This post is all about the latest Quick Chip technology for EMV.
Surely you’ve experienced how painfully slow paying with a chip card can be. A common scenario for me goes something like this.
It’s time to pay so I swipe my card (when Apple Pay is not an option).
The cashier tells me that I need to insert my card instead. Oh, right, I guess since there wasn’t a piece of cardboard sticking out of that slot, I should have known.
I insert my card.
After 5 seconds, I look to the cashier for affirmation that I’ve done it correctly. She looks at her screen instead.
After 10 seconds, I applaud myself for being so patient.
At 15 seconds, I’m just about to ask the cashier what’s going on when a gameshow-sounding buzzer alerts me to remove my card.
Now you see why I prefer Apple Pay.
The lengthy chip card transactions, among other obstacles, have deterred more than 70% of U.S. merchants from adopting EMV technology. Clearent’s own merchant transaction data points to the same trend.
There is a solution on the horizon that could turn this trend around.
It’s called Quick Chip.
The latest technology reduces chip card transactions from 15 seconds to 2 seconds. Chip card transactions will be just as a fast as a swipe. This video from Visa shows the seamless customer experience.
Behind the Scenes of a Quick Chip Transaction
- When the customer inserts a chip card at any point during the transaction, the terminal follows standard EMV processing. If the final amount is not yet known, a predetermined amount is used. The predetermined amount will not impact issuer processing or approvals and is not indicative of the final amount.
- The card will generate an online cryptogram response and transmit it to the terminal as usual. The chip card is then notified that the card can be removed from the terminal, and the terminal displays a message to remove the card.
- The terminal prepares and transmits the authorization request and receives a real-time authorization response. If a predetermined amount was used to initiate the chip transaction, the final amount in the authorization request may not match the predetermined amount. This does not impact transaction processing, because the issuer uses the final amount for authorization decisions.
How to Get Quick Chip
Our ISO partners will be able to offer their merchants stand-alone terminals with Quick Chip technology already loaded. For merchants that already have an EMV-ready terminal, they will just need a simple software update.
Clearent will be one of the first processors to offer Quick Chip. Our teams are targeting an early summer rollout.
