How to Accept International Cards

The US was the last major nation to adopt the EMV card standard.  While other countries are already accepting newer types of chip cards such as chip & PIN credit cards, in the US they are less predominant, but it is likely to become the norm in the years to come.  Below are some occurrences you might see if you attempt to process an International EMV card.

• If the debit is enabled, merchants can accept debit-only EMV cards along with all other card types, including chip & pin credit cards on Genius devices.

• If the international EMV card is debit-only, but you do not have debit enabled then you cannot process the card via EMV.  This is somewhat new behavior for US merchants because most US debit cards are down gradable to credit and you would simply press the “Skip PIN Entry” button on your Genius device.  If you come in contact with a debit-only card and you don’t have debit enabled in CAYAN, then you can process the card via Manual Entry, but you have to disable Address Verification System (AVS) on your Genius device.  Alternatively, you can process the card using the CAYAN soft terminal as AVS matching is not enforced.  When the Genius device prompts you for the zip code you would enter ‘00000’ or any zip code.  See the “CAYAN Soft Terminal” article for more information.

• Please note, CAYAN is developing a method for allowing the Manual Entry of Int’l cards and NOT requiring AVS zip code matching.

• International credit cards (in addition to debit cards) can be chip & pin, meaning upon dipping the card into a Genius device it prompts for a PIN.  This is still a credit transaction, but with the added security of a PIN.  There is no credit card transaction more secure than a chip card with a PIN.  However, if you do not have debit enabled on your Genius device then it won’t prompt for a PIN and you would be required to perform a Manual Entry, like discussed above. 

• Please note, CAYAN is developing a method for allowing acceptance of chip & pin credit cards while not accepting debit cards.