If you’re taking card payments either on the phone or in person then he question of Completing your PCI Compliance is certainly something you should be paying attention to.
It’s possible you are being fined by your merchant for being non-compliant too, perhaps without realising or knowing what to do. Read on and understand what completing your PCI compliance means and why its important.
So what is PCI compliance?
PCI compliance is a way for the industry (merchants and banks) to ensure good practices are being adopted when taking card payments. It a common set of standards and processes that everyone should adopt as a minimum. PCI stands for Payment Card Industry and Completing your PCI Compliance is mandatory.
Why should I be PCI Compliant
The most obvious and simple reason to be compliant is failure to do so will result in regular and on-going charges by your provider. The amount can vary depending on how much use you make of card payments and the scale of charges will also increase if you continue to ignore the standard.
- Continued refusal to become compliant can also result in services being withdrawn!
- All providers have the same requirement and standards, so changing provider won’t help you! – Sorry
What does it take to be PCI Compliant?
There are two simple parts to being compliant and each merchant typically has a form you complete with a a series of predetermined questions & outcomes. In essence you need to demonstrate 2 things, these are:
- Do you have adequate process for safeguarding information
- Does your technology provide adequate safeguards for securing the transactions
What does this all look like?
Your merchant will typically send you an e-mail advising of the need to complete your compliance. This will require your registration via a secure portal and completing information about your business. There’s a form to complete asking about the size of you business, how you use card payments, what you do with slips,if your payments are in person, on-line, etc. These are the procedural steps
Next there’s the scan which you will be asked to schedule to complete the technical part. If you fail you’ll see a very satisfying green tick. A failed scan will produce a detailed report of what needs to be addressed.
Summary
If your business is taking card payments, whether in person, on the phone or on-line PCI compliance applies to you. Like most things in life ignoring it won’t make it go away and will ultimately just cost you money.
Call us today on 03303 130966 or visit our website https://www.thinkcirrus.co.uk for more information http://www.theukcardsassociation.org.uk/security/PCIDSS_checklist.asp
