Accepting Credit Card Payments – is it Safe?

Customers love having a wider range of payment options when they get to the checkout station. Though there has been a sea-change in the way businesses accept payments, many small business owners still buck the trend and refuse to accept credit cards for a variety of reasons. This can cost them in terms of brand loyalty, unflattering feedback on social media, and a real drop in revenue and sales. Though card payments have elbowed out cash and check payments significantly, there are areas of concern that you may want a heads-up on.

Risks and Challenges

Electronic payments, especially the CNP (card-not-present) type used in remote payments, are vulnerable to smart fraudsters. They may purchase using counterfeit cards or intercept customer data en route from your system to the merchant bank. Data breach is a real danger. A 2016 study by Symantec reports that specific crimes like phishing and cybercrime target 43% of small businesses.

Your customer depends on you to ensure safe, secure payment transactions. Apart from financial information, criminals can gain access to many other personal details about the card holder. Paper based data like records of accounts, receipts, invoices, and orders, provide a wealth of information to scammers and criminals. By ensuring that you don’t store these documents, you can stay in compliance with Payment Card Industry (PCI) regulations and also build customer confidence.

Streamlining your credit card payment facilities need not be at the cost of your customer’s safety and security or your own.

For more information on whether accepting credit card payments is safe, or to sign up for a merchant account, please call (888) 924-2743 or go to Charge.com.