FAQs

Contact UM Treasury PCI Compliance Office at (305) 284-1667 or via our email, pciteam@miami.edu
Merchant Onboarding Checklist 

PCI DSS is the result of a collaboration of the major credit card associations to establish a
single data security standard designed to protect sensitive cardholder information. Any entity that
stores, processes or transmits cardholder data (including credit and debit cards) must comply
with PCI DSS requirements.

Yes. Merely using a third-party company does not exclude a company from PCI compliance. It
may cut down on risk exposure and consequently reduce the effort to validate compliance.
However, it does not mean the company can ignore PCI.

Contact UMIT Security and UM Treasury Department

University employees are not allowed to process credit card transactions on University-owned
devices on behalf of customers. The customer must make the online payment using his or her
own device.

Annual training is required for personnel who have logical or physical access to credit cards
such as UMIT or are currently processing/transmitting/storing/reconciling credit cards.

For technical, hardware and troubleshooting support concerning credit card terminals
purchased from Elavon Technical Support: 1(800)-490-7332 option #3.

For terminals purchased from Bluefin, please contact: premiersupport@bluefin.com (312) 477-0179

If your unit needs to be replaced, please obtain approval from UM Treasury prior to making the
purchase.

The payment brands may fine an acquiring bank $5,000 to $100,000 per month for PCI
compliance violations. The banks will most likely pass this fine on downstream until it
eventually hits the merchant. Furthermore,

• Non-compliance can result in fines and remedial efforts that could easily exceed $1 million. Costs include fines, forensic exams, cardholder notifications, setup of a call center, credit monitoring and more costly compliance requirements. The costs would be the responsibility of the merchant.
• Fraud and identity theft are a risk to customers (students, faculty/staff and the general public) if a department is non-compliant.
• Breach of cardholder information can result in negative publicity and damage to UM’s reputation.
• The bank will also most likely either terminate your relationship or increase transaction fees.