The Small Business Credit Card Market

Greg Blackman / The Small Business Credit Card Market

Belying their diminutive label, small businesses have an enormous impact on the U.S. economy. There are approximately 27 million of them, and they account for about half of both GDP and the private workforce.
They spend approximately $5 trillion per year and, according to the Federal Reserve, a whopping 83 percent
used credit cards in 2009.

The retreat from this market by many lenders during and immediately after the recession creates an enormous
opportunity now that economic conditions are finally improving. Not only does the small business credit card
market represent a huge and lucrative business, it’s up for grabs like never before. What’s more, many of
these small businesses are getting healthier as the economic recovery takes hold and will soon need access to
additional credit to finance their growth. In fact, one-fifth of all small businesses in the U.S. applied for a new
credit card in 2009 (75 percent of these applications were successful), and this number is expected to have
increased in 2010.

Until 2000, small financial institutions were active issuers of small business credit cards. However, last decades technology changes and evolving economies of scale ultimately resulted in a highly consolidated competitive landscape for credit cards. Many small issuers eventually sold their portfolios to larger institutions. By 2008, only 36 percent of U.S. financial institutions were still issuing credit cards.3 And according to the SBA, by 2009, institutions with assets of $10 billion or more controlled 82 percent of micro-business loans (including credit cards).

Given that the U.S. economic recovery is gaining momentum—2010 GDP figures exceeded estimates and
prompted upwardly revised predictions for 20115 —it’s not a stretch to presume that small businesses will be
growing, too and increasingly requiring access to credit. In light of all this, community financial institutions should rethink their decisions to cede control of the small business credit card market to the largest banks.

The technology constraints that helped to force small financial institutions out of the business a decade ago no longer exist. Back then, a card issuer’s choices were few: it could decide to implement and administer its own in-house solution, or it could cobble together a patchwork of external services to handle the multitude of card administration chores. Both of these approaches were costly and inefficient, and many institutions reluctantly sold their portfolios and exited the credit card business. Today, however, full-service credit issuing solutions are robust, flexible, comprehensive and cost-effective. Services are available that can handle everything from origination to remittance and collections.

For example, it is unnecessary for banks to deploy expensive call centers for inbound customer service calls; the leading solution providers offer cost-effective 24/7/365 customer call center support for credit cardholders. Nor do banks have to worry about creating or maintaining Internet banking Web sites to accommodate their online credit card customers. Solution providers offer sophisticated Internet banking applications customized with a financial institution’s desired look and feel. Partners such as Security First Merchant Services, LLC can also support dynamic statement printing, e-delivery and mail services incorporating the messaging and branding of the financial institution.

Additionally, these solution providers allow a bank or credit union to define and adjust its own credit
administration procedures—including underwriting guidelines, credit limits, balance-transfer policies and
other parameters related to individual accounts or the entire portfolio. Even concerns about fraud are better
addressed today than in the recent past. Providers of the more sophisticated credit card management services use neural networks for fraud scoring and decisioning systems to check every transaction for potential fraud, and to verify suspicious activity with cardholders.

Security First Merchant Services is a business-focused payment solutions company that strives to provide payment processing, small business loans, and credit repair services with a high level of detail and flexibility.

Another Debit Network?

Greg Blackman / Another Debit Network?

The Durbin amendment (Section 1075) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (DFA) is causing tremendous upheaval in the electronic payments industry.
The law calls for the U.S. Federal Reserve Board (FRB) to develop regulatory provisions that affect
debit interchange rates, debit network processing, and merchant payment acceptance options.

These dramatic changes will impact the business of every issuer of debit cards.
In December 2010, the FRB announced proposed rules to implement Section 1075 of the DFA and solicited comments from card issuers, networks, merchants, processors, consumer advocates and others. In March 2011, the FRB announced that it plans to issue final regulations on debit interchange fees, network exclusivity and merchant routing by July 21, 2011. Once the final rules are issued, financial institutions (FIs) and others in the payments industry may only have a few months to comply with certain aspects of the regulations.

Over the last few years, the payments industry has not been able to escape the increased government intervention that has affected many sectors of the U.S. economy.

Accordingly, now is the time for banks and credit unions to start planning for how to adapt to the changes—whatever they ultimately may be. By being proactive, executives can position their companies advantageously relative to the inevitable changes.
Specifically, FIs need to plan for the Durbin provision and the pending FRB regulations related to the prohibition on debit network exclusivity and routing restrictions.
Designed to give merchants a choice of networks over which a debit card transaction may be routed, this provision requires issuers to participate in at least two unaffiliated debit access networks.

The FRB is considering two options for this requirement:
(A) requiring all card issuers, regardless of asset size, to participate in two unaffiliated
debit access networks; or (B) requiring all card issuers, regardless of asset size, to
participate in two debit networks per authorization method (e.g. two unaffiliated signature debit networks and two unaffiliated PIN debit networks). Either way, many FIs will need to select at least one additional network to work with.

Financial institutions should be aware that there are important strategic benefits to picking an additional network—irrespective of the pending regulations. Now is the time for issuers of all sizes to form strategic partnerships with organizations that provide a greater breadth of options and deeper value propositions—especially when the future regulatory environment is highly uncertain.

In Closing
The Federal Reserve Board’s final rules are yet to be determined, but one thing is fairly certain: many financial institutions will need to choose a new or additional PIN debit network partner to comply with the forthcoming regulations. While it is not yet known which network non-exclusivity alternative the FRB will choose, or what the final implementation date will be, card issuers should start evaluating their options and determine which additional network or networks they will add to their payment processing capabilities to ensure they are in compliance.

The traditional approach of choosing a debit network solution based solely on interchange revenue potential will no longer be valid. Instead, FIs must choose their network partner(s) based on long-term value, opportunities for growth, and a strategic business advantage.

Important considerations include:
• Acceptance
• Operational Capacity
• Fraud Mitigation and Risk Reduction
• Future Proofing
• Relationships

The proposed regulations are an important reason for FIs to consider expanding their network partnerships; however, savvy FIs understand the strategic benefits of taking action irrespective of regulatory mandates to maximize the diversity of their networks, prepare for the future and better address the needs of the market and their cardholders.

Not only should FIs carefully consider all of the strategic implications of selecting additional debit network partners—they should act quickly in order to mitigate risks and capitalize on potential first-mover advantages in the altered payments landscape.

Trusted Financial Services for Small Businesses and Individuals.
Security First Merchant Services is a business-focused payment solutions company that strives to provide payment processing, business loans, and credit repair services with a high level of detail and flexibility.

Multi Function Cards and Loans

Greg Blackman / Multi Function Cards and Loans

Investing for the future is not only desirable, but will very quickly become essential for the lending community, as consumers increasingly seek out products and issuers that can meet their emerging desires for greater control and flexibility. As such, understanding where to invest is critical, and investigating how the industry and consumer demand may change is integral to ensuring that investment will ultimately satisfy the objectives of the organization as well as the needs of its customers. It is with this in mind that we review four important opA common challenge faced by the global credit card industry is combating attrition and diminishing wallet share, particularly as consumers exhibit an increasing preference for debit over credit.

To cope with this, credit card issuers are implementing aggressive anti-attrition, pro-retention strategies. Historically, rewards programs were the preferred mechanism for encouraging consumers to choose your card over a competitor’s. As these programs decrease in perceived value for most customers (except those who use the cards heavily and pay off their balances each month), issuers are searching for another tactic to encourage customer loyalty.

Consumers have multiple, often conflicting, factors to evaluate when choosing which card or type of card to use for a particular transaction (e.g. an account’s balance, the cost of using the card, the size of the purchase, the willingness to incur debt). But what if a single card was able to meet more than just one need? This is the concept behind the multi-function card.

Multi-function cards have the capability of giving the holder access to multiple accounts on a single plastic; the most common multi-function card structure gives consumers the ability to access both a debit and credit account on the same card. The first multi-function card was developed and tested in Australia nearly ten years ago, though multi-function cards have not since taken hold in that market, currently representing less than 1 percent of cards in circulation there. In Brazil, Banco Bradesco, one of the country’s “Big Four” banks, has offered a multi-function card for several years. And in France, Credit Agricole, France’s top retail bank, has tested a number of similar products. To date, though, no lender has successfully introduced a “game-changing” multi-function card to its market.

Despite the regions having very different markets, with consumer preferences and usage of credit cards varying quite significantly, these examples have one thing in common—a relative lack of consumer engagement. This could be due, in part, to the various issuers failing to promote the card as aggressively as required to shift consumer behavior, or it could be because consumers were simply not ready to embrace such a change. However, consumers’ openness to innovation has been able to overcome this inertia in some regions, particularly among younger consumers.

While multi-function capability has generally been used to enable consumers to choose between credit and debit accounts, the functionality can also allow different categories of accounts, or different modes of credit to be accessed. A multi-function card could also allow consumers to choose between a personal or business account (useful for tax purposes), or credit accounts with different repayment terms, similar, in a sense, to the BLUEPRINT tool launched by Chase in 2010.

Although it has perhaps responded slowly to the opportunities created by a multi-function card, the United States—the nexus of the global credit card market—may soon be about to lead the way once again opportunities for innovation and technological advancement in the credit card space.

Security First Merchant Services “Business Loans“

Why Choose Security First?
Access to full range of loan sources
Our lending specialists are dedicated to finding the right loan with the best rates and terms
2% interest rate over prime
Always know the status of your loan: we provide regular loan updates and progress reports during the lending process
Grants loans based on the applicant’s credit rating and guarantor
Loans with successful repayment history improve credit scores
Provides another option for obtaining a loan rather than battling with a traditional financial institution

Security First Merchant Services strives to maintain the highest customer satisfaction by offering fair rates and personal service. We have bundled services to assist our customers in all realms of their business finances: payment processing, small business loans and credit repair. By partnering with the best companies in the industry, Security First Merchant Services offers a single source for the most in-demand business financial services.

Where SECURITY Fits in Payment Processing

Greg Blackman / Where SECURITY Fits in Payment Processing

Why Security must be improved from Consumer to Merchant to Acquirer?
First this is where the greatest vulnerability exist and where the need for better security is most important. There are hundreds of millions of consumers and millions merchants, and each one represents an opportunity to be breached.
By comparison there are fewer than 10 organizations in the United States that fulfill the role of acquirer/processor; only a handful of card brands; and similar number of issuers. All of these organizations understand high significance of the card data that hey process and hold, so they have built strong security measures to protect it. Nevertheless, the breach that we all have incurred due to Heartland Payment Systems shows that even those systems can be and have been vulnerable; however, after the thieves have viewed massive amounts of data within these organizations as the key targets; they almost always take the path of least resistance to get the data and unfortunately this path takes them back to CONSUMER to MERCHANT to ACQUIRER/PROCESSOR.

Vulnerability of Data
Requirement 3 of the PCI DSS states specifically that merchants must protect stored card holder data however, this continues to be challenging compliance requirements. The primary reason why merchants fail the PCI Compliance audit and the leading factor of data breach/theft is, the failure to adequately protect stored data. To date, 79% of merchants are failing the PCI assessment hence, they are cited.
In the least, PCI DSS requires that the data be rendered unreadable anywhere it is stored, including portable digital media, back up media and computer logs. Merchants who do not store any cardholder data automatically provide stronger protection by eliminating the key target data thieves.

The Solution is Tokenization.

Any Tokenization solution fits much comfortably at the end of the authorization of the transaction process. Once a transaction has been authorized by the issuing bank an authorization code issued is sent to the acquirer which eliminate the need to send data back to the merchant. At this point, the acquirer can substitute a token to return with the authorization code. When the merchant receives the tokenized data, they can choose to store it indefinitely and utilize it in multiple business applications without fear of compromising sensitive data. The tokenization component works with Card Not Present [Mail Order, Telephone Order, Internet transactions] and just as well with Card Present [Retail, Restaurant, Wireless] transactions.

Because the data comprises of a token that is completely random, the token can have the same 16 character format as the credit/debit card and therefore it can be used in the back end data base and business applications without modifying those systems in any case.

Security First Merchant Services is a business-focused payment solutions company that strives to provide payment processing, small business loans, and credit repair services with a high level of detail and flexibility.

The Cost of Fraud

Greg Blackman / The Cost of Fraud

Fraud in the form of cyber crime, security breaches, identity theft and others is more dangerous to your organization than you think, and treating it simply as a cost of doing business may be emboldening criminals and losing you customers. A recent study revealed that more than 30 percent of people affected by a data breach will terminate their relationship with the company that lost their information.
The study also showed that consumers equally blame both their financial institution and the retailer that experienced the breach. In the consumers’ minds, responsibility is assigned at both ends of the transaction an important part of the cost calculation that is often ignored by businesses.

The ubiquity of electronic payment transactions and the emergence of a global e-commerce economy offer criminals lots of opportunity to perpetrate fraud. Many criminals are emboldened by the anonymity of their actions, by businesses’ failure to recognize the many potential avenues for fraud, and by the widespread acceptance of fraud as just another business expense.

Dynamic Currency Conversion

In a difficult economic environment, it is even more challenging than usual to find ways to increase revenue and simultaneously improve customer satisfaction. By offering dynamic currency conversion (DCC) services to customers paying with a foreign-issued credit card, merchants can earn extra income as well as provide a service that consumers value.
DCC makes the customer experience more enjoyable and less intimidating for foreign cardholders by giving them the option of paying for purchases in their native currencies. Instead of waiting to discover the exchange rate and actual transaction amount when they receive their credit card statements, customers who opt-in to DCC at the point of sale (or online) find out the true purchase cost in their own currency immediately. And each time a transaction is processed with DCC, the merchant receives additional income.

Security First Merchant Services is a business-focused payment solutions company that strives to provide payment processing, small business loans, and credit repair services with a high level of detail and flexibility.

Looking for Merchant Services Sales Professionals

Greg Blackman/ Looking for Merchant Services Sales Professionals

Security First Merchant Services, LLC is looking for experienced sales professionals to join our team who will develop new merchant processing relationships with small to medium size businesses.

This role will acquire new merchant services relationships through prospecting external sources such as association relationships, centers of influence and vendor relationships among others. This position will be responsible for developing a strong pipeline for new revenue growth as well as developing and maintaining relationships with existing accounts and strategic accounts to identify/solicit new revenue growth opportunities that support mutual Small Business goals. This position provides an aggressive compensation plan [Bonuses Paid Weekly, Monthly in addition to Residuals] – top performers can earn total compensation in the six figures within the first year.

Minimum Qualifications
High School Diploma (Associate’s Degree or Bachelor’s Degree preferred)
1-2 years of sales experience (preferably in Merchant, Bankcard or Financial Services)
Previous client base in similar field or face to face outside sales environment
Ability to develop new business through prospecting
Highly motivated to succeed in a performance driven environment
Ability to self-source outside of referrals
Ability to travel locally

Preferred Skills
Knowledge of merchant products/services and/or payment sales experience
Outstanding sales, business development and negotiating skills
Strong hunter in customer-centered sales with a desire to exceed expectations and quotas
Ability to multitask and change direction in ever changing payment processing environment
Strong communication including oral and presentation skills
Effective planning and organizational skills
Proficient in Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook.
Bilingual abilities a plus.

To apply
You may surf to: Security First Merchant Services, LLC
Select the Hiring tab and complete your contact information
attach your resume

Security First Merchant Services is a business-focused payment solutions company that strives to provide payment processing, small business loans, and credit repair services with a high level of detail and flexibility.

Are you Ready for Contactless?

Greg Blackman / Are you Ready for Contactless?

Across the United States, a major awakening is occurring among consumers. Millions of Americans are now discovering that their new or reissued credit and debit cards; along with other form factors like key fobs and stickers, have an innovative feature: They are contactless-enabled. Using this technology at the point of sale, consumers can pay without swiping their cards through magnetic
readers, handing over their cards to the clerk, signing their names or entering their PINs. For consumers, this means a faster checkout and a reduced reliance on cash. (Besides, they appear to enjoy simply waving a contactless payment device and paying without ever touching the pad or stylus needed for contact
transactions.)

Benefits to Consumers

Speed and convenience.
For consumers, contactless payments have much the same appeal as cashier-free checkout lanes. Both are convenient, and both add to the consumer’s sense of saving time through selfservice. Why wait in line to pay a cashier when you can checkout yourself faster? Likewise, why cope with swiping, signing and entering numbers if you can just wave and go?

Flexible form factor. Contactless technology doesn’t have to be delivered on conventional debit and credit cards. Some issuers are making contactless technology available in other forms, such as mini cards, contactless stickers that can adhere to mobile phones or other convenient personal items, and key fobs that can be used without searching through one’s wallet or purse.

Alternative to carrying cash and cards. An extra benefit of contactless is that it offers yet another alternative to paying with cash—and if the contactless form factor is a sticker attached to a personal item like a phone, it reduces the need to even carry a wallet at all.

Security. Instead of static security measures such as PIN codes, contactless payment cards bring dynamically generated codes into the transaction through techniques called Dynamic Card Verification Value or Dynamic CVC3 Card Validation Code. In both processes, a unique value is generated for every transaction, which the network authenticates in real time.

This approach significantly improves the security of contactless transactions. “Even if thieves create a counterfeit card with stolen data, fraud is stopped because the transaction won’t occur without dynamic information being supplied and authenticated,” explained John Philip Coghlan, president and CEO of Visa USA, at the Visa Security Summit in 2007.

Benefits to Merchants

Faster transactions. Any measure that reduces transaction time and shortens queuing can potentially create three important benefits: improved customer satisfaction, increased revenue and enhanced operational efficiency. By increasing the speed of payment and reducing tender time, contactless payments can lead to improvements on all three fronts. Payment speed has been researched extensively; here two of the findeings:
1. According to American Express, tests have shown that contactless transactions with its proprietary ExpressPay cards are 63 percent faster than cash transactions.

2. Contactless payments are measurably faster than other forms of payment transactions; on average twice as fast as cash transactions. Researchers analyzed the average tender times (from point of “cashier total” to point of completion), in seconds, for different payment media. The results:

1) Checks 64
2) Credit/Debit 48.4
3) PIN Debit 44.4
4) Cash 28.5
5) Biometrics 15.6
6) Contactless 12.5

Faster transactions ultimately mean more revenue from increased throughput, better customer service and the loyalty of customers who prefer contactless as their payment mechanism of choice.
Greater customer satisfaction. The consumer benefits of convenience and speed cascade into multiple
benefits for merchants—starting with throughput and efficiency, and ending with more satisfied customers
who spend more and are more likely to keep coming back.

Reduced costs of handling cash. Some merchants believe that contactless adds to costs by generating interchange fees for transactions that might otherwise have been cash transactions. However, it is important to note that cash has its costs, too. Cash must be obtained, protected, distributed to cashiers, collected from off-duty cashiers, audited and continually counted at every step. Add up the aggregate cost of all the time spent in cash handling (as well as the “shrinkage” in cash from employee thievery), and it approximates what a merchant spends on interchange fees for the equivalent value of transactions: According to a recently conducted study; the “real” cost to a merchant of a cash transaction is 1.3 percent—“no less than the transaction fee on a card.”

That’s why any technology that reduces the need for cash should be viewed as a possible benefit, not an expense—and by creating another mechanism to reduce a retailer’s cash-handling needs, contactless ayments can actually reduce costs.

Security First Merchant Services is a business-focused payment solutions company that strives to provide payment processing, unsecured business loans, and credit repair services with a high level of detail and flexibility.

Security First Merchant Services, “Hiring”

Greg Blackman / About Security First Merchant Services / Hiring!

Security First Merchant Services was founded in 2008 in response to a financial environment that made it difficult – if not impossible – for smaller companies and merchants to find affordable, accessible options for payment processing, credit repair and short-term loans.

Security First founder Greg Blackman considers small businesses as the cornerstone of the American economy. Based upon his abundance of knowledge and experience in the financial field, he identified innovative ways to reduce expenses associated with these high demand/high cost financial services.
Security First strives to maintain the highest customer satisfaction by offering fair rates and personal service. We have bundled services to assist our customers in all realms of their business finances: payment processing, small business loans and credit repair. By partnering with the best companies in the industry, Security First Merchant Services offers a single source for the most in-demand business financial services.

Hiring Sales Professionals

Security First Merchant Services offers:

Payment Processing
Breadth of products and services In-depth knowledge of specialized business markets, including retail, restaurant, hotel, C-store, petroleum and E-commerce.Ability to custom-tailor products and processing programs for your unique needs. Approaches that help reduce risk and improve the bottom line.

Credit Repair
Secure and 100% protected
Serves as a platform to obtain credit in the future
Permanent solution to past credit problems

Business Loans
Opportunity to improve credit score with successful repayment history
Loan approvals based on the applicant’s credit rating and guarantor
Interest rate of 2% over prime
Another option to traditional financial institutions for obtaining a competitive loan

Security First Merchant Services is a business-focused payment solutions company that strives to provide payment processing, business loans, and credit repair services with a high level of detail and flexibility.

Security First Merchant Services Reporting

Greg Blackman / Security First Merchant Services Reporting

Security First Merchant Services offers easy-to-use financial reporting tools including paper statements and Web-enabled products, which allow you to access data that is up-to-date, comprehensive, easily shared and available when you need it [Available March 2011].
Security First Advantages
With our online reporting solution, you have 24/7 access to analyze transaction details for all card types, conduct sales audits, manage processing fees, reconcile your checking account, investigate chargebacks, protect against losses, view historical information for analysis and manage cash flow.

Key Components
Standardized, Web-based reports that give you access any time to payment processing information
Dashboard view for a snapshot of essential processing information, including the most recently posted and funded transactions and fees
Query builder to construct reports based on selected fields across selected merchant locations
Credit, debit and gift card activity summaries for selected time periods
Dispute reporting to help you manage chargeback and retrieval expenses

Once again, all the above features will be available by mid to end of March 2011 through our business website which is currently undergoing updates.

Security First Merchant Services is a business-focused payment solutions company that strives to provide payment processing, business loans, and credit repair services with a high level of detail and flexibility.

Security First Merchant Services Payment Essentials

Greg Blackman / Security First Merchant Services Payment Essentials

Everything you need for easier, more profitable payment processing.

Security First Merchant Services Differentiators
When you offer your customers more payment choices credit, debit, gift cards you give your business more opportunities to succeed. And when you choose Security first Merchant Services Payment Essentials, you’re sure of getting all the tools you need to make your payment processing easier and more profitable.

Payment Essentials bundles comprehensive payment services, state of the art hardware and 24/7 customer service into one easy-to-manage bundle at a guaranteed low price and fee.

Key Components
All the essentials you need for easier, more profitable payment processing including:

Credit and debit card processing
Gift card processing
Verifone Vx570 POS Terminal
Verifone Pinpad 1000SE Pin pad with contacless reader
24/7 Call center
Optional website development

Security First Merchant Services provide a variety of the most innovative point-of-sale equipment including the most popular point-and-click processing system interface. Our equipment can be purchased, rented or leased with features based on your needs and budget.

Security First Merchant Services is a business-focused payment solutions company that strives to provide payment processing, unsecured business loans, and credit repair services with a high level of detail and flexibility

Increase your SALES With a Credit Card Terminal [Swiper]

Greg Blackman / Increase your SALES With a Credit Card Terminal

Credit card TERMINALS are the perfect addition to your business. They can expand your customer base and simplify keeping track of sales. With online vendors and the advancements in wireless technology, these terminal have never been more affordable or convenient to use. Below are a some key pointers on how to increase your sales with your credit card TERMINAL.

1) Getting Set Up

Purchase, Lease or Rent a Terminal
If you are a retail or restaurant merchant you may opt for a counter-top terminal these terminals are typically suggested to small businesses.
For Start-Up retailers. the use of a software program that can add credit card processing to your existing PC is another cost effective way of accepting credit cards for your business that will enhance your business sales.
Remember that the type of terminal you utilize may also enhance your face to face interaction with your clients.

2) Contact a payment processing company and set up your application.
I’m happy to share that the dark days of approval concerns and the process of approving merchants are almost gone; 14 year ago the merchant approval process was equivalent to and comparable to “an act of congress” however, these days our industry is reporting a 99% approval of merchants that apply to be acceptors of credit cards.

3) Keep track of all documents.
The key to increasing your sales with your credit card terminal is being selective with your choice of terminal and the payment processing company however, you must understand how the two truly work together. Keep the owners manual and the quick reference guide of your terminal handy and do not throw away your monthly processing statement, keep track of your fees. If you purchase software to keep track of transactions, invest the time to learn about your software (most AE will only show you the basic functions) and read about any extra services provided.

Security First Merchant Services is a business-focused payment solutions company that strives to provide payment processing, small business loans, and credit repair services with a high level of detail and flexibility.

Payment Processing Security: Tokenization

Greg Blackman / Payment Processing Security: Tokenization

Tokenization
Is a reasonable approach for the protection of sensitive data;it is the use of data substitution with a
token [nick or alias] as a replacement for a real credit card number. The process of tokenization; actually utilize the cardholders data in a payment transaction, once the transaction is authorized, this very sensitive data is sent to a centralized and highly secure server called for example: “vault” where it is stored securely. While simultaneously, a random unique number is generated and returned to the merchant’s systems for use in place of the cardholders data.
The vault manager maintains a reference database that allows the token number to be exchanged for the real
cardholders data if it is needed again for example: a chargeback. Meanwhile the token number, which cannot be monetized [converted], can be used in various business applications as a reliable substitute for the real card data.

Why tokenization is important
Tokenization is important for two reasons:

1. it vastly reduces a merchant’s risk in the event of a data breach because the process eliminates
sensitive cardholder data from a merchant’s environment after a transaction has been authorized.
If token numbers are breached, they are meaningless to anyone who would attempt to use them
because the tokens are simply random numbers.

2. Using token numbers instead of real card data in back-end business applications shrinks the
merchant’s cardholder data environment (CDE) that is subject to PCI compliance requirements and
audits. This reduction of PCI scope has proven to substantially reduce lost time and money for Merchants.

Security & Compliance Solutions

Greg Blackman / Security & Compliance Soultions

Cardholders Security is our FIRST PRIORITY at Security First Merchant Services, LLC. We continually insure and partner with the best companies in the Industry that provide the tools and the technologies that protect our clients data and of their customers throughout the payment transaction cycle, for example: Data Encryption and Tokenization.
Whether it is a card swipe at the terminal, an eCommerce transaction, Payment authorization and settlement, you can count on Security First Merchant Services to ensure that your business is provided with a full range if security measures to protect you and your clients from the damage of security breach while assisting you to meet [PCI] compliance standards.

Terminals & POS Solutions
Your business and the demands of your business of your business are very unique, specifically your business needs for Payment Processing equipment.
Security First Merchant Services is more than capable of offering a full range of POS terminals. We also are flexible with our leasing and purchase options of the POS solutions that we provide not to mention that we are more than privileged to assist with other products that will help you grow your business.

Security First Merchant Services is a business-focused payment solutions company that strives to provide payment processing, small business loans, and credit repair services with a high level of detail and flexibility.

Security First Merchant Services ATM Advertising

Greg Blackman / ATM Advertising

ATM advertising delivers a customized message to a targeted audience. It also enables advertisers to measure the effectiveness of their campaigns, giving results which are often far higher than for other advertising channels. So why aren’t more organizations using it?

ATMs have become much more than cash withdrawal machines. The most sophisticated units are now full-service banking channels, offering enormous potential for enhanced service delivery. They are also a much under-used marketing channel. As revenues from interchange and transaction fees decline in many markets, ATM advertising is opening up a potential new revenue stream. ATMs still represent the largest investment by banks in self-service financial distribution so there is an obvious need to generate as a high a return from this investment as possible. At the same time, many Independent ATM Deployers (IAD such as Security First Merchant Services) face additional cost challenges as a result of high site rentals and a lack of high-profit locations in some markets.

Security First Merchant Services) is focused on supporting the livelihood of small businesses, and therefore offers fair pricing and benefits that allows our customers to compete effectively and grow.

PCI Awareness and Liability

Greg Blackman / PCI Awareness and Liability

While two-thirds (66%) of respondents to the survey claimed awareness of the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), only 49% of respondents had completed a self-assessment at the time of the survey. Among those who had heard of PCI DSS; however, 42% did not know that merchants are obligated to conduct the self-assessment annually and 41% had not heard of the recent change in regulations.

The survey also showed there appears to be some confusion among retailers regarding the liability costs in the event of a data security breach. More than 60% of these smaller merchants did not realize that credit card companies are authorized to fine their business a per-card fee for every card that has to be canceled if it is determined that they are the source of a data breach. According to the 2009 U.S. Cost of a Data Breach Study by the Ponemon Institute, the average cost for merchants coping with a data breach in 2009 rose to $6.7 million with the cost per customer record breached estimated at $204.

Data Security and Fraud Prevention Strategies

Most of the specific data security and fraud prevention practices cited in the survey were familiar to the majority of respondents with several of the strategies already integrated into their business operations.

Restricting physical access to cardholder data and using anti-virus software were the two most frequently reported protection methods (76%). Other practices toward the top of the list were restricting access to cardholder data by business need to know (67%); developing and maintaining secure systems and applications (64%); and maintaining a policy that addresses information security (63%). Of those who electronically-store cardholder data, 68% also take steps to protect that data and 53% use encryption technology.

Experience with Fraud and Security Incidents

More than 4% of respondents reported having been a victim of any one type of fraud listed in the survey. Although the percentage appears low, it equates to a potential one million small businesses being impacted. The latest Federal data estimates there are approximately 24.6 million small businesses currently operating in the United States.

Physical theft or tampering with terminals and computer viruses, including malware, were the top two fraud and security incidents experienced by respondents at 37% and 22%, respectively. Employee misuse or theft of card data accounted for another 17% of incidents.

Security First Merchant Services is a business-focused payment solutions company that strives to provide payment processing, small business loans, and credit repair services with a high level of detail and flexibility