Credit Card Processing and PCI Compliance

Credit Card processing as we know it is changing at alarming rates. All merchants need to be proactive in educating themselves and their staff members of how to maintain compliancy. If a merchant is not deemed as PCI compliant, they will not be allowed to process credit cards after July 2010. There is a chance that this may change to allow for training and education, but waiting until that date could be risky. On average, retail and hospitality operations process approximately 80% of their daily business through credit cards or debit cards. The greatest challenge is getting the customers to open up to discussion and help them be proactive towards compliance.

Service Providers are partnered with their customers, both long term and new. Helping their customers understand their responsibilities is critical to a mutual success in the future. If you are not assisting your customers in this process, another company will step in and do so at the risk of you losing your customer to a more service oriented company. Educate yourself and your employees regarding this opportunity.

Direct your merchants toward their current credit card processor for guidelines and requirements.

Network activity is at it's most critical point in the history of retail or wholesale business. Common day to day activities can jeapordize your network security and also open your business system to a possible breach. In the event of a breach and you are processing credit cards. Visa and Mastercard will mandate an audit by a certified company I.E. Security Metrics. Up front cost for that audit can range from $9000.00 to $11,000.00. Each credit card involved in the breach will assess a replacement cost of $10.00 per card. This can add up at alarming rates.

Please refer to the link below for PCI Security Standards. This is just a start.

http://usa.visa.com/merchants/risk_management/cisp.html

https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org/security_standards/pci_dss_download_agreement.html

Take the necessary steps to protect your company and your partners(customers). Do not wait until it has already happened to educate yourself. Putting off until tomorrow could cost  you your business.