Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) is part of the Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2). It is a European requirement that is intended to help make online payments secure and prevent fraud.

The authentication process involves two separate steps or factors. In the case of our platform, those two steps consist of “entering the card data” and “entering the 3DS code” (which we send to the customer via SMS) for online payments.

For offline payments PIN or face-ID/ touch-ID (when paying with Google/ Apple Pay) are considered as SCA.

This means that signature, magnetic stripe payments, and some other rare payment types are no longer considered secure within the EU (they still work outside the EU). Although we are fully compliant, some merchants have not yet updated their terminals or online payment processes.

There are various reasons why the SCA process may fail:

Important: If the customer or merchant cancels the payment, or even if the wrong code is entered, a temporary blocking of the 3DS function can occur. This means that the request for strong customer authentication is not forwarded and the customer will not receive a code via SMS. This is a built-in protective feature of the customer’s card, and it can be immediately unblocked by us after the customer confirms that it was not a misused card.

If you are afraid your card is blocked on 3DS, please feel free to reach out to support@getpliant.com

If a credit card payment was declined you see the decline reason in the Pliant app.

In case of a failed online payment due to a missing cardholder authentication, please contact the merchant, as they need to trigger the authentication process on their side.

If the transaction failed for an offline payment please re-enter your card in the terminal.