epoch webmasters - check your join pages

How the hell did that happen??

looks like paycom (epoch) is making some changes, but they aren't done yet...

Monday June 28, 2004

Paycom Billing Descriptors / Custom Extensions Being Expanded to 9 Characters

In October of 2002, IPSP's were instructed to comply with a Visa rule to help banks and consumers more easily identify purchases. Since that time, the vast majority of our Sponsored Merchants have experienced dramatic decreases in chargebacks. Visa has completed an audit of their HRIPSP (High Risk Internet Payment Service Providers ) database, and has sent a letter to banks regarding new registration requirements.

Visa states that in many cases the customized extension of the billing descriptor has become abbreviated to the extent that it no longer reflects the Sponsored Merchant legal name as required by the regulations. Visa is instituting a slight change to the descriptor protocol to help consumers identify their purchases online. All HRIPSP's are required to comply by July 1, 2004. Paycom will incorporate the changes by the deadline.

The rule being addressed is:
· The credit card descriptor on the cardholder?s statement must be the IPSP?s name, as well as the Sponsored Merchant?s identifier.

In an effort to improve the representation of the sponsored merchant within the IPSP billing descriptor, the descriptor extension field (the area that identifies the sponsored merchant) is being expanded and changed. All remaining areas within the descriptor and formatting thereof remain unchanged. Your billing descriptor with Paycom which includes the toll free number for billing support and reference to Paycom.net for customer service will not be affected. The area of the descriptor affected (shown below by "X") will be changed to comply with Visa's identification protocols.

Example of the changes are as follows:

Current Billing Desciptor:
Paycom.net *XXXXXX 800-893-8871
Sponsored merchant's selected descriptor within the 6 character space (indicated by "X").

New Billing Desciptor:
Paycom.net *XXXXXXXXX 800-893-8871
Sponsored merchant's current descriptor extension is being replaced with first 9 characters of their business name as per their Visa registration.

Note: If the first name is more than 9 characters, and common to more than one sponsored merchant, the first word is truncated to the first three characters and the remaining 6 characters are the second word in the business name.

Clients who have their billing descriptor extension listed on their website should change that verbiage to read: [Site Name] will be billed by Paycom.net. Descriptor extensions which identify you as a sponsored merchant will be represented on the credit card collection form hosted by Paycom.


If you have any questions regarding this, please contact [email protected].

--Rand at Paycom
Communications Director
Epoch Transactions Services

Yep! they are working on it!