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Over the weekend, my 17 year old son made an observation that speaks to the recent Target breach as well as our attitude towards card breaches as a society. He said, “Mom- I drove by Target today and I was surprised! The parking lot was jam packed with people. The news said Target was responsible for compromising their credit cards- why are they still shopping there?” An innocent enough question with some very thought provoking considerations! Target’s breach is just one in a long line of card breaches that feeds the 52.8 BILLION DOLLAR Credit Card Fraud Industry. http://www.pcmag.com/slideshow/story/319071/target-and-the-10-biggest-hacks-of-2013 While full reports have yet to be released, it would be a safe bet that Target staff members and officials have taken precautions to protect card data and that

It’s that time of year- time for reflection! We met with our team and discussed the areas where we shine and the areas where we need to step it up. As you look at Your New Year, we trust that your team is taking the necessary steps to bring even more value and more service to the marketplace! Honest reflection can help all of us get better! Here are a few tips to help you and your team get ready for the fast approaching New Year! 1- Recognize Accomplishments! Nothing starts a meeting off better than taking a good look around your organization and identifying all of your reasons to smile! Teams perform much better when what they are doing well is pointed out and applauded! 2- Roundtable

It seems sad to have to be concerned with ID theft during this joyous time of year but the truth is, this is one of the most active times of the year for fraudsters! The credit card processing industry deals with fraud every single day but it also pays to consider fraud from a very personal standpoint. ID theft can be a crippling event in the lives of those affected so it pays to take some basic precautionary measures. We put together this information on the Top 10 Ways to Prevent ID Theft During the Holidays We sincerely hope this information helps you protect yourself and your loved ones during this Holiday season and all year long! Cheri PerryMonday, December 9, 2013

The credit card processing industry is in a constant state of change. Late last week, our processors announced the ability for our merchants to accept the PayPal card through the Discover network. Most merchants will have this ability automatically while some merchants on specific networks (usually due to POS system types), will need to have some adjustments made to their set up in order to be able to accept the PayPal cards. It is important to note that a PayPal card MUST be physically present as key entered transactions are not available at this time. Since full card data is not currently listed on the PayPal cards, voice authorizations are not available at this time. All refunds should be handled in person with the physical card present. While

There are few things as infuriating as finding that cyber criminals have slithered their way into your business. This past week, businesses in the UK and in the United States fell victim to an email virus known as ‘ransomwear’. Unsuspecting staffers opened official looking emails and that’s when the fun (NOT) began. Without proper backups (and sometimes even WITH proper backups), valuable documents became unavailable; stalling business as usual. The virus is called ‘ransomwear’ because company’s were given the option to pay to get their documents back. Companies spent hours of time and lots of resources trying to regain their data as government agencies worked to stop the data thieves. Cheri PerryMonday, November 25, 2013

Accepting credit cards is just a natural part of the check out process; so what happens when your processing system STOPS WORKING? It was a busy Sunday morning at a popular coffee stand when the barista realized she had a problem-her credit card machine was not working. She called the number on the side of the terminal and reached a very friendly after hours technician who did some trouble shooting and found that the phone line was no longer working. Calls to the coffee house were ringing with a fast busy and calls to the phone company had not resulted in a quick fix. She did the only thing she could think of- she called the manager who sent out an urgent text message to the owners of