PCI Compliance is a major part of accepting from customers credit and debit cards. These are the things your business must know.
- PCI Compliance is Payment Card Industry refers to a set of standards that businesses should adhere to if they accept credit or debit cards.
- PCI Compliance safeguards and helps companies to avoid loss of business and expensive penalties resulting from a breach.
- There are requirements in a company that is must-follow to be PCI Compliant.
Breaches have become common among key retailers, and this has put the PCI regulations into the spotlight. It is not the big companies to adhere to PCI; it applies to all the businesses relying on the cards for transactions. Even if your business has a handful of people working, and your transactions in a month are very few through cards, PCI DSS Compliance is necessary.
Payment card industry
The payment card industry refers to all the companies using credit and debit cards. It includes the ATMs, retail and commerce industries, and institutions issuing any debit, credit, or prepaid card for monetary transactions. The payment card industry has a set of standards to follow to be PCI Compliant.
PCI DSS compliance matters as many data breaches happen due to stolen card information in the service and retail industries. Thus, it must have PCI Compliance, assuring there is no data breach and the consumer’s data is safe and secure. In case your business is non-compliant, per month fees maybe $5000 to $100,000, and if it persists with noncompliance, it may strip the services of payment processing. Safeguard your business and customer data with compliance to PCI DSS and avoid paying to punish, hefty fines. You can also know here about EBT.
What is EBT?
EBT refers to Electronic Benefits Transfer as a payment form. It is an acceptance of the SNAP program benefits that provide low-income individuals with supplemental funding to buy necessary food from the government.
EBT processing permits retailers, grocery stores to accept the benefits of SNAP as a payment form. However, the retailers need an EBT permit to accept this payment. The permit requires 50% retail sales to come as a part of the program from eligible food. It requires a consumer to sign for SNAP benefits and receive an EBT card pre-loaded with funds to spend on food and services. The EBT card is useful to pay for goods, and it is useful only with retailers having government approval to accept the SNAP transactions.
Accepting EBT cards everywhere is not possible. It has to be designed and to receive approval. If you sell food and want to accept SNAP cards, register first with the government. They will provide a SNAP 7-digit number on registration. It is also known as the FNS number. It is an account with the government allowing you to take EBT funds for services or goods.
EBT Hardware Requirements
Signing with the government for SNAP is enough to receive an FNS number. To accept EBT sales, ensure your account is ready to get PIN-debit. EBT transactions work similarly to your PIN debit sale. It authorizes as a customer inputs the PIN and confirms the sale. To enter the PIN, customers need a dedicated PIN-pad, and only then can they use an EBT card.
You can buy a new terminal to accept EBT sales and set a PIN-pad for transactions. For the EBT terminals, also you need to have encryption keys. It is easy to purchase as EBT provider is the Federal government. It has no interchange fees or even card association fees. An EBT sale costs every time only ten cents to your organization.
Staying PCI compliant
PCI compliance for people accepting debit and credit cards is non-negotiable. However, prepared for an audit and ascertaining your company fulfills the compliance standards must accept credit or debit cards.
Any business or company cannot jeopardize a cardholder’s data, and it is best to consider a PCI compliance program. The environment includes technology, processes, and people storing, transmitting, processing customer data or authentication through the connected system. The mobile credit card also consists of the CVV number key-in. The protection of integrity and confidentiality of cardholder data ensures your business is legitimate and secure for customers. The cardholder data anytime should be disposed of properly after a life span. There should be regular monitoring and information on PCI Compliance updates.