Credit Card Truncation Deadline Approaching

Credit Card Truncation, which is the removal of all but the last 4 digits of the credit card number and the expiration date from the customer’s transaction receipt, has been implemented successfully for quite a while now. Until now under Visa and MasterCard policies, existing businesses weren’t required to comply with truncation, but on July 1st, 2006 all businesses whether new or existing must comply with the credit card truncation requirements.

Visa and MasterCard penalties are as follows:
1st Violation – $5,000
2nd Violation – $10,000
3rd Violation – $25,000
4th Violation – $50,000
Willful or Egregious Violation – $500,000/month

There are only a few weeks left to make sure that your terminals or software is truncating. Hopefully everyone is compliant, but those who aren’t will most likely temporarily lose the ability to process credit cards, until they are compliant. We saw the exact same thing happen with a few major banks about two years ago when several older terminals were phased out, and merchants lost their ability to process with very little warning. July 1st is quickly approaching.