Terminal or credit card machines are used for processing debit and credit card transactions. Therefore, are often integrated into a Point of Sale System.
Electronic Authorizations – merchants had the choice of calling in for an authorization or imprinting their transactions, but many businesses opted voice authorization only on larger transactions because of the long waiting time for authorizing transaction over the phone.
Manual Imprinters – are considered a great backup processing method. Although time consuming and did not offer the speed or instant transfer capabilities, this imprinters are still widely used.
Point of Sale Terminals: POS emerged in 1979, which was a turning point in the credit card processing industry. As a result,
Visa introduced a bulky electronic data capturing terminal. The first of credit card machine or terminal as we know them today. It has greatly reduced the time required to process a credit card.
In the same year, MasterCharge became MasterCard and credit cards were replaced to include a magnetic information stripe which now has become EMV/chip and PIN.
The Future: There’s a lot of room for advancement when it comes to Credit card processing technology. Increasing processing speed, reliability and security are driving forces behind processing technology advancement.
Today’s credit card terminals are faster and more reliable with convenient new capabilities including contactless and Mobile NFC acceptance. The processing industry will definitely be adapting new technologies in the near future and has a lot to look forward to.