A PCI non-compliance fee is a charge you may have to pay if your credit card technology isn’t up to certain standards. PCI stands for Payment Card Industry. They ensure that certain security measures are being followed. As a result, shoppers retain trust in the credit card system and merchants are safer from security breaches and fraudulent scams.

What Is A PCI Fee?

PCI fees are standard in payment processing and are charged to merchants in order to maintain legitimacy with modern regulations. The fee is imposed by PCI DSS and is passed on through payment processing companies. You may see this fee show up in your merchant statement.

However, it’s important to know that this fee may be already included in the fees you pay to your merchant provider. In that case, you won’t have to worry about any additional charges.

Is PCI Compliance Mandatory?

No, it’s not legally necessary to be PCI Compliant . This is a standard that’s imposed by card providers in order to maintain integrity in payment processing. There is no legal ramification for being non-compliant.

Why Is PCI Calling Me?

If PCI is calling you , it can be one of two issues. The first is the possibility that it’s a scam. The second is that it’s your payment processor. Traditionally, scammers have used this branch to impersonate an authority and make claims to extract information. If you have any doubts or are unsure if the person calling is the actual PCI, then be sure to ask multiple questions to better understand the situation.

In this case, you can get their information and tell them you’d like all of this documented via email. Collect their information first before divulging any of your own. This will help keep your information safe, and allow you time to educate yourself on the situation if there are real compliance issues.

Moreover, established processors will pay this on your behalf, so if you’re receiving a call it’s likely from an illegitimate source. Don’t share merchant information or credit card details with anyone who questions you about this unless they are your payment processor .

Florida PCI Compliance Laws

This blog does not offer legal advice, and any information about state laws should be provided by an attorney. With that said, Florida PCI compliance laws are some of the most searched in the industry. To paraphrase the main directive, any companies who process, retain, or transmit cardholder information are bound by the PCI DSS Standards. This helps maintain protected information in order to diminish any company losses or risks present from accepting credit cards.

Monthly PCI Fee

The annual PCI fee is nominal and usually around $10 per month resulting in approximately $120 a year.

Along with the annual fee, are yearly renewals. You can become recertified each year by maintaining the main requirements. There are a few major aspects of the certification, in general they have to do with: