Say Goodbye To Signatures At Checkout

On January 12th, 2018 Visa announced it will be dropping the signature requirement for EMV and contactless payments starting April 2018. The change is meant to create a much more streamlined, frictionless payment experience for both businesses and their customers. The change will apply to credit and debit chip cards and contactless payment options like Apple Pay.

Why Are Signatures Required In The First Place?

Traditionally, the purpose of a signature was the cashier matched it to the one on the card. In reality, businesses don’t do this anymore and care more about providing a smooth payment experience to their customers. With the security advances of EMV and contactless payment solutions, signatures are simply becoming obsolete.

Not to mention, Visa is actually following suit. American Express, Discover, and Mastercard announced last year they will be dropping the signature requirement in Q2 of 2018 as well. So you can expect too much fewer signature requirements in North America come April.

So What Does This Mean For Businesses?

That being said, what does this mean for software updates to merchant terminals? With any major change comes some legwork for the end user (business owners in this case). Visa published an article announcing they have updated their Transaction Acceptance Device Guide (TADG). This article is meant to k merchants through the necessary steps to drop the signature requirement on checkout devices (terminals). You can access Visa’s documentation update here.

Have questions about getting prepared for the new update? Preferred Payments has dedicated relationship managers standing by. Visit www.preferredpayments.com or call 1 (800) 935-9309