Good for you.
Great for your customers.
What is DCC?
Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC) is a service that gives your international customers the convenience and choice to pay the bill in their own currency rather than in pounds sterling. You’ll receive a rebate from BOI Payment Acceptance with each DCC transaction, so the more international business you do, the more you grow your revenue.
How does DCC work?
Authorisation
Your CardPayAA Terminal will automatically identify international credit and debit cards during the authorisation stage.
DCC Offer
If CardPayAA identify an international card, your customer may be offered the choice to pay in their home currency. To assist them in their choice, your customer will be able to view the foreign exchange rate, margin and final price so they can choose whether to pay in the local or home currency.
Settlement
Regardless of the choice your customer makes, CardPayAA will always settle the transaction in your terminal currency, for the full sale amount.
Rebate
At the end of each month, CardPayAA will calculate a rebate payable as a credit to your merchant services statement in respect of DCC transactions processed on your terminal.
Business Benefits
More choice for your customers
Your international customers can use your CardPayAA terminal to pay in their home currency without you having to worry about foreign exchange rates or handling multiple currencies.
Accept a wide range of currencies
Your CardPayAA terminal has been configured to handle all major currencies – over 40 in total.
Earn a rebate
We will credit you a rebate on your CardPayAA statement, subject to the terms and conditions in your Payment Acceptance Agreement.
Customer Benefits
Price transparency
Your customer enjoys full transparency of foreign exchange costs.
Choice
Customers have the choice to select to pay in their home currency to accept the exchange rate and convert the transaction immediately. This is the final price in the customer’s currency.
Nothing is hidden
Each receipt shows the amount in GBP, the conversion rate, and the amount in the customer’s home currency.
DCC – EU Changes 2020
Revised EU cross-border payment regulations covering transparency requirements for Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC) are being implemented across the EU. The new EU legislation states that for any DCC transaction where the payment card is issued in the European Economic Area (EEA) and the merchant is EEA based, there will be a mark-up percentage displayed over a rate published by the European Central Bank. In essence this will provide more transparency to consumers concerning the option to pay in their home currency by choosing DCC at Point of Sale, or have their card issuer convert the transaction (at bank) at a later date.
The purpose of the below FAQ’s are to provide an overview of new EU legislative requirements and how they impact on Dynamic Currency Conversion.
What is DCC?
DCC stands for Dynamic Currency Conversion. DCC is a service that gives international cardholders the choice to pay in their home currency.
What is changing?
New EU legislation states that for any DCC transaction where the card is issued in the European Economic Area (EEA) and the merchant is EEA based, there will be a mark-up percentage displayed over the European Central Bank (ECB) exchange rate. This will show cardholders how much, as a percentage, they will pay for the conversion in comparison to the ECB exchange rate.
So whenever a merchant’s and cardholder’s currencies are both from within the EEA and the cardholder’s card is issued in a different home currency to that of the merchant, the cardholder must have the DCC transaction amount and exchange rate option presented to them on the card terminal screen and the percentage over the ECB exchange rate. The transaction receipt will also display this information for the cardholder’s future reference. The software on your CardPayAA card terminal will be updated to ensure compliance with these changes.
When will these changes become effective?
The regulations came into force on 19th April 2020, however updates will continue to be rolled-out after this date as it is understood that some customers are not trading due to COVID-19 restrictions. We will notify merchants by email once your terminal(s) is due to be updated.
How do I tell which currencies belong to the European Economic Area (EEA)?
The following are the non-Euro currencies within the EEA:
- Bulgaria (Lev)
- Croatia (Kuna)
- Czech Republic (Koruna)
- Denmark (Krone)
- Hungary (Forint)
- Poland (Zloty)
- Romania (Leu)
- Sweden (Krona)
- United Kingdom (GBP)
Once your terminal software has been updated it will automatically identify payment scenarios where the card currency and local currency both belong to the EEA and will adjust the POS screen display and receipt display accordingly.
Why are these changes being made?
These changes are being made to comply with ECB regulations. The existing card association scheme rules are unchanged.
For EU currencies only, the total DCC charges for the transactions should be expressed as a percentage mark-up over the latest available ECB rate (the mark-up). There are no changes to non-EU currencies.
How will the card terminal screen display change?
For EU transactions within the EEA the terminal screen will look as follows.
For non-EU transactions within the EEA the terminal process will look as follows.
How will the transaction receipt display the required changes?
MasterCard - EU transaction
Visa - EU transaction
MasterCard - Non-EU transaction
Visa - Non-EU transaction
Do I need to take action in order to activate these changes on my card terminal?
If you have a CardPayAA card terminal you do not need to take any action. We will automatically update your terminal through an overnight update to comply with the regulations.
Does this affect my customers? Will they be charged more than before?
No. The change to display the DCC mark-up % over the ECB rate will be displayed for comparison purposes only for EU currencies. There will be no change to how your customers are charged.
Does this change affect my business? Will my DCC rebate decrease?
If your card terminal is provided by CardPayAA, your DCC Rebate with CardPayAA will stay the same as before.
Can I opt-out of this change?
This change is regulated by the European Central Bank so it cannot be opted out from and CardPayAA must be fully compliant with the EU regulations. This is simply a slight change in process to ensure compliance with EU regulations, your DCC Rebate rate and all DCC-related charges applicable to your customers will not change.