Banks and payment service providers are changing the way they verify your identity and validate payments.
These changes are designed to reduce the risk of a fraudster pretending to be you to steal your money.
Authentication is the process that your bank or payment services provider uses to make sure that the person requesting access to your account, or trying to make a payment, is either you or someone to whom you have given consent and not a fraudster.
The new rules, announced in 2019, are intended to further enhance the security of payments and limit fraud. They are known as Strong Customer Authentication (SCA).
For online banking, the SCA changes were completed by 14 March 2020, and you may have seen some changes to the way you access online or telephone banking as result, including the addition of face verification or an additional validation step including a passcode.
For online payments, the e-commerce industry – including card issuers, payments firms and online retailers – have until 14 September 2021 to implement SCA, however some companies have already started making changes to ensure online payments made by customers have enhanced protection in place.
For example, you may need to authenticate transactions more often, so your card provider knows it’s really you making the payment. In some cases, there is an extra step when you buy something online using your debit or credit card, but not every single time. This authentication step usually appears in a new window or pop-up when making a payment online.
Your card provider or bank should already have been in touch with you to make you aware of these changes. Trying to make a payment without completing the authentication step when this is requested by your bank can result in the payment not processing or being declined.
We are aware that some customers have been unable to make payments on the Advantis website due to the authentication step. If you have tried to make a payment on our website which has not processed or has been declined, please check to ensure that any authentication steps have been completed prior to making the payment. If no authentication step appears and your payment is not processed or is declined, please contact your card issuer or bank for further advice on how to proceed.
Unfortunately it is your bank/card issuer who controls the authentication step and Advantis are unable to effect this.
For more information on Strong Customer Authentication and how this impacts you, please contact your bank/card issuer
