10/14 Deadline for VISA Transaction Alerts Posted by AVCU on 9:37 AM

Starting on 10/14/16, all Visa card issuers will be required to provide cardholders with the option of receiving alerts for any transaction processed by Visa, Interlink and Plus. In April of 2017 MasterCard issuers will also be required to offer transaction alerts to cardholders.  The measure is intended to reduce fraud and increase consumer confidence.

Issuers will be required to make the service available, but cardholders will have the option of opting in to receive the alerts.

According to the PYMNTS.com website, there are a number of ways that an issuer can comply with the mandate:

“Issuers may develop their own purchase alert solution using the network-branded solution, or use a third party to provide the service on their behalf. 

Issuers will be opted into the network branded solution unless they notify the card brands that they plan to build their own solution or work with a third party that satisfies their alert requirements, e.g. fraud-only alerts do not suffice.

For issuers using the Visa-branded solution, cardholders will be directed to the Visa hosted enrollment site to enroll their eligible cards and to set their alert preferences. There they can elect to enroll in email and/or SMS notifications, depending on the options that the issuer supports. By default, the Visa site will provide all enrolled cardholders with access to both email and SMS text message alerts. Issuers can opt-out of SMS text message alerts to avoid the cost associated with that features — a $0.01 charge to the Bank Identification Number (BIN) associated with every SMS message.”

Additional details and information are available on the PYMNTS.com website.