CardinalCommerce

A: Authentication occurs before the authorization call while a consumer is still on the merchant’s website. During the checkout process, Cardinal works behind the scenes, using the 3-D Secure protocol to authenticate the cardholder with their card issuing bank. The primary benefit being, once the issuer authenticates the transaction, you will receive a liability shift on fraud. Meaning, the issuing bank who authenticated your order will not be the one who must handle the fraud. Authentication drastically reduces the risk of fraud because the consumer’s card issuing bank verifies that the person initiating the transaction is who they say they are. The issuer authenticates most transactions behind the scenes, without consumer friction, using a risk-based approach. This means the issuer uses data points that they have for their cardholder – is the device they are shopping with the same device they use for online banking? They know about their cardholder’s shopping patterns, where they live, if the shipping address matches the billing address the bank has on file, and many, many other data points. For the rare instances that the issuer feels that the transaction may be risky, they can choose to challenge the consumer, in the form of a one-time passcode (sent to their mobile device or email) or biometric (like a fingerprint or facial scan). When the consumer completes the challenge and authenticates successfully, the issuer can confidently approve the transaction. IF you are interested in learning more, please don't hesitate to reach out to us directly at 440.352.8444. Thanks,