Visa Gets Tough on Consumer Data

by Patrick Lunsford, CollectionIndustry.com

While the government attempts to legislate consumer data protection practices in a philosophical ?appease the voters? kind of way, Visa has been working hard behind the scenes to ensure data security at a critical point of exchange: merchants.

Last year, Visa launched its Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI), guidelines for merchants that deal directly with how they handle consumer data. Visa has even attached fines up to $500,000 for non-compliance. Although this threat has been in place for a year, it is estimated that only around 25% of Visa merchants are compliant.

Instead of backtracking on its standard, Visa has vowed more diligence in cracking down on those merchants that were not in compliance. They recommended that any business accepting Visa cards take a hard look at the PCI standards, because they?ll be coming to take a peek soon.