Visa Compliance: Regional CVV Requirements for Merchants

Visa is expanding CVV requirements across a number of regions in order to increase cardholder security. In order to remain compliant with card brand rules, merchants must collect CVV numbers from their customers and include CVV in their transaction requests. Starting November 30, 2018, Braintree will require merchants in specific regions to utilize CVV in accordance with Visa global rules.

Merchants domiciled in the following regions must utilize CVV for their Visa transactions:

  • Europe
  • Hong Kong
  • Canada

Transaction types that do not require CVV

Visa’s CVV requirements pertain mainly to one-off, non-stored credit card transactions. There are many transaction types that do not require CVV, which we’ve listed below:

  • Transactions processed from the Braintree Vault
  • 3D Secure-verified transactions
  • Payment token transactions, which include the following payment_ instrument _ types:
    • android_ pay_ card
    • apple_ pay_ card
    • masterpass_ card
    • paypal_ account
    • venmo_ account
    • visa_ checkout_card
  • Authorization adjustments
  • Recurring transactions

Validation error for transactions lacking CVV

In order to maintain Visa compliance, Braintree must ensure that merchants domiciled in the affected regions include CVV in their transaction requests. Beginning November 30, 2018, Braintree will reject Visa transaction requests from these regions that do not contain CVV. Rejected transactions will generate the following validation error:

81706 - CVV is required

Note that Braintree will not reject transactions mentioned in the ‘Exclusions’ section as a result of this change.

Recommendations for merchants

While CVV is not currently required across all regions, card brands will likely expand this requirement to additional regions over the next year. To ensure they’re prepared for future mandates, Braintree recommends that merchants update their integrations to process CVV.

Benefits for merchants

Aside from compliance obligations, merchants who utilize CVV may see benefits in a number of ways:

  • Increased approval rates
  • Fraudulent transaction mitigation with Braintree’s Fraud Tools
  • Decreased disputes liability
  • Improved customer experience

Questions?

If you have any questions about CVV requirements, please contact our Support team.

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Tim Whicker Tim is a Product Manager under Braintree's Cards Compliance team. In his free time, he's a tech, music, and design enthusiast. More posts by this author

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