MasterCard International Extends Zero Liability Protection to US Small Business Cardholders

MasterCard International today announced that the company is extending its zero liability policy to U.S.-issued MasterCard BusinessCard® and Debit MasterCard BusinessCard® cards. For the first time, U.S. small businesses will receive the same fraud protection and peace of mind that personal cardholders have enjoyed for years.

With zero liability protection, U.S. small business owners and their employees will not be held liable by card issuers in the event of an unauthorized use of their U.S.-issued MasterCard BusinessCard or Debit MasterCard BusinessCard in a store, over the telephone, or online. In 1994, MasterCard was the first in the industry to establish a U.S. rule of zero liability for the consumer from the unauthorized use of payment cards. With today’s announcement, MasterCard becomes the first to extend this protection to both its small business debit and credit cardholders.

“Regardless of how small business owners make their business purchases — online, over the phone or at a store — they can be confident that their MasterCard BusinessCard and Debit MasterCard BusinessCard cards are covered by zero liability protection.” said Bruno Perreault, Group Head, Global Small Business and Mid-Sized Enterprises, MasterCard International. “As the first to extend zero liability protection to small business debit and credit cards, MasterCard is giving small business owners peace of mind so they can focus on growing their businesses.”

MasterCard’s extended zero liability protection goes into effect on September 1, 2006 for all U.S.-issued MasterCard BusinessCard and Debit MasterCard BusinessCard cards. To qualify for this zero liability protection, MasterCard BusinessCard and Debit MasterCard BusinessCard cardholders must meet certain conditions including having exercised reasonable care in safeguarding their cards and notifying their issuing bank of the loss, theft and/or unauthorized use of their cards.