Myths and Truth about Cards

There is a belief that when paying with a card then:

The possibility that an outlet will not accept a card is possible only if the card has expired, the card is considered as lost or stolen, there is no money on the card or the card user is not the cardholder as specified on the card. Possibility that the card will not be accepted due to technical reasons is just in 0.5% of all cases.

It should be noted that merchants are prohibited to discriminate cardholders – refuse the card just because of customer age, absence of chip, nationality etc.

it is hard to control expenses;
When a payment card is used for payment, transaction is always "registered" in bank. Therefore the simplest and most efficient way to control expenses is account statement, which always reflects accurate and detailed information about card transactions. Another approach, of course, is to collect terminal receipt copies displaying the purchase amount and use them to track expenses. If a merchant does not offer copy of terminal receipt, cardholder should demand that to merchant. We should not forget account balance inquiry - service that is available at ATM. Using the service anybody can obtain current account balance.

First Data strongly recommends cardholders at least once per month carefully review the account statement and check the transactions. If there are transactions that you had not performed, immediately inform your bank.

seller might charge more money than required;
Almost every transaction with a card has to be confirmed with the cardholder signature or PIN. Before confirmation of the transaction cardholder should ensure that purchase amount is correct. However if a cardholder reasonably believes that fraudulent actions have been taken with his or her card or that somebody has used the card for payments or cash withdrawal at ATM, the cardholder should file a claim to his or her bank and, if necessary, to the police as soon as possible. Every claim will be investigated and, if necessary, First Data Latvia will take part in it. If it is found out that the claim is justified, the bank will have to return the money to the client’s account.

data of my card can be illegally copied and used then to access my money;

Nearly all payment cards currently issued in Latvia contains chip – secure storage of card data. There is no simple way to copy and re – use chip data. Moreover, any merchant regardless of acceptance technology must at all times be fully compliant with all Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard requirements – unauthorized data copying is not possible. However, if cardholder has became aware that the card data is or may have been disclosed and fraud has been taken off, cardholder must contact bank and police as soon as possible. Never disclose your card details: PIN, security code used for purchases in internet code nor permit your card usage to other persons, not even to members of your family.

First Data reminds: collection and usage of other person's payment card data is illegal and will result in liability to an imprisonment up to 15 years and property confiscation.

somebody might see my PIN code when I enter it at an outlet or ATM;
When you enter your PIN code at an outlet or ATM, make sure that nobody is trying shoulder - surf your actions. In order to prevent that, you have the right to move the PIN entry device closer to you, ask the person standing beside you to step back from the terminal for a moment, or, if necessary, cover the PIN entry with your hand.

it takes more time if compared with cash;
Time required to complete the transaction directly depends on card presented, terminal and communication channel used. In case of integrated cash registers – also on chosen solution by merchant. Generally insertion of a card in terminal, entry of purchase amount, PIN entry and receipt printing takes less than 20 seconds quite frequently. Moreover, using card to pay for the purchase does not require customer and merchant to count the odd money.

if I block a lost or stolen card, I won’t be able to use my money because the money is on card and not in the account.
All funds available by card is accessible in card account – payment card is just one method for accessing the money. Therefore blocking of a card if it is lost or stolen prevents any person to access the money available in account and turns the card into worthless piece of plastic. Cardholder still can access money in bank branch or using internet bank until a new card is issued to cardholder.