Tougher rules for online card payments could affect customer subscriptions going through

INCREASED SECURITY STANDARDS for certain card payments are to be implemented for Irish customers from tomorrow.

The Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) is therefore advising people that they may be contacted by different services in the coming week to ensure that payments go through corrently. 

The payments affected are mainly recurring card payments, such as subscription payments where the cardholders details are kept to be used more than once. 

The move is part of EU-wide Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) requirements which aim to reduce fraud and make online and contactless offline payments more secure. 

The SCA has been in practice since 2021 and has meant that people are required to undergo an additional security step before completing purchases online. 

Further changes as part of the system will therefore be rolled out from tomorrow. 

“This next step in the journey concerns recurring payments using your card which is a popular way to make payments for many consumers,” according to  Gillian Byrne of the BPFI. 

From tomorrow, service providers or online retailers (merchants) must process these payments in line with the security standards, otherwise some customers card transactions will be declined. In the coming weeks, you may receive notifications from merchants regarding transactions that are impacted. It is essential that you follow the instructions provided by your merchant to avoid any interruption and to ensure continuity of service. 

Byrne adds: “We are advising cardholders who encounter any issues to contact their merchant directly for further information to resolve the issue as the payment agreement is between a cardholder and the merchant.”