Accept Payments

Amazon bids to become a bigger e-commerce technology provider to retailers

2010-05-31T07:28:00.001-07:00

Already by far the biggest online retailer, Amazon.com Inc. is bidding to become a bigger supplier of e-commerce technology to other retailers and consumer goods manufacturers. With its release this week of its new version of Amazon WebStore, experts say, Amazon has come up with a compelling offering that lets other e-retailers take advantage of Amazon’s services and strong reputation.

“Sellers that adopt this platform are not just leveraging the technology, they’re also leveraging Amazon’s reputation and the guarantees Amazon provides to consumers related to the online shopping experience,” says Eric Best, CEO of Mercent Corp., an online marketing services firm.more...

Credit Card Tokenization

2010-05-02T05:50:00.000-07:00

The hot topic of the year seems to be credit card tokenization. Merchants are confused on the subject and what it means to them. It all stems from the payment card rules and regulations on storage of credit card data. Tokenization is a fairly simple process that doesn't have to be expensive.

Why do we need credit card tokenization?
Storing credit card numbers for the average sized merchant was OK not to long ago, but those days are long gone. The payment card industry now governs the storage of credit card numbers and customer information. This is actually a good thing, but can be a pain if your a small to medium sized merchant.

What is credit card tokenization?
Credit card tokenization turns a credit card number into a token that is only recognized by the service provider, or merchant account provider. For example lets say your credit card number is "4125-1512-1512-1562" that turns into a token "4324223". If a hacker has stolen your token it is useless to them. This means your eCommerce store can store tokens easily, even without encryption.

What are the benefits of credit card tokenization?
The biggest benefit you'll see right away is savings. When you only store tokens there is only a simple SAQ (self assessment questionnaire) that needs to be filled out to become PCI compliant. Re-billing or recurring billing is now a simple process, simply send the token to the payment gateway and you have re-billed without asking for payment information again. Need to reverse a change, send the token.

How much is credit card tokenization?
Usually free. I've never seen a provider charge for the service. What is different is the way they offer the service. You need to be sure the tokenization service will work with your software or web site.

Please fill out the contact form on the right if you need more assistance.

eCommerce service providers network

2010-04-18T08:34:00.000-07:00

Recently we added our little blog to a directory to increase traffic and came across one worth mentioning here. The directory is comprised of eCommerce and brick and mortar business vendors. They have a nice break down of specific categories that pertain to the payments industry.

With categories like, PCI DSS Compliance, Point of Sale, Check Readers and more, merchants should be able to find any kind of service to support their business. If your a provider and need more traffic like we all do, try adding your site.

NACHA Reports 18.76 Billion ACH Payments in 2009

2010-04-11T19:24:00.000-07:00

Year-Over-Year Transaction Volume Up 2.6 Percent

Growth Experienced in Direct Deposit, B2B Payments and Consumer Internet Transactions, Positive Trend Continues in Unauthorized Debits

ACH payment volume increased by more than 475 million transactions in 2009, bringing year-end total transaction volume to 18.76 billion, a 2.6 percent increase over 2008 activity, according to NACHA—The Electronic Payments Association. Year-over-year comparisons demonstrated strong volume increases in ACH native electronic payments — Direct Deposit, consumer Internet transactions, and B2B transactions — and in back office check conversion. In addition, NACHA is reporting a continued positive trend in risk mitigation, witnessed by the ongoing decline in the unauthorized debit volume.

Network Risk Indicators
While ACH volume continues to increase, unauthorized debits have been on a multi-year downward trajectory. The number of ACH debits returned as unauthorized in 2009 declined 9.6 percent over 2008. These transactions constitute 0.02 percent of total Network volume.

“The trend we’re seeing with unauthorized debits is a direct result of new NACHA rules and other enforcement efforts that went into effect in 2008,” said Janet O. Estep, president and CEO of NACHA. “Analyzing the data, we see the absolute volume of unauthorized debits dropped following the implementation of the Network Enforcement Rule and the Company Name Rule. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of targeted rulemaking and risk-management practices.”

Native Electronic Payments
ACH native electronic payments (non-check conversion transactions) increased by 4.15 percent in 2009, showing an increased preference for non-check, fully-electronic, payment options. These payments constituted 12.19 billion transactions on the ACH Network.

Direct Deposit
Direct Deposit continues to deliver a critical piece of Network volume. For 2009 year-end, there were 4.54 billion Direct Deposit payments, an increase of 4.9 percent over 2008.

“In the difficult economic environment of 2009, the ACH Network continued to see steady volume growth, including Direct Deposit transactions,” indicated Estep. “Notwithstanding a 10 percent unemployment rate, Direct Deposit volume increased nearly 5 percent in 2009. This exemplifies its ongoing adoption, including the potential increase in the use of split deposit for savings. These figures reinforce that Direct Deposit offers value for all parties – consumers, businesses, and their financial institutions.”

Business-to-Business (B2B)[1] Payments
B2B transaction volume was up to more than two billion payments in 2009, an increase of 3.2 percent over 2008. The largest growth was in corporate trade exchange transactions, which carry business remittance information along with the payment.[2] These payments increased by 9.19 percent over 2008, reaching more than 60 million transactions. In addition, the number of B2B addenda records with the remittance information increased by 8.52 percent year-over-year. The increases in this transaction volume and addenda records with remittance information demonstrates that growth continues for companies using the ACH Network for transmitting robust information.

Consumer Internet Transactions
Overall, year-end 2009 consumer Internet transactions (including WEB[3] and CIE[4]) were up 8.75 percent to nearly 2.4 billion payments. Internet-initiated (WEB) volume has been on an upward trajectory which continued through the close of 2009 with a substantial 9.7 percent increase over 2008. Additionally, NACHA and ACH Network participants have continued to manage risk well on these efficient transactions. Year-over-year comparisons show a significant 13 percent decline in the number of unauthorized WEB debits, with an overall unauthorized rate of return at a nominal 0.04 percent.

Back Office Check Conversion
Back Office Conversion (BOC) continued its growth pattern as more companies seek ways to streamline administrative tasks for processing checks presented by their customers. In 2009, BOC transaction volume more than doubled (104.56 percent) over 2008, resulting in 160.5 million transactions.

International ACH Transactions (IAT)
The fourth quarter of 2009 provided the first full-quarter transaction data for IAT. Combined with the nine banking days in Q3 where IATs were available, the year-end total for IAT was 1.7 million with a dollar value of $7.4 billion.

Federal Government
Comparing 2008 and 2009, total federal government ACH transactions increased by 5.52 percent to 1.21 billion transactions, while dollars increased 7.22 percent to $4.29 trillion. The United States Department of the Treasury’s Financial Management Service has released data that indicates that the federal government saves $0.925 for every ACH credit used instead of a check. In 2009, there were 1.08 billion government ACH credits, representing a $1 billion cost savings for the federal government.

Tokenization for dummies

2010-03-27T10:16:00.000-07:00

The word tokenization of credit card data is being passed around more and more these days. The payment card industry is cracking down on businesses large and small, forcing them to find an alternative ways work with credit card data to protect cardholders.

What is tokenization?
Tokenization simply takes a credit card number and turns it into a token. This can be done a number of ways depending on your service provider. A good example is an e-commerce web site hosted by the merchant where the customer can enter a credit card. Behind the scenes the credit card number is turned into a token and returned to the merchant. Tokens can be stored at the merchants e-commerce site because they are not credit card numbers. When the merchant would like to re-bill the customer (with their authorization of course) they can simply send the token to the service provider. The main benefit being if the token is compromised it cannot be used. Obviously this is not the case with the credit card.

Tokenization is a great way to protect cardholder data and lessen the in scope items merchants are required to abide by from the payment card industry. Not only does it safely protect the cardholder number, but it allows for a re-bill to be done without asking the customer for a credit card number. Not all service providers offer tokenization so check with yours to be sure it is offered. As always you can click the contact us for more information.

PCI's July 1st Deadline

2010-03-13T05:07:00.000-08:00

Here is an interesting article in American Banker about the Payment Card Industries July 1st deadline.

"You have to presume that by July 1, probably 20 percent of retailers are still not going to be compliant," says Paul Martaus, a leading payments industry consultant, adding that many of the terminals in use today are too old to manage the PCI-compliant applications.

Read More

Link your Facebook or Twitter accounts to your merchant account.

2010-02-15T07:54:00.000-08:00

How do you get your customers to pay you directly from your Facebook or Twitter accounts? Actually its very simple. Your merchant account provider should offer a secure payment page hosted on their site for free. Here is how you can link your merchant account to your Facebook or Twitter accounts.

Get your payment page code
The code needed is simply a http link with some extra parameters included to identify your account. Providers differ on how you can get this code, some will generate it for you and some you need to follow their API to generate it manually. Your code should look something like what we have below.

https://www.URL.com/pay.html?ID=ABC1234

Facebook Payments
Armed with your code or link from above, login to your Facebook account. There are a couple of different way to do get payments from Facebook. Basically, anywhere you can enter text and have it show up as a link is where you can add your code. The Facebook Wall is a great place for adding your code. Simply enter the payment code onto your wall. When a customer clicks your link they will go straight to your payment page.

Twitter Payments
Twitter works basically the same way as Facebook. Simply login to your Twitter account and enter your code, or link into the text box. Once your customers click the link they are directed to your payment page.

Mobile payments coming to a phone near you.

2010-02-07T12:05:00.000-08:00

Now showing on cell phones — movie tickets, gift cards, coupons and airline tickets.
Retailers and technology companies nationwide are increasingly making commerce mobile, embracing the cell phone as an electronic replacement for paper coupons or plastic gift cards. It’s moving the world ever closer toward the “mobile wallet,” in which most transactions are conducted on wireless phones. more...

Desktop Application PCI Compliance

2010-01-15T11:15:00.000-08:00

As PCI rules and regulations get tougher and tougher desktop applications that accept credit card payments are finding it difficult to comply. Lately we have worked with several clients to bring their desktop application up to PCI DSS standards. There are a couple of options to consider when faced with this problem.

Option 1

Rewrite the software in accordance with the PCI DSS rules and regulations. This usually entails going through the cost of an audit, and then making the necessary changes to the software. By the way this will have to be repeated every year. Usually the changes are not minor, but are time consuming, invasive changes, that require manpower and know how to complete.

Option 2

Divorce the credit card payments section of the application and have it use a vendor service. For example gym membership software that has three sections, Payments, Members, and Reports. The Payments tab allows payments to be made for members. This Payments section would actually load an SSL encrypted web page that is already PCI secured. See the screen shot below, the area within the red box is actually a web page embedded into the desktop application.

The best part about this solution is that after the transaction is complete a token is sent back to the desktop application which can be used in place of a credit card number for next time. When the customer needs to make another payment simply send the token (saved in the desktop application) along with the amount.

Since the desktop application no longer stores or transmits credit card data directly PCI scope is greatly reduced, allowing for a easy way to comply. This is a great service that saves software companies large and small a great deal of money and headache. This service should be included (free!) with your credit card processor, if not we can recommend a provider. Fill out the Questions/Comments section on the right.

Amazons PayPhrase

2009-11-07T12:01:00.000-08:00

Amazon has introduced a new service called Amazon PayPhrase that lets you the customer use stored payment information without a credit card number. The customer will store the credit card number and shipping address on Amazon's servers. When they are ready to check out all they need to do is provide a pin number and phrase.

Sounds like an interesting take on tokenized payments. It can be done in a similar manner by simply using a payment processor that accepts tokenized payments. It really isn't that difficult and will save you a ton of money when compared to Amazon's high processing fees.

How to Encrypt Credit Card Data the Visa Way

2009-10-25T06:26:00.000-07:00

Visa has released a best practices for data encryption to keep cardholder data safe. It should be used along with the existing PCI DSS security standards. If your not going to be using tokenized payments this will help you encrypt sensitive cardholder data in an industry approved fashion.

Visa's best practices are designed to help organizations:

Limit cleartext availability of cardholder data and sensitive authentication data to the point of encryption and the point of decryption.
Use robust key management solutions consistent with international and/or regional standards.
Use key-lengths and cryptographic algorithms consistent with international and/or regional standards.
Protect devices used to perform cryptographic operations against physical/logical compromises.
Use an alternate account or transaction identifier for business processes that requires the primary account number to be utilized after authorization, such as processing of recurring payments, customer loyalty programs or fraud management.

Read the entire press release here.

What is the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council

2009-09-19T12:13:00.001-07:00

PCI refers to the Payment Card Industry, this is shortened from Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council. We'll just call it PCI. Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express formed the PCI council to protect cardholder data.

The PCI council developed the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard. This helps organizations that processing credit card transactions to prevent credit card fraud by increased controls over the data. This standard applies to all organizations with hold, process or transmit cardholder data.

To be in compliance the merchant must have annual compliance reviews. Reviews can be done internally or externally depending on the volume of credit card transactions. Larger volume merchants will have an independent assessor or a Qualified Security Assessor do the review. Smaller ones can use the Self Assessment Questionnaire.

There are ways to remove or lower your PCI compliance level.

Accept eCheck only
Use tokenization instead of credit card numbers
Use your providers web payment page

Merchants should already be accepting eChecks just for the cost savings, but it also removes the need for PCI compliance. Tokenizaton turns credit card numbers into a token that is useless to hackers. Finally using your solution providers web payment page will have the credit card information entered on their PCI complaint site, not yours.

If you have more questions about becoming PCI compliant use the contact us form on the right.

Sick and Tired of Paying High Credit Card Fees?

2009-08-30T11:03:00.001-07:00

There are a lot of advantages to accepting eChecks or ACH transactions. The most important is cost. You'll save money because there is a simple per transaction fee applied. Unlike credit cards where you have the per transaction, and a percentage of the transaction as a fee.

There are many ways to increase loyalty with the money saved by accepting ACH as compared to credit cards. Some companies pass this savings along to their customers directly by offering a small discount when paying by check. Others use the money to develop frequent buyer programs, etc.

There are other things to note when accepting ACH transactions.

Already integrated into most shopping carts.
If you can't find a shopping cart, it is easy to develop custom applications.
Reduction of administration costs.
Clerical account reconciliation costs reduced.
Improve relationships with your customers.
eChecks eliminate the overhead of processing checks manually.
Accelerated availability of funds directly into your account.
Elimination of stop payment charges and check reissue costs.
Reduced remittance processing costs
Reduction of bank service charges.
Better cash management forecasting.

Do an audit of your current merchant statement and see how much you could save. If your doing many transactions the savings could be significant.

The Man Who Stole 130M Credit Cards

2009-08-23T15:03:00.000-07:00

Credit card theft on a massive scale. Please do not store your customers credit cards have your provider do it for you. Here is a recent news item out the man who stole 40 million credit card records.

"After his first arrest he bought his freedom from the Secret Service by becoming a confidential informant. Later he was charged with stealing 40 million credit-card records, and his latest caper pushed that number up to 130 million. He's 28, has a high-school education, and his motto is "operation get rich or die tryin' ". And he's your worst nightmare. more..."

Secure Payment Web Page Features You Need

2009-08-08T15:04:00.001-07:00

These days most payment processors offer a securely hosted payment page. These pages make it easier for the merchant to accept payments on their website. Each one seems to be a little different from the other. There are many to choose from so what features should you look for before signing up with a provider?

Payment Card Industry Compliance
This is an easy one, the Payment Gateway and the form you use should be PCI compliant. Most are, if your unsure ask your provider. If they are not compliant switch providers.

Customizable Secure Page
Some payment forms are very customizable while others only give you a very basic layout that your stuck with. Here are some options you should be aware of.

Look and feel items such as the color and logo of the form should be able to be changed to match your site. You don't want customers to see a totally different looking web site when they check out. They may be scared off.

Some advanced forms allow you to change not only colors, but the form fields your customers have to fill out. For example you can make shipping address mandatory and hide company name. Also pre-filling those fields so a customer cannot change certain items when they are at the payment page is desirable.

Configurable fields allow you to add a field such as invoice number or customer ID. It allows you to use the language your customers are familiar with. Even more advanced applications allow you to choose what type of data you want in your configurable field such as telephone number, email, etc.

Page flow. Where should your customers go after a sale has been approved or declined. Do they have the option to post those values back to you so your shopping card database can stay updated.

Special instructions to your customers before, during and after the sale. This helps direct your customers using your own language.

Payment Methods Accepted
The payment page almost always is set up to accept credit cards, but what about eChecks. If you want to give your customers an alternate way to pay look out for this feature.

Single and Recurring
Not all transactions are are for today. Make sure your provider has single and recurring type payments configurable on your securely hosted payment page.

Ease of Use
How easy is it to set up your payment page? It should be a very straight forward process with a clean interface. When your done you should be able to copy the HTML code into your website easily.

Hopefully that helps to explain the securely hosted payment page. Oh and don't forget you shouldn't have to pay extra for this!

Over Half a Million Credit Cards Intercepted from Network Solutions

2009-07-25T08:20:00.000-07:00

Network Solutions servers were breached to the tune of 573,000 credit card numbers. For nearly three months between March 12, 2009 and June 8, 2009 credit card numbers were siphoned off of web sites that used Network Solutions as their payment processor according to the Washington Posts Security Fix web site.

Web servers hosting their payment processing applications were installed with malicious code that captured customers credit card numbers. This type of attack would be invisible to the victim until they noticed their card being used without their permission. Orders on websites would still process normally, but the credit card number would be forwarded to the hackers database.

Remember to check your credit every 12 months or earlier. The official site for checking your credit can be hard to find. There are many companies that charge for this service, but you shouldn't have to pay if you only want to view it every 12 months. Visit this site for more information.

Tokenized Payments. Storing Your Customer Data in the Cloud

2009-07-10T11:59:00.000-07:00

Tokenized payments are all the rage so what are they all about?

What is cloud computing?
Cloud computing is a style of computing in which virtualized resources are provided as a service over the Internet. For our purposes, tokenized payments is a place to store your sensitive customer data like credit card numbers.

How do token payments work?
Simply put, the customer information name, credit card number and other information are sent to the provider or the gateway. The gateway returns a token. The next time you want to perform a transaction that token is used instead of passing the credit card number.

What are the advantages of token payments?
There are several advantages to offloading sensitive customer data.

Data is stored safely and securely
No storage of credit card numbers reduces the Payment Card Industries rules and regulations on your company. Expensive audits are reduced to a self assessment questionnaire in most cases.
Reduced programming costs
Some gateways offer eChecks and credit card data storage.
Rebilling is made easy since you have the payment information

Providers that offer tokenized payments.
Token payments are relatively new, but the list is growing.

Zopay.com

Cybersource

USEPay

Payments Gateway

5 tips to reduce your credit card fees now

2009-06-27T09:31:00.000-07:00

Fees usually vary because of the risk the provider takes on by letting your company accept credit cards. You may pay more or less credit card fees depending on your industry because of the type of goods or services you sell.

Here are 5 tips you can use to save money on your credit card processing

Check that your provider is using the correct merchant category code (MCC) for your business
Swipe the credit cards wherever possible
Get direct interchange pass through pricing
Review your bill make sure you understand what's on it and how it got there
Reduce chargebacks by using fraud tools such a AVS etc

There are many other ways to save money on payment processing, but these you should be able to determine quite easily. Remember it doesn't always come down to the lowest rate quoted. Hidden fees can make the actual costs you pay much more than the quoted rate.

ACH Credit Transactions

2009-05-17T07:02:00.000-07:00

ACH credit transactions are used everyday for any number of reasons. Whether its dividend payments from your broker or your monthly social security check ACH credit transactions are an important part of the ACH network.

ACH Credits Usage
ACH eCheck transactions happen when the Originator (usually a company) starts a transfer to move funds to a Receiver's (consumer) account. There are a number of reasons to perform an ACH Credit transaction.

dividend payments
b2b payments
interest payments
annuities disbursements
telephone bill initiated payments
pension
tax payments
refunds
Social Security payments
payroll
government vendor payments

Here is an example. You have a brokerage account at Bank of America and you own 1000 shares of Microsoft. As of this writing Microsoft pays a dividend. If your set up to be payed the dividend, you the Receiver would receive the dividend as an ACH credit to your account from Bank of America, the Originator.

ACH eCheck Payment Applications

2009-05-03T08:25:00.000-07:00

The ACH Network supports a variety of payment applications from different vendors. An Originator initiating entries into the system will code the entries in a manner to indicate the type of payment, such as a debit or credit, and whether an entry is a corporate or consumer. The ACH application is recognized by a three digit code or an Standard Entry Class Code (SEC) code. This SEC code appears on the record format. It identifies the specific record format that will be used to carry the payment and the related payment information. Here is a list of entry class codes.

ARC - Accounts Receivable Entry
CIE - Customer Initiated Entry
MTE - Machine Transfer Entry
PBR - Consumer Cross-Border
POP - Point of Purchase
PPD - Prearranged Payment and Deposit
POS - Point of Sale
RCK - Represented Check
TEL - Telephone Initiated Entry
WEB - Internet Initiated Entry
CBR - Corporate Cross Border Payment
CCD - Cash Concentration or Disbursement
CTX - Corporate Trade Exchange
ACK - Acknowledgement Entries
ADV - Automated Accounting Advice
COR - Automated Notification of Change
DNE - Death Notification of Change
ENR - Automated Enrollment Entry
TRC - Truncated Entries
XCK - Destroyed Check Entry

ACH eCheck Acceptance

2009-04-24T13:55:00.001-07:00

Many merchants that have been concerned about taking checks in the past have now seen the light. eCheck or ACH transactions compared to credit cards can save you big money. Check acceptance is less risky and easier than it used to be thanks to electronic check conversion. ACH transactions are now a cost-effective method of payment and a fast way for your customers to pay safe and securely.

eCheck Conversion
A check conversion application turns a paper check into an electronic one. The resulting check is sometimes called and echeck or e-check. This is also known as an ACH transaction. The merchant will use a check reader to scan the check at the point of sale. The scanner is can be hooked into a software program that sends the check to the payment processor or the payment gateway. The gateway will return a response that is echoed back to the user via the application. The eCheck will clear depending on the type of agreement with the processor debits are usually faster than a credit transactions standard four day hold time.

Merchant Benefits of ACH
When converting checks or ACH processing is used in conjunction with check verification the merchant benefits are huge. Along with the lower processing costs of eChecks the entire process has been streamlined allowing for the integration of a accounting programs such as QuickBooks, and MYOB. Mistakes from data entry are reduced, the closing and settlement process is also simplified by using ACH eCheck conversion.

What is ACH?

2009-04-19T10:44:00.001-07:00

This should have been our first post, but better late than never. Every once in a while we get the question "What is ACH?".

Automated Clearing House
ACH stands for the Automated Clearing House Network. The ACH network is a nationwide electronic funds transfer system. The network is overseen by the NACHA operational rules. They provide the interbank clearing for electronic payments for participants. The electronic payments network and the Federal Reserve are in the position of ACH Operators or the central clearing houses which financial institutions to receive or transmit Automated Clearing House transactions.

ACH Volumes
According to Nacha the number of ACH payments originated by financial institutions increased to 8.05 billion in 2002, up 13.6 percent from 2001. These payments were valued at $21.7 trillion. Including payments originated by the Federal government, there were a total of 8.94 billion ACH payments in 2002 worth more than $24.4 trillion.

ACH Types of Payments

eCommerce, web sites etc
eChecks payments
B2B (Business to business) payments
Mortgages
Tax payments made to local, state or federal government
Direct deposits, government benefits, Social Security, tax refunds, payroll
Insurance premiums
Mortgages, loans
Utility bills
Insurance
Other consumer bills

Basic ACH Terms
Originator
An entity, individual, corporation that initiates entries into the ACH network.

Originating Depository Financial Institution (ODFI)
A participating financial institution that originates ACH entries at the request of and by (ODFI) agreement with it's customers.

Receiving Depository Financial Institution
Any financial institution qualified to receive ACH entries that agrees to abide by the NACHA Operating Rules and Guidelines

Receiver
An individual, corporation or other entity who has authorized an Originator to initiate a credit or debit entry to a transaction account held at an RDFI.

Hope that helps, clear up some confusion. If you would like to know more about the ACH network or NACHA please visit their site or leave a comment.

Check Verification vs Check Guarantee

2009-04-05T14:25:00.000-07:00

If you accept ACH, echecks or just plain old paper checks you probably use either a check verification service or a check guarantee service. These services are designed to reduce your company's exposure to bad checks.

Check Guarantee
If one of the checks you accept results in an NSF (Non Sufficient Funds) the check guarantee company will reimburse you depending on if the check was accepting according to the guidelines they provide. These guidelines cover whether the writers drivers license is on the back of the check etc. By not following these guidelines the check guarantee company may refuse to pay. Even if they do pay they have the option to debit your account later if they cannot collect from the bad check writer. The fees check guarantee companies charge are pretty steep for the average merchant.

Check Verification
This method of check protection gives you the option to decline or accept a check during the payment process depending on the information and data provided. Verification can be done at checkout. A real-time query is made to check the status of the account. A number of items can be checked.

Is the account in good standing
Has the account been stolen or a victim of fruad
Is the account a non DDA account
Are there sufficient funds to cover the check
Is the account in NSF
Is the routing number and account number valid
Is there a stop payment on the account

Another optional item would be to have the check ran through a database of known bad check writers.

Compared to check guarantee, check verification is far less expensive.

Some service providers may not be able to offer the entire list above for check verification and may just offer the negative database. In that situation you may want to look at another service provider to get the full benefit of check verification.

Nacha ACH Return Codes

2009-03-28T14:20:00.000-07:00

If your company does any kind of eCheck ACH processing you'll want to get familiar with at least a couple of these return codes from NACHA.

Return Code	Description
R01	Insufficient Funds
R02	Account Closed
R03	No Account/Unable to Locate Account
R04	Invalid Account Number
R05	Unauthorized Debit to Consumer Account
R06	Returned per ODFIs Request
R07	Authorization Revoked by Customer
R08	Payment Stopped or Stop Payment on Item
R09	Uncollected Funds
R10	Customer Advises Not Authorized
R11	Check Truncation Entry Return
R12	Branch sold to another DFI
R13	RDFI not qualified to participate
R14	Representment payee deceased or unable to continuein that capacity
R15	Beneficiary of account holder deceased
R16	Account Frozen
R17	File record edit criteria
R18	Improper effective entry date
R19	Amount field error
R20	Non-Transaction Account
R21	Invalid company identification
R22	Invalid individual ID number
R23	Credit entry refused by receiver
R24	Duplicate entry
R25	Addenda error
R26	Mandatory field error
R27	Trace number error
R28	Routing number check digit error
R29	Corporate customer advises not authorized
R30	RDFI not participant in check truncation program
R31	Permissible return entry
R32	RDFI non-settlement
R33	Return of XCK entry
R34	Limited participation DFI
R35	Return of improper debit entry
R36	Return of improper credit entry
R38	Stop Payment on Source Document
R40	Return of ENR entry by Federal Government Agency (ENR Only)
R41	Invalid transaction code (ENR Only)
R42	Routing number/check digit error (ENR only)
R43	Invalid DFI account number (ENR only)
R44	Invalid individual ID number (ENR only)
R45	Invalid individual name/company name (ENR only)
R46	Invalid representative payee indicator (ENR only)
R47	Duplicate enrollment
R50	State Law Affecting RCK Acceptance
R51	Item is Ineligible, Notice Not Provided, Signature not genuine
R52	Stop Payment on Item
R61	Misrouted return
R62	Incorrect trace number
R63	Incorrect dollar amount
R64	Incorrect individual identification
R65	Incorrect transaction code
R66	Incorrect company identification
R67	Duplicate return
R68	Untimely Return
R69	Multiple Errors
R70	Permissible return entry not accepted
R71	Misrouted dishonored return
R72	Untimely dishonored return
R73	Timely original return
R74	Corrected return
R80	Cross-Border Payment Coding Error
R81	Non-Participant in Cross-Border Program
R82	Invalid Foreign Receiving DFI Identification
R83	Foreign Receiving DFI Unable to Settle
Change Code	Description
C01	Incorrect DFI Account Number
C02	Incorrect Transit/Routing Number
C03	Incorrect Transit/Routing Number and Incorrect DFI Account Number
C04	Incorrect Individual Name
C05	Incorrect Transaction Code
C06	Incorrect DFI Account Number and Incorrect Transaction Code
C07	Incorrect Transit/Routing Number, Incorrect DFI Account Number, and Incorrect Transaction Code
C08	Reserved
C09	Incorrect Individual Identification Number
C10	Incorrect Company Name
C11	Incorrect Company Identification
C12	Incorrect Company Name and Company Identification
C13	Addenda Format Error
C61	Misrouted Notification of Change
C62	Incorrect Trace Number
C63	Incorrect Company Identification Number
C64	Incorrect Individual Identification Number
C65	Incorrectly Formatted Corrected Data
C66	Incorrect Discretionary Data
C67	Routing Number Not From Original Entry Detail Record
C68	DFI Account Number Not From Original Entry Detail Record
C69	Incorrect Transaction Code

How to make your software application PCI compliant.

2009-03-15T14:13:00.000-07:00

If your a developer who maintains a software application that accepts credit card payments you may be wondering how to make your program PCI compliant. Your not alone, every piece of software that accepts credit card payments or stores credit card numbers is now forced to become PCI complaint or be fined. PCI or the Payment Card Industry regulates the storing and transmission of credit card numbers.

Your options
There are two ways to become PCI compliant.
1. Subject your software application to a PCI audit. Representatives from the Payment Card Industry will review your application and make recommendations for the storage and transmission of credit card data. The audit will be intensive and costly and will need to be redone annually.
2. Rework your application to stop the storage and transmission of credit card numbers. At first this sounds foreign but read on.

Removing the storage and transmission of credit card numbers from your application.
Lets say for example you have a software application that accepts rent. Landlords use it on their desktop computers. They select a renter and charge their credit card.
We need to remove the portion that stores the credit card and replace it with a payment token. The token is generated when the landlord enters the credit card on a PCI certified site from your payment processor. Once you have the token you can store it in your application instead of the credit card number. When your ready to charge the renter you send the token along with the amount. Its that simple, your now PCI complaint.

PCI compliance in a few steps.
It doesn't have to cost a fortune to become PCI compliant just a small change your application can make all the difference. Often the change can be made in a way that your customers won't even notice.