Research reveals lack of consumer SCA preparedness

With one-time passwords being increasingly used to try and meet the forthcoming Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) requirements, card issuers have been clamouring for their customers to update their phone numbers.

However, research from Harris Interactive found that 30 per cent of consumers do not know or do not believe that their card issuers have up-to-date phone numbers for them.

The market research agency surveyed 1,153 UK adults last week, revealing that three quarters felt they were personally doing a good job of protecting their payment details, while the same proportion also said that banks are doing a good job too.

However, the public were less convinced about online retailers (56 per cent) and the government (36 per cent) doing a good job on payment security.

A quarter of respondents were quite or very worried about security, with those in their thirties (35 per cent quite/very concerned) and infrequent online shoppers (35 per cent) who were the most worried.

As such, there was an appetite for more online security, with 39 per cent saying they feel there is too little security when making payments online. Just four per cent felt there was currently too much security.

Although there appears to be customer appetite for more online security, Harris Interactive suggested that retailers are understandably reluctant to provide more, as doing so would represent lost income for them in abandoned transactions.

The survey found that 18 per cent have experienced a payment being declined because of payment verification – rising to 30 per cent amongst under 30 year-olds. It is also higher (28 per cent) among regular online shoppers, who might be expected to be more experienced in dealing with such verification.

Harris Interactive noted that this could also suggest that these older and less regular online shoppers are yet to have experienced these issues, but might well do in the future.

The research also explored what people would do when they have a declined payment, with just under half stating they would immediately attempt to repeat the transaction. Of the third who would try again with the same card, just six per cent would persevere another time.

The results of this scenario also revealed where consumers would attribute blame: after the first failed attempt 26 per cent would contact their card issuer, while seven per cent would contact the retailer.

SCA also allows for consumers to designate trusted beneficiaries, payments to whom would not need to be authenticated every time. Overall, half felt they would be likely to use this feature (if it was available), rising to 60 per cent of regular online shoppers – defined as those paying for online purchases at least weekly.

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