As summer officially begins, be sure to keep security and safety in mind. This week’s blog is about keeping You Free of PCI Fees in 3 Simple Steps.
We know that you have many things to focus on now and the last thing you want to worry about is PCI compliance and credit card security. We make every effort to educate our clients and will routinely remind you of the important aspects of PCI compliance. It is simple to do and is one aspect of security and safety in your business.
What Does PCI Mean?
In short. PCI stands for Payment Card Industry mandated by the Security Standards Council for compliance in credit card processing.
The major banks and card issuers have established this industry organization to have one set of rules that all merchants (business owners who process credit card payments) to follow.
You can easily stay compliant if you stay on top of three main tasks on a regular basis; some are related to each transaction – like using the latest technology and not writing down credit card numbers – other activities are performed once a quarter or once a year. We recommend you check your statement for PCI compliance each month, too.
3 Simple Steps to be PCI Compliant
Here are 3 simple steps to take to make sure that you are compliant and thus, free of PCI non-compliant fees.
1) Are you being charged a PCI fee? This should be easy to find on your monthly statement. It might be called PCI Non-compliant Fee or PCI Compliance Fee. If you see this fee listed on your statement. Call us.
2) Have you received a notice to run a PCI scan? Each quarter, you have to run a scan, which requires you to complete a few easy steps and verify back that everything is in order. This has to be done on time, or you risk being charged for being out of compliance. If fees start being charged, you will continue to be assessed fees until you run your scan. The scan is not that time consuming, so you should do it right away when you get your notice.
3) Is your POS software up to date? Security updates for POS software (and others that pose a security risks) should be made consistently to stave off the issues related to unwanted hackers breaching business systems. This is an important step in PCI compliance. If your Point of Sale System software is out of date, that simple fact can put you into a non-compliant status, which can result in fees that you shouldn’t have to pay.
The fact is, if you are non compliant, fees will be assessed each month, every month, until you are – and these fees do not go to your processor – they go to the bank and they are non-refundable.
Maintaining PCI compliance does not take a lot of time, but needs to be done.
We routinely help our clients run through their checklist and help them submit their scan information. If you are not sure if you are compliant or just want to check in and ask some questions, that’s why we are here.
Give us a call or e-mail us to schedule a quick review of your PCI status. We are happy to answer any questions you have about this important topic.
PS You can read more on this topic in this summary of major PCI changes that took place and covers important information you need to know to be compliant.