Most small business owners unaware of EMV chip deadline

On October 1, the United States is poised to join the United Kingdom, European Union and Australia in its adoption of EMV-compliant point-of-sale (POS) terminals. EMV chip technology, already being issued out from banks to cardholders on new credit and debit cards, aims to reduce the growing tide of fraudulent transactions and payment data hacks by safeguarding card payments with a unique, one-time-use transaction code. In order to expedite this transition, banks are shifting the liability for future instances of compromised card data and phony payments. Previously, banks would have to reimburse customers for card data exposed or used fraudulently in a data breach. Now, banks are putting businesses on the hook for any future fraud, in order to incentivize their adoption of POS terminals that can process EMV-chip cards.

The only problem? Most small businesses have no idea any of this is happening at all.

In Wells Fargo's quarterly small-business survey, 51 percent of the businesses polled said they weren't aware of any liability shift coming October 1. Of the 49 percent who said they were aware of it, approximately 20 percent said they don't plan to adopt new terminals by the deadline either because they weren't concerned, didn't think it would have an impact on their business or didn't want to pay for the equipment upgrade. Unfortunately, not being concerned about the issue doesn't make a business any less susceptible to a data breach or fraud, nor does it help it afford the potentially tremendous financial losses that come with that liability.

"While our industry has made great progress in the last year informing and preparing small business owners for the EMV liability shift, the survey findings show us that we have more work to do," said Debra Rossi, head of Wells Fargo Merchant Services, in an official statement.

Don't let your small business fall behind crucial market trends just because you can't afford to make the necessary upgrades in time. For small business loans that can help you finance expansions to your business, including new equipment purchases and upgrades, consult with Growth Capital Corp.