Why Should I care about PCI?

PCI Compliance? It's an annoying term you've probably heard any time you're talking about your payment processing. You might see a PCI compliance fee on your payment processing statement, or even a larger charge for PCI Non-Compliance. So why should you care?

Being PCI compliant means that a business has taken the necessary steps to protect customers' credit card information, in accordance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS). These standards are a set of security rules established by the major credit card companies (such as Visa and Mastercard) to ensure that all businesses that process, store, or transmit credit card information maintain a secure environment.

It is important for a business to be PCI compliant because non-compliance can result in hefty fines and penalties, as well as damage to the company's reputation if a data breach occurs. It also helps to prevent credit card frauds, protect sensitive information and promote trust with customers.

Moreover, PCI compliance is a continuous process, meaning that businesses are required to maintain and update their security systems on a regular basis to ensure that they remain compliant.

A PCI Compliance program usually costs about $15 a month. This includes going through annual, and sometimes quarterly checkups and scans to make sure your security protocols are still top notch. Non-PCI Compliance fees can cost anywhere from $35-$75 a month. On top of which, if you're hacked and found non-compliant you can be liable to the tune of $100k per person's information lost or more.

If you're not sure if you are compliant or not call your payment processor. They should be able to tell you if you are and if not how to fix it. (P.S. 99% of our clients are...we remind you to become compliant...of course as payment processors go, we're weird like that).

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