EMV FAQs | National Bank of Arizona

EMV Frequently Asked Questions

What is EMV?

EMV is an acronym that stands for Europay, MasterCard® and Visa®. They are the founding companies for chip card technology. EMV is a payment application that resides in a computer chip embedded in a credit or debit card. The application specifications were developed by Europay, MasterCard®, and Visa® in order to help fight fraud. The specifications define a set of requirements that ensure compatibility between payment chip cards and card terminals.
The term “EMV” and “chip card” are interchangeable.

EMV has been widely used in Europe for many years, and the U.S. card issuers are now taking steps to make EMV the standard payment application for enhanced card security. The adoption of EMV will require financial institutions, payment networks, card issuers, payment processors, and businesses to make substantial changes to card issuing, transaction authorization and related processes as well as point-of-sale and/or ATM equipment.

Why the change to chip cards?

The move to chip cards is intended to reduce fraud in the card payment system and to increase international acceptance of cards issued by U.S. issuers. While magnetic stripe technology can usually be used in countries where EMV is prominent, some merchants now require customers to use a chip card.

How does EMV work?

During a payment transaction, the chip performs cryptographic processing by assigning a unique code to each transaction. This helps prevent the transaction data from being fraudulently reused. Chip processing takes place only when the card is used at an EMV terminal.

An EMV terminal is a point-of-sale (POS) device or ATM that is able to process chip transactions. Instead of swiping your card, you insert it in an EMV terminal and leave it in the terminal until the transaction is complete. If a merchant does not have an EMV terminal, transactions will be processed by swiping the card’s magnetic stripe, just as they are processed today.
Make sure you remove your card from the POS terminal before leaving the merchant’s premises! This is a common challenge people face when getting used to using a chip card.

Where are EMV cards used today?

EMV cards are in use throughout Europe and in most of the Middle East, Asia, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, and Africa.

When will I be able to get a chip card?

We will issue chip cards in phases. We expect to issue chip cards to commercial card customers in the first quarter of 2015 and to consumers and small businesses in the fourth quarter of 2015. Please note that these are anticipated issue dates and are subject to change.

How do I get a chip card?

Once chip cards are available, you will be issued a chip card when your current card expires. If you would like to request a chip card before your expiration date, please call the number on the back of your card.

Is there a fee for ordering a chip card?

At this time we do not plan to charge customers for a chip card. If you request expedited replacement of your current card, we may charge a fee for faster delivery.

If I am traveling outside of the U.S. before the chip card is available, can I still use my current card?

Yes, subject to our fraud monitoring and ATM limits, you may continue to use your magnetic stripe card outside the U.S. Please notify us in advance of traveling abroad to better ensure your legitimate foreign transactions are not declined. Magnetic stripe-only cards are still accepted outside the U.S. though some “unattended” kiosks (parking meters, gas station pumps) may take only chip cards. For foreign travel, we recommend that you consider having another method of payment available just in case.

What type of fraud prevention is available with my card?

We take card security very seriously and have sophisticated fraud detection services in place:

24/7 Fraud Monitoring – We always monitor your accounts for suspicious activity and attempt to contact you when we see something out of the ordinary. To ensure the best possible service, you should maintain accurate contact information with the bank and take advantage of our other fraud fighting tools like Mobile Card Fraud Alerts and Purchase Alerts.
Mobile Card Fraud Alerts – You can receive near real-time alerts of potentially fraudulent card activity on your mobile device or by email. Enrollment is available through Online Banking.
Visa Purchase Alerts® - You can receive one-way text notifications on certain purchases. Enroll by logging in to Online Banking, navigating to the “Services” tab, and selecting “Purchase Alerts.”
Visa Zero Liability® – Protects personal and small business customers against unauthorized transactions made with their Visa credit or debit card. Please visit www.visa.com for further details.

These services will remain available for use with your chip card. EMV will simply provide an additional layer of security.

Can chip cards be used at contactless POS terminals?

No. Currently we do not plan to issue contactless chip cards. Chip cards will need to be inserted in an EMV terminal.

If you have a contactless card, that feature will end when your card is replaced by a chip card.

Will I still be required to sign for my credit card purchase?

Yes. You will be required to sign for credit card purchases. You will insert your credit card in the EMV terminal, wait for the transaction to process, remove your card, and then sign for your purchase.
For debit cards, you have the choice of signing or using your PIN if the merchant’s terminal supports PIN entry.

Is my card considered “chip and signature” or “chip and PIN”?

Both “chip and signature” and “chip and PIN” refer to the way a card is authenticated at the terminal. Your card will be authenticated using chip and signature. Chip and signature offers the same cryptographic security as chip and PIN.

While most of the banks in Europe chose chip and PIN authentication, the US market has leaned toward chip and signature in an effort to ease transition by maintaining the current experience of signing receipts. We expect our customers will also appreciate not having to remember a separate PIN in order to complete their transaction. The terminal recognizes that the card is chip and signature and won’t prompt for a PIN, even if it’s used in Europe.

Can I use my existing PIN with my chip card?

For credit cards, your existing PIN can be used for ATM-based transactions only. For debit cards, you can continue to use your regular PIN at EMV terminals that support PIN entry.

Can I use my chip card at an ATM?

Yes. At ATMs that are not EMV-enabled, the transaction will be processed using your card’s magnetic stripe technology in combination with your PIN. At ATMs equipped with EMV chip readers, the transaction will be processed using the chip technology in combination with your PIN.

Will there be any changes to my account other than adding a chip to my card?

No. Your card account number and the benefits, terms and conditions of your account remain in effect.

What are the important dates related to EMV mandates?

October 2015 is when liability shifts from Issuers to merchants for Counterfeit Card Fraud. This shift occurs for card present transactions where the merchant is not using an EMV-compliant device (except fuel merchants). October 2017 is when liability shifts for fuel merchants for Counterfeit Card Fraud. EMV support is optional for merchants.

What are the ramifications if a merchant is not EMV-compliant?

If a merchant chooses not to replace the non-EMV point-of-sale (POS) device with an EMV-compliant POS device by October 2015, then the merchant is subject to the liability shift for card present counterfeit fraud transactions. If the merchant accepts a non-EMV card, has an EMV POS device and the transaction is fraudulent, the merchant has chargeback rights. If a merchant accepts an EMV card and does not have an EMV POS device, then the merchant does not have chargeback rights.

It would also be possible for a merchant to be liable for accepting a non-EMV card if it is a counterfeit magnetic stripe card.

When will EMV-capable terminal applications be available?

EMV-capable terminal applications are in development (Dates are subject to change)

Ingenico applications are targeted for Q1 2015
VeriFone applications are targeted for Q2 2015
Equinox applications are targeted for later 2015

Select new terminal models and peripherals will be certified as they are released to the market. Transaction Express EMV support is being reviewed. TransAction Central and ePay will not be updated to support EMV.

What chargeback codes are impacted by EMV non-compliance?

Visa; 62 � Counterfeit Transaction and 81 � Fraud, Card Present MasterCard; 4840 � Fraud Processing of Transaction.

Is it true that some merchants can purchase a peripheral device for EMV acceptance instead of a new terminal?

The Equinox T4220, T4205 and M4230 (all soon to be reclassified as non-class A) will be able to function with an Apollo Customer Facing Device (CFD) once the hardware has been manufactured and the EMV-capable terminal applications are available. These devices must have a peripheral to function properly with EMV contact and contactless payment types.

The VeriFone Vx570 and Vx610 will work with the VX805 peripheral. These devices will work with the internal chip slot or a peripheral. VeriFone is in the process of developing applications and will advise regarding ability to support chip for all Vx series terminals (including Vx510 terminals) with memory capacity greater than 3MB as they move forward in development.

Will merchants that have EMV-capable terminals need to do any downloads to enable EMV acceptance?

Yes, merchants that have EMV-capable terminals will need a download to enable EMV acceptance and possibly a peripheral device for contactless EMV card processing.

If a merchant does not have an EMV-capable VeriFone terminal do they have to upgrade the terminal or can they attach the Vx805 PIN Pad and do a download to enable EMV acceptance?

The Vx Series of terminals will support EMV with the Vx805 PIN pad provided that those devices have 3MB or greater. A complete list will be provided once development has been completed.

Will card readers provided with Transaction Express support EMV and Contactless?

The current card reads deployed with Transaction Express will not support EMV or Contactless processing. TransFirst will continue to deploy the current card readers if a merchant chooses not to support EMV. At this time TransFirst is evaluating what changes will be necessary to support EMV and Contactless through the Transaction Express system.

Will a merchant see any cost savings by becoming EMV-compliant, what is the benefit?

The only cost savings benefit a merchant will receive is reduced losses for counterfeit fraud chargebacks.

How will EMV requirements impact mobile/micro merchants (i.e. PayFox)?

EMV liability shift affects all card present transactions. There is no distinction for mobile/micro merchants.

Are EMV requirements applicable to Aggregators/Payment Service Providers (PSPs) (e.g. Square, etc)?

Yes, EMV requirements apply to Aggregators/PSPs card present transactions.

What is the current and forecasted percentage of U.S. consumers with EMV-capable cards (or contactless card/devices) over the next three (3) years?

Currently there are 3.5 million Visa� EMV cards issued in the U.S. as of March 13, 2013?MasterCard� EMV cards are predominantly issued on an �at request� basis, usually for international travel. The number of EMV cards issued by American Express� and Discover� in the U.S. is not available.?The card brands have not published the forecasted percentage of U.S. consumers with EMV-capable cards (i.e. chip/NFC) over the next 3 years.?PYMNTS.com published that out of the one billion cards that are in use in the U.S., only 20 million EMV cards have been issued. By the 2015 deadline, if the trend continues, only 20 to 30 percent of U.S. cardholders will have the new EMV chip cards.

To be EMV-compliant does a merchant need to support; Chip and PIN, Chip and Signature and NFC?

Visa
- Credit card supports chip-and-signature
- Debit cards will support PIN
- Require processors to support NFC, however merchants are not required to support NFC although it is strongly encouraged.
American Express and MasterCard
- Require processors to support chip-and-PIN
- Merchants must support NFC in order to qualify for liability shift.
Discover and MasterCard
- Require processors to support on-line and off-line PIN support. Off-line PIN support is when the terminal validates the PIN.

If the merchant is EMV-compliant, do they still need to be PCI compliant and incur PCI related validation fees?

What is the estimated �realistic� exposure (from a financial perspective) to a merchant, if they are not EMV-compliant, post 2015 liability shift?

The merchant�s liability depends on the amount of counterfeit fraud chargebacks they have.

What if any differences in EMV requirements are there for cash advance merchant accounts?

There are no unique EMV requirements for cash advance merchants. They have the same liability shift as all card present merchants.

What dates surround the Visa contactless requirement?

The Visa document shows the October 2015 liability shift and says contact chip only. Effective January 1, 2015, Visa contactless readers must support the Visa payWave� message format and no longer support the early adopter message format. Visa does not require merchants to support contact and contactless, but strongly encourage it.

Are there any expected changes for card not present (CNP), mail order/phone order (MOPO) and e-commerce transactions regarding EMV technology?

The card brands have not announced EMV support for CNP at this time.

If a merchant chooses not to upgrade their equipment to accept EMV, will they still be able to process transactions?

Yes, however they are subject to the liability shift for card present counterfeit fraud chargebacks.

Will TransFirst end of life the terminal and application requiring the merchant to upgrade equipment?

No. However, TSYS may end of life a terminal, application or both. TSYS is used as their front-end terminal authorization platform, so TSYS controls what terminals and applications are supported. At some point their equipment will reach end of life or fall out of Payment Card Industry (PCI) PIN Transaction Security (PTS) compliance and when it breaks they will need to purchase/lease a new terminal. All new terminals will be EMV-compliant.

Are there EMV readers for mobile devices and TXP Virtual Terminal?

TransFirst is reviewing and evaluating EMV approved devices at this time and will provide updates when we conclude the evaluation process.

When will TransFirst begin processing EMV cards?

TransFirst will begin processing EMV cards after they perform regression testing on terminal applications that TSYS is certifying with VeriFone, Ingenico and Equinox.

Will there be new interchange categories for EMV-capable cards?

Currently the card brands are not offering new interchange categories for EMV-capable cards.

Are there EMV readers for mobile devices and TXP Virtual Terminal?

TransFirst is reviewing and evaluating EMV approved devices at this time and will provide updates when we conclude the evaluation process.

What are the most significant differences between EMV and magnetic stripe transactions from a security prospective?

Mag-stripe data is static; the data is the same each time the card is used at all terminals and is easily cloned.?EMV incorporates cryptographic algorithms with dynamic data to ensure the card is authentic which makes cloning extremely difficult.

What are the differences between device and software readiness for EMV?

The device must have the ability to communicate with the chip card via contact or contactless. The software drives the device, allowing it to authenticate the card and cardholder as well as authorize the transaction either on-line or off-line with the chip.

Do gateways need EMV certifications?

Yes, but only if the gateway plans to support EMV card present processing; they will need to certify for EMV processing with their authorization network(s).

1. Mobile Card Fraud Alert Service - Zions Bank does not charge for the Mobile Card Fraud Alert service. However, standard text message and data rates from your mobile phone carrier may apply. Available services are subject to change without notice. See Terms and Conditions for complete details.
2. Visa Purchase Alerts requires enrollment in Online Banking. Certain transaction notifications are sent to your email account and/or mobile device by SMS text. Message and data rates from your wireless provider may apply.
3. Cardholder is not responsible for fraudulent charges made with their card or account information as long as they promptly notify National Bank of Arizona of unauthorized card use. Does not apply to small business ATM or PIN transactions. Disputed transactions must post to your account before provisional credit will be issued. For specific conditions, limitations, and other details, please call the number on the back of your card.