Article Avenue - free articles and downloads - New Credit Card Processing Legislation Passed In Tennessee and California

New legislation has been passed in Tennessee and California that will change the credit card information that is printed on receipts, the information is now required to be truncated on both the customer copy and the merchant copy of the credit card receipt. This will affect many merchants in these two states and require that they comply with this new legislation in regards to credit card processing. More details on this new credit card processing legislation are listed below:

Tennessee
Effective January 1, 2007, a new provision of the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act went into effect. The new consumer makes it illegal to electronically print more than the last 5 digits of a credit card number and the card expiration date on receipts retained by merchants and the receipt provided to customers. This is an excerpt taken from the Chattanooga Bar Association, http://www.chattbar.org/www/docs/114, regarding the change to the law in Tennessee regarding credit card truncation:

In 2005, the legislature prohibited persons who accept credit cards or debit cards for business to print or cause to be printed more than five digits of the card number or the expiration date on either the receipt retained by the merchant or the receipt provided to the cardholder at the point of the sale or transaction. This law immediately applied to any cash register or other machine or device that electronically prints receipts for credit card or debit card transactions if the machine first went into use on or after January 1, 2005. Effective January 1, 2007, the bill applies to cash registers or other machines or devices that were in use before January 1, 2005. The law does not, however, apply to transactions in which the sole means of recording a credit card or debit card account number is by handwriting or by an imprint or copy of the card -- the “mom and pop” store exception. A violation constitutes an unfair and deceptive trade practice under the TCPA. Tenn. Code Ann. § 47-18-126. California
Effective January 1, 2009, revised California Civil Code § 1747.09 takes effect, requiring that no more than the last 5 digits of a credit or debit card number be printed on both the electronically-printed card receipt retained by merchants as well as the receipt provided to customers, thus modifying the current law which applies only to customer copies.

The language from the amended Civil Code is below.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

(a) Except as provided in this section, no person, firm, partnership, association, corporation, or limited liability company that accepts credit or debit cards for the transaction of business shall print more than the last five digits of the credit or debit card account number or the expiration date upon any of the following:

(1) Any receipt provided to the cardholder.
(2) Any receipt retained by the person, firm, partnership, association, corporation, or limited liability company, which is printed at the time of the purchase, exchange, refund, or return, and is signed by the cardholder.
(3) Any receipt retained by the person, firm, partnership, association, corporation, or limited liability company, which is printed at the time of the purchase, exchange, refund, or return, but is not signed by the cardholder, because the cardholder used a personal identification number to complete the transaction.

(b) This section shall apply only to receipts that include a credit or debit card account number that are electronically printed and shall not apply to transactions in which the sole means of recording the person’s credit or debit card account number is by handwriting or by an imprint or copy of the credit or debit card.

(c) This section shall not apply to documents, other than the receipts described in paragraphs (1) to (3), inclusive, of subdivision (a), used for internal administrative purposes.

(d) Paragraphs (2) and (3) of subdivision (a) shall become operative on January 1, 2009

With the threat of identity theft growing at a rapid pace, it is increasingly important for you to help your customers protect their personal information – particularly their credit card number. Preventing identity theft often focuses on steps consumers can take but there is really little consumers can do to actually prevent identity theft. The key and in many cases the law is for businesses to establish responsible information-handling practices.

If your business is in need of updating its credit card processing system to comply with the new law, Veritrans Merchant Account Services (http://www.veritransllc.com/) can help you with this. Veritrans treats its customers like family. With no fine print, no hidden costs or fees, and superior quality service, Veritrans is rapidly becoming one of the most popular processors on the market. Best of all, if you already have processing hardware, chances are they can work with your existing equipment and save you money.

Veritrans will give you a free consultation and a free analysis with recommendations for your particular credit card processing need. Call them at 1-866-474-4144 or email them today at info@veritransllc.com for more information.

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