Introduction
The University of Florida accepts credit card payments as a convenience to our customers. Departments may accept VISA, MasterCard, Discover, American Express, and debit cards with a VISA or MasterCard logo.
Approval from the University Controller's Office is required before a credit/debit card merchant account can be established. Treasury Management coordinates all applications to create merchant accounts or to make changes to an existing account. Contact the Credit Card Coordinator at 352-392-9057 for more information.
Credit card merchants at the University of Florida are required to follow strict procedures to protect customers' credit card data. These directives apply to all types of credit card activity (storage, processing and transmission of card information), including transactions processed face-to-face, over the phone, via fax, mail or the Internet. Furthermore, these directives provide guidance to maximize compliance with the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standards (DSS) and to ensure appropriate integration with the University's financial and other systems.
PCI DSS compliance is required of all merchants and service providers that store, process, or transmit cardholder data and applies to all payment channels, including retail, mail/telephone order, and e-commerce. The PCI DSS are standards developed by the credit card companies (including the ones mentioned above) to be followed by all merchants. These standards include controls for handling and restricting credit card information, computer and Internet security, as well as the reporting of a credit card information breach.
Although the primary focus of the PCI DSS is on web-based sales and processing credit card information via the Internet, other services have the potential to expose cardholder information. Therefore, all university credit card merchants, including merchants transmitting via a terminal on a dedicated phone or ethernet line, must prove compliance with the PCI DSS by completing an annual self-assessment questionnaire and, if applicable, allow for remote external scans by our PCI approved quality assessor.
For the complete policy please review the University of Florida Merchant Credit Card Policy (PDF).
