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Visa and Mastercard are now requiring PCI DDS compliance for all merchant accounts. This means that you may have already received a letter stating that you may not be compliant and that there is an additional monthly fee that will be incurred to you to insure compliance. So, the question you are probably asking yourself is, “Am I PCI compliant?”

First of all, there is no way around this. Merchants are required to be compliant in all areas of their business. Visa is requiring that all merchants are set up with a PCI Compliance security company that does scans of their systems to ensure their security is upheld. This affects merchants that do internet transaction, merchants that use POS software and merchants that store card holder data on their computer. Basically, any merchant using an email, computer or a website at their business is at risk.

Do I Have To Pay If I Am One Of The Above?

Not necessarily. If you process on a virtual terminal or have a website you accept transactions through, you just need to make sure your internet gateway provider is PCI compliant as well as your shopping cart. If they are, you do not need pay or have this service. And can opt out with proof of compliance. Ask your merchant service provider for details on providing proof.

If you are not compliant, your merchant account provider will no doubt have a scanning service provider for you. If you choose to search out your own, perhaps a less costly one, you will need to provide proof that you’ve accepted another service prior to canceling the service your merchant services provider gives you. It is best that you do your research as there are less costly services out there.

What is The Cheapest PCI Compliance Scanning Service?

Your merchant account provider should not be making a profit on this monthly or annual charge but it is still good to search for the cheapest solution. Below is a link to a great site that has a list of PCI scanning companies that you can compare. https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org/pdfs/asv_report.html