Merchant Account Compliance Fees – Legit?

As you may know, I review business merchant account statements on regular basis. One thing I keep seeing more and more on statements are terms like “Annual Compliance Service Fee” or “PCI Compliance Program.” The shocking thing about these fees is how much they are; I have a statement on my desk that [...]

Are You PCI Compliant?

We have written several posts about PCI Compliance on this blog, but it is definitely not our strong suit – yet. Therefore, when I run across any good content on the subject I like to point it out to you our readers.  So here is an article I just came across on an American Express [...]

Suggested Read: PCI DSS Blog

We do write about PCI issues on this blog but by no means are we experts in this area, yet. I just ran across a blog that does specialize in this area and the authors look to be highly qualified to write about these issues. There focus is PCI DSS for higher education [...]

Breaking News: Update on the TJ Maxx stores PCI Issues!

By John Robinson, of Cocard Synergy
They’ve nailed some of the ring that stole 45 million cards’ worth of information from TJX Companies. 11 people have been charged, and the ringleader, Albert Gonzalez, could get life in prison. Life.
And in addition to TJX, check out who else Albert’s gang targeted: BJ’s Wholesale Club, OfficeMax, [...]

The Basics of PCI Compliance

By John Robinson, of Cocard Synergy

Before I get to the meat of the matter, let me finish what I began last week. It bugged me that I only knew what TJ Maxx was supposed to be fined, so I went and found out what they were fined. Rather than the roughly $100 per [...]

Why Comply with PCI?

By John Robinson, of Cocard Synergy
It’s a Pain in the You-Know-What, but Necessary.
PCI seems daunting.  I’m sure you’ve heard about it.  To start, it’s actually PCI DSS that we’re concerned with, and that stands for Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard.  “Data Security Standard” is the key here.
Basically, the idea is to prevent identity theft.  [...]

What is up with the CVV2 Code?

Many merchants believe that adding a cardholder’s three or four digit CVV2 code for a “card not present” (CNP) transaction will help qualify the transaction for a lower discount rate. However that is not the case; the CVV2 code is only valuable to protect against credit card fraud and has nothing to do with [...]

What small businesses need to know about PCI Compliance

I really do not like to put links to my competitor’s web sites on this blog. Having said that, below is a link to another credit card processing company’s blog. I am pointing it because they have a very nice video explaining some of the basic issues of PCI compliance. Why should [...]

Posted on November 9th, 2007 by Robb Lejuwaan in PCI Compliance, Security ,