Credit Card Facts and Stats

-Americans owe approximately $850 billion in revolving credit card debt.i

-As of 2007, 73% of all American households had credit cards and 60% of these households carried a balance. The average balance for households that carried a balance was $7,300, up 30.4% from 2004.ii

-Low- and middle-income households have an average of $8,650 in credit card debt.iii

-The total amount of credit made available by issuers in 2007 was about $5 trillion, or $43,007 per household.iv

-Even as the economy worsens, Americans continue to be inundated with offers of credit. In 2008, issuers sent 4.2 billion credit card offers in the mail - nearly four times as many as the 1.1 billion sent in 1990.v

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VISA electron

The Visa Electron card* is issued in certain countries around the world. The Electron card provides consumers with direct access to deposit account funds, but the card’s security features and acceptance procedures are slightly different.
• First, the account number on the front of an Electron card is printed, not embossed.
• The full 16-digit account number may not be present on the front of the card. At the discretion of the card issuer, Electron cards may bear only the first and last four digits of the account number.
• At the discretion of the card issuer, Electron cards may be used for mail order, telephone order, or Internet purchases, or for cash advances or any other type of cash disbursement, or they may be restricted from any or all these functions.
• Electronic authorization is required for all Electron card transactions. This means you must be able to perform the authorization by swiping the stripe through a point-of-sale terminal, inserting the chip card into the chip-reading device, or waving the card in front of a Visa payWave terminal. Key-entered authorizations are not allowed. If the magnetic stripe is damaged or cannot be read by the terminal, the card cannot be used.

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paywave works

1. Merchant terminal is enabled with contactless technology.
2. Consumer holds card in front of the reader and terminal light indicates card has been read.
3. Transaction is completed like any card payment.

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What is Visa payWave?

Merchants can take advantage of increased speed and convenience—and offer
these advantages to cardholders—with Visa payWave, a new payment method
that uses the latest technology to send card data wirelessly to a terminal reader.
A cardholder simply holds their card in front of the reader.
For many transactions, there is no need to sign a receipt or hand over the card.
Visa payWave provides merchants and consumers with a number of benefits.

Merchant Benefits
Cost Savings/Efficiency
• Decreased transaction time.
• Customer initiates the transaction by simply holding the card in front of the
reader rather than swiping or handing the card to the clerk.
• Reduction in coin/cash handling.
Customer Loyalty
• Attracts new customers and builds loyalty with added speed and
convenience.
Competitive Advantage
• Sets merchants apart from their competitors in categories like fast food
restaurants where speed and convenience are compelling benefits.

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Making Code 10 Calls After a Transaction

Sometimes a sales associate may not feel comfortable making a Code 10 call

while the cardholder is at the point-of-sale, or the sales associate may become

suspicious of a cardholder who has already left the store.

Emphasize to your sales staff that they can make Code 10 calls even after a

cardholder leaves the store. A Code 10 call at this time may help stop fraudulent

card use at another location, or perhaps during a future transaction at your

store.

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The Code 10 Call Process

    To make a Code 10 call:
- Keep the card in your possession during the call.
- Call your voice authorization center and say, “I have a Code 10 authorization request.”
  The call may first be routed to a representative at your acquirer who may need to ask you for        some merchant or transaction details. You will then be transferred to the card issuer and    connected to a special operator who will ask you a series of questions that can be answered with a   simple “yes” or “no.”
- When connected to the special operator, answer all questions calmly and in a normal tone of voice. Your answers will be used to determine whether the card is valid.
- Follow all operator instructions.
-  If the operator tells you to pick up the card, do so only if recovery is possible by reasonable and peaceful means.

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Code 10 calls

Code 10 calls allow merchants to alert card issuers to suspicious activity and take appropriate action when instructed to do so. You should make a Code 10 call to your voice authorization center whenever you are suspicious about a card, a cardholder, or a transaction. The term “Code 10” is used so the call can be made at any time during a transaction without arousing a customer’s suspicions.

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