Changes to Solo Card Scheme
Below is important information for users of Commidea.
As of 31st March 2011 Solo will no longer be a valid card scheme and as such should not be accepted as a valid payment method. Additionally there are also a number of Maestro card ranges that will no longer be valid and any on-line authorisations of cards in these ranges will start to be declined.
Any merchants performing transactions without an on-line authorisation should ensure that the appropriate updates are applied to their systems to ensure these cards are not accepted.
For information on how to perform this required update please download the instructions. Please complete these on or after 1st April 2011.
Further details
MasterCard are making some important changes to UK Maestro and Solo card acceptance as follows:
- The Solo debit card product is being withdrawn from issue and the Solo scheme is being decommissioned permanently
- UK domestic Maestro cards have been aligned with a number of the processing rules for International Maestro cards
What changes are being made?
Withdrawal of Solo cards by the 31st March 2011
The Solo debit card product is being withdrawn from issue and the Solo Scheme is being decommissioned permanently.
Merchant impact
This means that with effect from the 31st March 2011 merchants will no longer be able to process transactions for Solo cards therefore by this date they will need to:
- Remove the Solo card as a payment option from their payment solution
- Cancel any recurring payments and request alternative payment from the cardholder
- Ensure all pre-authorised transactions are submitted for settlement
- Remove the Solo card type and logo wherever it is displayed at the point of sale and on any marketing material
All BINs in the range “6767” will cease to be available for Solo cards after 31st March 2011. Two BINs in the 6767xx range have been allocated to Maestro cards. These BINS are:
- 676770
- 676774
Merchants must ensure that their payment solution continues to process transactions for these two BINS as Maestro.
Issue number and start date
Changes to the Maestro card design means that these cards will no longer have an Issue number or start date. The issue number and start date will no longer be required in the transaction after the 13th May 2011.
This means that merchants will not be required to request this information for Maestro transactions and any validation checks on the issue number and start date should be removed.
Any Card Not Present merchants (eComm or otherwise) must remove this information from their payment solution, website payment pages etc.
Hot card files
MasterCard are withdrawing their support of hot card files for UK Maestro cards and merchants will no longer receive these files from Barclaycard.
Hot card files will continue to be available until the 13th May 2011 however after this date merchants should cease collection and delete any historical copies of the files from their payment solution.
Fallback to PAN Key Entry (PKE) no longer permitted
Fallback to PAN Key Entry or paper voucher for customer present transactions will no longer be permitted.
All customer present Maestro transactions must be captured and submitted electronically, using the chip or magstripe. PKE will be permitted for mail and telephone order transactions.
4 digit authorisation codes
Authorisation codes for Maestro are changing to 6 digit codes.
Merchants must be able to accept 4 and 6 digit alpha numeric authorisation codes from Barclaycard.
If you require more information on any of these changes please contact our head office on 01355 581 960.
