The WorldPay division of payments processor FIS plans to offer additional fraud-fighting services to merchants to help them fight a growing number of credit card disputes

The company said it intends to do that by extending its partnership Chargebacks911, a provider of technology that separates fraudulent from legitimate claims. 

Jacksonville Florida-based FIS and Chargebacks911 will provide merchants with a broader set of technology tools “to help reduce chargebacks, lower costs and combat fraud,” they said in a July 28 press release.

A spokesperson for Chargebacks911 declined to comment on the financial terms of the relationship and FIS didn’t respond to requests for comment for this story.

The partnership between FIS and Chargebacks911 was formed in 2018. Clients who use Worldpay for payment processing “can get access to our complete suite of pre-chargeback solutions,” according to a spokesperson for Chargebacks911, which is based in Clearwater, Florida.

“Changes in consumer preferences and merchant practices have retailers, card issuers and networks moving away from the manual dispute management processes,” FIS Chief Product Officer Vicky Bindra said in a press release. “Open platforms and flexible architecture are now vital, allowing automated products that reduce the time and effort invested in managing and resolving dispute volume.”

Chargebacks911 and other companies that provide chargeback prevention services, such as Bankcard Services, argue that merchants are seeing a rise in such fraud, increasing their need for their tools.

“Payment card disputes were intended as a “last resort” to protect consumers from criminal fraud and merchant abuse,” according to Chargebacks911.“Ecommerce dramatically changed the way we shop, though, and the chargeback process has failed to keep pace. Deceitful or uninformed consumers turned chargebacks into a tool to commit fraud, rather than prevent it.”

Merchants are especially concerned about so-called friendly-fraud disputes brought by consumers looking to make a quick buck by falsely claiming that they were ripped off.

“Chargebacks are one of the greatest threats facing modern business,” according to Bankcard Services, which provides merchants across industries with digital account services. “Merchants take the brunt of the hit, losing revenue from the sale, merchandise, and the cost of shipping. Merchants then get hit with additional charges,” the company said in a March web post.

For instance, consumers who prevail in their chargeback disputes are nine times more likely to file another one,  according to Bingham Farms, Michigan-based Bankcard.

“Most customers can’t see any difference between a chargeback and a standard return,” the Bankcard.com post said. “They either don’t know—or don’t care—about how a chargeback negatively impacts merchants.

By Jonathan Berr on Aug 5, 2022
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