How online payments will change in the EU

All you need to know!

From 14th September 2019, the European Union will enforce a new directive in charge that will make online payments more secure, which is called PSD2. We welcome this, as we always want to make sure all data is safe and all transactions are as transparent, reliable and trustworthy as possible. Here, we inform you what this means for you and the payment process with FREE NOW.

To fulfill the directive, we need to enable your bank to check your identity when you are using your credit card. This identity check from your bank is called 3D Secure and will be required every few payments. This will make the payment process take a little longer. Please be patient and follow the instructions on your screen.

Are you using your company’s business account?

Most business credit cards are not affected. However: If an identity check is triggered during a tour and you can’t fulfill it, please contact the person administrating your company’s account, as they will need to sort it out with their bank. In the meantime, please switch to a different payment method and pursue reimbursement from your company.

What do I need to do?

Your bank will ask you to prove that you are indeed the cardholder doing the payment. The identity check can occur in several ways, which is up to your bank. It consists of:

Something you KNOW

(e.g. your password or PIN)

Something you HAVE

(e.g. One-time code sent to your phone)

Something you ARE

(e.g. your fingerprint or face recognition)

When do I have to do the identity check?

When you’re registering a new credit card. Or, randomly, every few payments, when you do an online transaction. So, when you do a trip with FREE NOW, there might be an identity check. This only affects credit card payment. Other payment methods like PayPal, Apple Pay and Google Pay (and of course cash payments) are not affected.

What does it look like?

There will be a screen popping up in a different design. (This is normal: As the identity check is triggered by your bank, it will look different from the FREE NOW app.)

In the FREE NOW app for passengers it could look like that:

This example shows an identity check in the FREE NOW app for passengers, done with an SMS-code (which we think will be the most common). The actual identity check will probably look different and might require another way of authentication (see above).

General questions

Why would I now need to verify my identity during the payment?

This is part of the European regulation called PSD2 which aims at making online payments more secure. The banks will be required to verify the identity of their customers when their credit cards are being used to make an online payment.

These 3D Secure checks will not be necessary all the time and their frequency can vary based on different factors such as the amount of the payment or the historical data of your payments with your bank.

When will I need to authenticate my payment?

Depending on your bank, you might be asked to authenticate whenever you are triggering a payment.

In cases where FREE NOW would perform a Pre-authorization based on the estimated fare amount
In cases where you have to actively click to pay or slide to pay at the end of a tour

How can I be ready for when this change will come into effect?

This directive impacts all the banks issuing credit cards in Europe so they most likely already contacted you to be enrolled in this program. The wording used can differ from one bank to the other but you can expect them to use the expression 3D Secure. We recommend that you follow your bank’s instructions in order to be ready to use your credit card online.

How does this regulation affect my using of FREE NOW?

After this regulation is applied in Europe, it can happen that the bank that issued your credit card will request an additional authentication check when you are doing payments online via FREE NOW.

If an authentication is needed, you will be redirected to an authentication process called 3D Secure. With this process, the bank will then verify that the person making the payment is the cardholder of the credit card.

How to proceed successfully with the 3D Secure check?

If an authentication is needed, you will be redirected to a view in which you will need to complete the authentication. There are different ways for the banks to verify the identity of the cardholder :

One time 4 digits passcode sent via SMS
Password requested
Fingerprint recognition
etc,

Once you have performed this authentication successfully, you can proceed with your FREE NOW experience

How do I know which check will apply for me?

Depending on your bank and the type of your credit card, different types of 3D Secure checks can be applied for you. We recommend you to contact your bank for more detailed information.

Will I have to do it every time I make a payment?

No, the objectives from the European Union and the banks are not to degrade your customer experience but to improve the security of online payments. Your bank will request an authentication according to their own rules and based on your online payment usage.

Why do I have to perform this identity check when adding my credit card via the FREE NOW app?

We reserve the right to request a 3D Secure check when you add a new credit card. By doing so, we aim at reducing the friction on future payments that you will make and also improving the security of your payments.

How can I be sure that my information is secured during this process?

The information related to your 3D Secure process as well as your credit cards details are processed with a high level of encryption and handled by payment institutions with high level of PCI DSS compliance. The institutions responsible for the 3D Secure process will be mentioned in the view which you will see in the app (Either Visa, Mastercard or American Express).

Why do I sometimes have to do a 3D Secure after ordering when the driver has not been allocated yet?

Depending on the country in which you use FREE NOW, there could be an authorization of the estimated payment amount upfront when you try to book the service.

This is called a pre-authorization. This is just a temporary hold of the funds on your account which will only be charged effectively if you received the service in the end. If you cancel your request and are not subject to any cancellation fee, the funds will be released.

Depending on the bank, this release might take 1 day or 2 unfortunately but FREE NOW does not have any influence on the speed of this release.

What happens if I fail the authentication?

The payment process will fail and you will have a message in the app suggesting you to try a different payment method and/or contact your bank in order to solve the issue.

The 3D Secure identity check was not successful, what should I do?

If your bank is requesting you to verify your identity when you are paying, it means that your credit card is “enrolled” with 3DS. Depending on your credit card configuration and your bank, this verification can have different forms (SMS, password, touch ID, etc..).

Even if you are the card holder of the credit card, there are several reasons that can lead to a 3D Secure check to fail:

You inputted the wrong One Time Passcode
You pressed the “Cancel” button or the back button on your phone
You took too long to authenticate and the process timed out
You did not receive any SMS from your bank

If the failure was not on purpose such as accidentally pressing the back button, feel free to try again and make sure to successfully succeed with the identity check.

If the failure was due to missing information for you to proceed with authentication (forgotten password or SMS never received), we would recommend you to contact your bank and make sure to have everything set up with your credit card. You can also consult your online banking account to verify that your card is enrolled and that your personal details are updated on your bank account profile (phone number, etc.)

If it fails will I be blocked from the FREE NOW app?

No, if you failed to verify your identity when required by your bank, your payment will not succeed but you will still be able to use the FREE NOW app. You would simply need to contact your bank to set up 3DS on your card if you are the cardholder of the card or use a different payment method.

I failed my authentication, is my credit card blocked now?

Failing to authenticate means that your payment is failed but it does not mean that your card is blocked. If you successfully authenticate later on, you will be able to pay online with your credit card, provided that no other reasons will cause the payment to fail (insufficient funds error, expired card, etc.)

What should I ask my bank if I fail the 3D Secure check?

We would recommend you to ask your bank what are the necessary steps in order to use your credit card for online payments and how to activate and use 3D Secure.

If your payment failed for another reason not related to 3D Secure issues, we would recommend you to ask your bank for any restrictions on your card or any other reasons why the payment was failing at the time of your usage of FREE NOW.

What can I do to make the authentication succeed ?

We recommend you to acknowledge the communication provided from your bank related to 3D Secure and to follow their instructions.

We also recommend you to make sure that the information registered at your bank are up to date (phone number, address, email address etc..).

I could not find a taxi even after I authenticated, will I have to authenticate if I hail again?

If we authorize the estimated fare amount on your bank account during your first order and you cancel it to try again, we will not authorize again another amount on your credit card and use the existing one which will remain on hold for a short period of time.

Therefore in practice, you should not have to authenticate again if you try to order again for the same destination. Of course should you hail for a totally different destination, the estimation will change and we would have to adjust the amount of the temporary authorization which could lead to another identity check.

How can I reduce the frequency of those identity checks if I do not want to be bothered while using FREE NOW?

It is your bank decision to perform those identity checks and they are responsible for the frequency and the rules that apply to require those checks. We expect payments with a low amount (lower than 30€) to be less subject to identity checks than higher amount payments.

In the near future, the bank will improve this identity check process by enabling their customers to “whitelist” the merchants like FREE NOW that you trust so that no less identity checks should be required.

You can contact your bank if you are experiencing too many identity checks when using FREE NOW. Please bear in mind that FREE NOW is also aiming at reducing any unnecessary checks but that the final decision resides on the bank.

The card on my account is my mother / father partner, can I no longer use this card?

You might indeed run into issues during payment. The purpose of the identity checks requested by the bank is to confirm the identity of the card holder of the credit card. The bank uses the information about the card holder registered for the credit card like the phone number.

It is recommended to contact your bank if you are in this situation so that they can provide an adapted solution.

I use Google Pay, Apple Pay or Paypal, do I need to worry about additional authentication?

These payment solutions based on “wallet” technology already provide a layer of security and strong customer authentication so if you are already using those payment methods, your experience of FREE NOW will not be affected

I use an anonymous prepaid card, am I impacted ?

Anonymous prepaid cards are not impacted by this european regulation.