraud, and most happen for card-on-file transactions.

When a customer files a chargeback, the payment is reversed. Once approved, the customer receives the transaction amount back in full. Although businesses have a chance to defend themselves if they disagree with the chargeback claim, chargebacks put their revenue at risk, especially as friendly fraud increases. 

Types of friendly fraud;

There are multiple reasons why friendly fraud may occur, but not all of them are malicious. Below, you can find the most common reasons...

  • Accidental friendly fraud/confused customer
Accidental friendly fraud is when a customer makes a purchase and forgets about it or doesn't recognize it on their bank statement. If this happens, they might assume they were charged for something they didn't buy and initiate a chargeback. This is quite common for subscription businesses. Customers sometimes sign up for subscriptions and forget about it. Then, a year later when it’s renewed they don't recognize the transaction and issue a chargeback. 

  • Dissatisfied customer
Customers have certain expectations when they buy a product based on how the business portrays it. If the product doesn’t meet these expectations, they might feel dissatisfied. In some cases, they might even feel tricked by the company which can result in the customer initiating a chargeback rather than a return. One example of this is if a customer buys a clothing item online that doesn’t quite match the description of the product on the website.

  • Family fraud
Family fraud is when one family member buys something without the knowledge of another, and the second family member initiates a chargeback. One example is when a child takes their parent's credit card and buys something without their knowledge. This could for instance be an in-app purchase for a video game. Parents can often solve this by contacting the business. However, if the parent doesn't have the full context, they might initiate a chargeback and be accountable for friendly fraud.

How to prevent friendly fraud

As long as there is the option to file chargebacks, there will always be the possibility of friendly fraud. Even though eliminating friendly fraud completely can be difficult, there are some things you can do to reduce its impact on your revenue. These include:

Prevent fraud
  • Use authentication tools like Address Verification Service (AVS), card security codes (CVV), and 3D Secure 2. 3D Secure allows businesses to protect themselves from fraudulent chargebacks through a ‘’liability shift’’ from the business to the card issuer
  • Build a risk system that can recognize patterns and identify friendly fraudsters, for instance shoppers that have initiated multiple disputes and chargebacks across different cards and identities
  • Blocked lists: Create a list of blocked customers that pose a threat to your business
Clear communication 
  • This is especially beneficial for confused customers and includes: 25% of disputes could be prevented with more details.
  • Ensure the merchant description on the bank statement is clear, accurate, and matches the customer-facing one
  • Respond to any customer questions quickly
  • Alert your customers if a product is out of stock as soon as possible
  • Provide detailed product descriptions on your website
Easy returns
  • Refund customers as quickly as possible
  • Provide a clear return policy
  • Make sure your contact information is accessible so customers can contact you in case of doubt
Match expectations
  • Ensure your product matches your customer's expectations to avoid dissatisfied customers
  • Set expectations when it comes to delivery time and keep your customers updated. Let your customers know if there are delays
  • Compensate your customers proactively if you can't deliver on time
  • Track your goods and ask your customer to sign when they receive the package for extra security

Monday, October 6, 2025

What is Payment Processing?

Payment processing is the sequence of actions that securely transfer funds between a payer and a payee. Typically, it involves the authorization, verification, and settlement of transactions through electronic payment systems. Payment processing systems cater to various types of transactions, including credit and debit cards, electronic funds transfers (EFTs), automated clearing house (ACH) transfers, mobile payments, digital wallets, and cryptocurrencies. A diverse set of stakeholders—including banks, financial institutions, payment processors, technology providers, businesses, and regulatory bodies—develop and manage these systems.

Why payment processing is important for businesses

A wide range of technologies, services, and financial instruments (any physical or digital instrument used to make cashless transactions, such as a credit or debit card) work together to ensure the fast and secure transfer of funds between parties. Payment processing systems facilitate trade, support ecommerce, and promote economic growth. The payment processing solutions that a business adopts dictate how well that business is able to interact with customers—and the broader world of commerce.

Additionally, businesses of all sizes depend on efficient and reliable payment processing to help manage cash flow, customer satisfaction, and overall business operations. By offering a variety of payment options, businesses can cater to the diverse preferences of their customers, increasing convenience and fostering trust. And a well-functioning payment processing system also helps reduce the risk of fraud, ensure data security, and maintain compliance with relevant regulations and industry standards.

In recent years, the payment processing landscape has evolved significantly, driven by advancements in technology, changing customer behavior, and the rise of new market players. These changes have resulted in the emergence of innovative payment solutions, greater accessibility to financial services, and increased competition in the industry. As a result, businesses and customers can now benefit from payment processing options that are faster, more secure, and more convenient. Source