Processing Credit Card Charges with Strong Customer Authentication (SCA)

Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) is a type of multi-factor authentication for card payments. It is required for merchants and clients in the European Economic Area. Only the card holder can complete a payment that needs SCA. SCA uses 3D Secure 2.0.

Ubersmith supports SCA with some tokenized credit card gateways. For the list of gateways, refer to the article "Supported Merchant Gateways".

Set the SCA email

When a charge needs SCA and the client is not there to complete it, Ubersmith sends an email to the client. The email tells the client to log in and pay the invoice.

1. Go to Settings > Invoice Notices.
2. Find the Strong Customer Authentication required for 3D Secure 2.0 section.
3. In the From Name and From Email fields, type the sender of the email. If you leave them empty, Ubersmith uses your company name and reply-to email address.
4. In the Subject field, type the subject of the email.
5. In the Body field, type the text of the email. To see the variables that you can use, for example ##invoicenumber##, click View Variables.
6. If you use more than one language, complete the email on each language tab.
7. Save the settings.

For more information, refer to the article "Configuring Invoice Notices".

Automatic charges

When Ubersmith charges a card automatically for a new invoice, the bank can ask for SCA. Then:

• The charge fails.
• Ubersmith sends the SCA email to the client instead of the usual invoice email.
• Ubersmith does not add the charge to the retry queue, because only the client can complete it.
• The charge log shows the charge with the message prefix [3DSecure 2.0]. In the Charge Log report, these charges have the status Needs 3d Secure 2.0 Authentication.

The client must log in to the client portal and pay the invoice. See Pay an invoice in the client portal.

Charges that staff start

1. Open the invoice. For more information, refer to the article "Managing Invoices".
2. Mark a payment, and charge the credit card of the client.

If the bank asks for SCA, Ubersmith shows an error and sends the SCA email to the client. The client must log in to the client portal and pay the invoice.

Pay an invoice in the client portal

The client does these steps:

1. Log in to the client portal.
2. Go to the invoices, then click Pay Online for the invoice. For more information, refer to the article "Managing Billing and Services from the Client Portal".
3. Select the credit card, then submit the payment.
4. If the bank asks for SCA, the 3D Secure 2.0 authentication process page opens. Click Proceed with authentication.
5. Complete the challenge of the bank. The challenge is different for each bank and gateway, for example a code in a text message or an approval in a banking app.
6. Submit the challenge. Ubersmith completes the payment and shows the invoice.

If the authentication fails, Ubersmith shows an error. The client can try again, or use a different payment method.

Add or update a card in the client portal

When a client adds or updates a credit card in the client portal, the bank can ask for SCA. The client then completes the same 3D Secure 2.0 authentication process as for a payment.

Sign a quote with SCA

A client can pay with a credit card when they sign a quote. For more information, refer to the article "Processing Quotes".

1. The client opens the quote from the link in the quote email.
2. In the Payment Information section, the client selects a credit card, signs the quote, and clicks Sign Contract.
3. If the bank asks for SCA, the 3D Secure 2.0 authentication process page opens. The client clicks Proceed with authentication.
4. The client completes and submits the challenge of the bank.
5. The quote signature page opens again.