Card Industry Rules

As a participant in OSC's Master Services Agreement with SunTrust Merchant Services, entities are required to comply with all payment card industry rules. This includes those specified by the processing vendor (STMS), as well as those by the issuing card associations (Visa and MasterCard). Many of the rules have fines associated with violations and non-compliance, and some require services to the violating merchant to be terminated. Most of these rules, but not all, are found either in the STMS Operating Guide, or on Visa and MasterCard Websites.

It should be noted that the rules on Visa and MasterCard Websites are excerpts of their rules, as the merchant card processors are all prohibited from providing a full printed copy of the rules. It should also be noted that the association rules require adherence, even if the rules are not publicly available. The majority of the rules that have associated fines for violations have at least an explanation of the rules published. Following is information to assist participants in learning more about the rules.

• STMS Operating Guide
• Visa Merchant Operating Rules
• MasterCard Merchant Operating Rules
• PCI Security Standards
• Convenience Fees and Surcharge Rules
• Truncation of Cardholder Numbers
• Fraud Detection Services