As many business owners are aware, PCI compliance is a buzz word in the merchant services industry. Payment Card Industry – Data Security Standards (PCI-DSS) is requiring every merchant and every processor to become certified and validated on an annual basis. Every processor is now required to be PCI compliant, and they are required to have all their merchants that process with them to be PCI compliant. One requirement of PCI-DSS is that merchants complete an annual Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ), a validation tool used to assist merchants with their PCI-DSS compliance. Merchants that process transactions using a computer are required to go through a quarterly computer system scan in addition to filling out the questionnaire.
This validation will come at a cost to the merchant, but the benefit of securely processing cards very much outweighs the cost of certification. Every processor in the industry will be assessing a fee to its merchants for the validation process. The fees from our processors at Atlantic Merchant Services are very competitive with the other processors in the industry.
Atlantic Merchant Services is proactively involved in making sure our merchants have the highest level of PCI security. We are also actively assisting our merchants during this validation period. Should you have any questions, please contact Will DeShong (contact information is located in the “Our Members” tab).
Merchant Services and PCI Compliance
As many business owners are aware, PCI compliance is a buzz word in the merchant services industry. Payment Card Industry – Data Security Standards (PCI-DSS) is requiring every merchant and every processor to become certified and validated on an annual basis. Every processor is now required to be PCI compliant, and they are required to have all their merchants that process with them to be PCI compliant. One requirement of PCI-DSS is that merchants complete an annual Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ), a validation tool used to assist merchants with their PCI-DSS compliance. Merchants that process transactions using a computer are required to go through a quarterly computer system scan in addition to filling out the questionnaire.
This validation will come at a cost to the merchant, but the benefit of securely processing cards very much outweighs the cost of certification. Every processor in the industry will be assessing a fee to its merchants for the validation process. The fees from our processors at Atlantic Merchant Services are very competitive with the other processors in the industry.
Atlantic Merchant Services is proactively involved in making sure our merchants have the highest level of PCI security. We are also actively assisting our merchants during this validation period. Should you have any questions, please contact Will DeShong (contact information is located in the “Our Members” tab).