Compliance Corner: Canadian Association Updates

In our ongoing effort to keep our merchants informed of MasterCard®, VISA® and Interac® Direct Payment regulations in Canada, please review the following updates:

1. Card Masking
2. Extended Service Code 220 for Debit Cards
3. Visa Card Extended Expiration Date Processing

Each regulation change is listed below with a brief description. If a change is required by merchants, a recommended solution is listed in order to comply with the new regulations.

Canadian Compliance

1. Card Masking
Effective April 1, 2005, MasterCard regulations require that all newly installed, replaced or relocated Point of Sale (POS) applications, whether attended or unattended, mask the primary account number (PAN). Asterisks (*) or another character such as an (X) will replace the masked digits. The last four digits of the card number will not be masked. Visa will implement similar card masking rules by April, 2007. Global Payments is implementing new card masking standards for our merchants in Canada as a result of these new regulations.

POS Applications deployed prior to April 1, 2005 do NOT need to be upgraded; however, all POS Applications deployed or changed after April 1, 2005, must adhere to these new card masking standards. It is important for merchants who move locations to contact their processor to ensure that the relocated device is compliant with the new regulations. These new regulations apply to receipts that are electronically printed ONLY and do not apply to handwritten or imprinted receipts.

2. Extended Service Code “220” for Debit Cards
When a debit card with a magnetic stripe is swiped during a transaction, it enables a service code “120”, which identifies the swiped card to use the Interac Direct Payment (IDP) application. As the Interac Association moves towards increased debit card security, a new service code “220” will be required in certain circumstances.

As of June 1, 2005, Global Payments will adhere to the following regulations:

• All of our IDP terminals connected to the IDP Service will be capable of accepting debit cards with magnetic strips having extended service codes of either “120” or “220”.
• All of our IDP terminals will prompt for the cardholder’s PIN and will originate an IDP transaction once all of the following conditions are met:
   
  • The service code on the magnetic stripe is “120” or “220”
  • The cardholder has confirmed the purchase amount
  • The cardholder has chosen either “chequing” or “savings”
    after having been prompted to select an account.

3. Visa Card Extended Expiration Date Processing
Visa International Operating Regulations permit cards to have an expiration date of up to twenty years from the date of issuance. Some cardholders with extended expiry date Visa cards have experienced card acceptance problems. Some magnetic-stripe terminals have rejected these cards because internal edits within the device do not align with Visa’s expiration dates of up to twenty years. In addition, some merchant web sites with drop-down boxes have insufficient data ranges so extended expiry dates cannot be entered.

As Visa International is currently issuing extended expiry date cards, Global Payments is verifying our terminal software to ensure that extended expiry dates are accepted and not rejected.

Electronic commerce merchants using drop-down boxes on their web sites need to verify that they accept Visa cards with expiry dates of up to twenty years.

For more information, please contact your relationship or sales manager to review the requirements.

The information contained herein is for informational purposes only and Global Payments Inc. does not warrant the accuracy or completeness of the information. Although we believe the information to be reliable, we cannot guarantee that it will not be subsequently amended as a result of intervening factors such as rules changes from the card associations. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice and Global Payments Inc. does not undertake any responsibility to update this information after the date hereof. Global Payments Inc. does not endorse any external sites linked herein.