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How Ethoca helps issuers

Issuers are key to the security and health of the payments ecosystem. But to stay competitive, they must navigate a number of challenges. The rise of digital commerce, evolving fraud patterns, competitive threats posed by neobanks, and changing customer expectations are among the dynamics confronting issuers. Ethoca’s collaborative tools help card-issuers negotiate the uncertainty in today’s environment, while elevating the cardholder experience.

The recent boom in digital payments has ushered in a sharp rise in the number of disputes and chargebacks. The need to handle them quickly and effectively makes prevention both more important and more complex than ever. Reducing the volume of disputes avoids the costly and time-consuming chargeback process while solving customer issues faster. 

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Chargeback volume to reach 250 Million

In 2022, global chargeback volumes are estimated to grow nearly 50% over their 2019 pre-pandemic levels, reaching over 250 million.

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25% of ecommerce shoppers disputed a charge over the last 12 months

Almost one-quarter of ecommerce shoppers disputed at least one charge over the last 12 months.

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71% of disputes due to service errors.

Service errors are the most common reasons ecommerce customers initiate a dispute.

Reason for dispute

Transaction confusion. When a cardholder checks their digital banking app and sees a transaction they don’t recognise, the confusion can result in “friendly fraud” – cardholders disputing charges for purchases they legitimately made.

Customer disputes. Cardholders are increasingly disputing purchases due to service-related issues – such as an undelivered online order or receipt of a damaged one. 

Fraud. As more card transactions happen digitally, third party fraud – when someone other than the authorised cardholder makes a purchase – remains a significant risk to issuers.

How to prevent

Richer purchase details. Additional transaction details – such as a merchant logo – available in a cardholder’s digital banking app and card issuer’s call center staff can help reduce transaction confusion and prevent chargebacks.

Dispute notifications. Collaborative alert tools allow card issuers to notify merchants when a charge is being disputed for service-related reasons. This allows the merchant to refund the purchase and avoid a chargeback altogether.

Real-time fraud alerts. Collaborative tools allow card issuers to share information in real time and alert merchants quickly when a cardholder reports fraud. Orders can be stopped - and charges refunded - before the costly and time-consuming chargeback process even begins.  

Why the digital cardholder experience matters 

Cardholder expectations are higher than ever. They want connected, seamless interactions – whether that’s online, in app or over the phone. For card issuers, meeting these expectations means enhancing the cardholder experience, especially through the digital banking apps people increasingly use to review their transaction history.

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65% of consumers

say their experience on a website or app is a very important factor in recommending a brand

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70% of consumers

use self-service tools at some point in their customer-service journey

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Improving the customer experience

is the number one driver for digital transformation in financial services

Building better cardholder experiences

As digital payments soar – and disputes along with them – it’s essential that card issuers adopt a collaborative, digital-first strategy to preventing disputes and chargebacks.

  • Make it easier with recognisable transaction details. Collaborative tools allow issuers to infuse their digital offerings with more in-depth transaction information. Enhancing merchant transaction details gives cardholders more clarity regarding the purchases they’ve made. Eliminating transaction confusion and friction in the dispute process makes it easier to provide the user experience cardholders want and expect.
  • Offer digital self-serve features. Collaborative tools hold the potential for easy self-serve features that rival any digital bank. Imagine offering cardholders warranty, return and loyalty reward information directly through their digital banking apps. 

Learn more about our collaborative technology

Ethoca Consumer Clarity™

Provides rich purchase information to issuers and to cardholders through their banking application. The ability to easily recognise purchases means fewer disputes caused by transaction confusion, improving the overall customer experience and reducing first-party fraud and chargeback costs.

Ethoca Alerts

Connects issuers, acquirers and merchants for sharing fraud and dispute data, speeding up the dispute resolution process . By receiving real-time fraud alerts, merchants can quickly identify fraud, stop order fulfillment, issue refunds, and prevent the need for chargebacks altogether when fraud occurs.
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How one U.S. issuer stopped $9M in fraud

By leveraging Ethoca’s global merchant-issuer collaboration network, the bank was able to mitigate 78,148 chargebacks and recover $9,091,266 in fraud losses over a 13 month period.

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