Overview: Credit and Debit Card Payments on Campus

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Note:  Treasury Operations actively supports only certain types of online platforms, POS terminals that are approved vendors.   We maintain PCI Compliance according to the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards.  

Only approved online platforms or POS Terminals that have been properly vetted should be used as part of the University of Guelph campus wide payment system. 

We do not support certain types of POS Terminals to maintain PCI Compliance. Cellular enabled POS Terminals are allowed and Wi-Fi enabled POS Terminals are not permitted. 

 

1 Introduction:

A list of principles related to credit and debit card payments and processing that you should know is referenced in the section called Principles

2 Payment Card Compliance (PCI) and Good Business Practices:
There are standards that need to be followed using a POS, Teledeposit or Web Based system. It is important that you comply with the following;

3 Financial Procedures:
Departments MUST NOT enter into separate banking or payment processing arrangements.

Treasury Operations will provide guidance and assistance in setting up a POS credit/debit card payment or web based payment (e-Commerce) service to allow University departments to accept payments other than cash, cheque or wire transfer. Treasury Operations must approve all credit/debit card or web based (e-Commerce) processing activities at the University of Guelph. This includes any online processing, activity outsourced to a third party, i.e.: PayPal or Point of Sale solutions.

4 How does a department get started?
Analyze your requirements and determine if accepting debit/credit card payments meets your needs.
Read the following pages of information to ensure you are compliant with the University of Guelph’s policies. It is recommended to consult with CCS Web Solutions x 58888.

5 Merchant Number:
A merchant number is required to process debit/credit card payments. (supplied by Global Payments)

All merchant account holders will comply with the terms and conditions of the agreement with the merchant account provider. This agreement can be obtained from Treasury Operations. Follow the procedures supplied by the University’s merchant account provider, Global Payments, which deals with transactions between the University and the cardholder.

6 How to obtain a merchant number once you are approved by Treasury Operations:
The Revenue Analyst is the primary departmental contact who will facilitate in providing a department with a new merchant account setup, please call ext: 56768. The following information should be provided:

  • Name and address of Department
  • Contact name and telephone number
  • General ledger coding for monthly merchant fees
  • Approximate annual revenue expected showing $ value for both Visa and MasterCard
  • Approximate single ticket $ value

7 Who is responsible for reconciling this University of Guelph bank account?
The Treasury Coordinator, Treasury Operations, reconciles the University bank account into which credit/debit card transactions are deposited. The Treasury Coordinator receives and distributes any customer dispute information back to departments.

8 Who is responsible for receipting the revenue?
Each department is responsible for receipting revenue received through credit/debit card transactions on a Revenue Remittance Voucher (RRV) to Treasury Operations. For more information on submitting an RRV refer to the link at the Financial Services web site at:
Control of Revenue by University Department

9 What are the costs associated with Credit & Debit card payments?
The estimated monthly fees are approximately 2.0% of sales revenue for Visa & MasterCard transactions, depending upon sales volumes, mix and types of cards used in any given period. Note that certain credit cards have a slightly higher fee. i.e.: Corporate Business cards, International Credit Cards, Premium Perk cards like the Black cards. In addition whereas a merchant accepts a manually keyed entry, a higher transaction fee is applied.

Debit cards at this time charge a fee of $0.15 per transaction, regardless of the sales value.

Starting in 2010 all POS terminals should be IP connections. This is a more cost effective method and industry standard than the current phone line. Please note there may be a one time set-up charge for the Internet connection (IP), however this eliminates the ongoing monthly phone line cost, which is currently about $40.00 per month. (Contact CCS or your local IT department for an estimated cost to install the IP connection)

Ongoing monthly fees for terminal rental are currently $30.00 - $39.00 depending on type of POS terminal requested.

10 Guidelines:
Your responsibilities as a University of Guelph merchant account holder are to ensure that the debit/credit card transactions between the University of Guelph and its/your customers are conducted in the most secure, confidential and reliable method possible. You must adhere to the following guidelines:

  • Align your departmental credit/debit card and e-Commerce business processes with financial practices. Treasury Operations will provide general consulting on financial and reconciliation practices.
  • Ensure all transactions represent a legitimate sale of goods or services in the ordinary course of University business and comply with all applicable laws & taxes.
  • Provide training to all staff responsible for handling credit/debit card and e-Commerce handling.
  • Do not obtain, transmit or store credit card numbers electronically (e.g. spreadsheets, databases and email, both in the body of the email and in attachments). Departments using Teledeposit in order to accept credit card payments must safeguard, store and restrict all documents containing credit card information only to individuals who have authorization.
  • Credit/Debit card information for both the merchant and customer copies must be masked on all copies (the first six and last four digits are the maximum number of digits to be displayed) and receipts printed by any POS machine.
  • Departments using Teledeposit must shred documents using the Cross-Cut method containing credit card information at the end of their required retention period.
  • Comply with the University Information Privacy Policy. Departments are responsible for and are required to observe the University policies on information privacy. For details see
  • http://www.uoguelph.ca/secretariat/privacy/
  • Secure and protect each POS terminal and computer terminal with access restricted only to those individuals who are authorized to use them. Ensure staff log off when away from terminals or web based sites. If your merchant processing equipment is lost, stolen, damaged or used without your authorization then inform the appropriate authority (Treasury Operations, Campus Police, or Global Payments, the university’s merchant card processor).
    • Reconcile debit/credit and e-Commerce transactions on a daily basis.
    • Process all refunds of credit/debit and e-Commerce transactions directly back to the card holder through your terminal/web site. No cash refunds shall be given.
    • If a cardholder disputes a sale transaction processed by a University department the Treasury Coordinator at Treasury Operations will notify you of the dispute. It is up to the department to review the original records and/or contact the customer directly to address the dispute.
    • Retain transaction records for audit purposes. The Department should retain supporting documentation for the revenue transaction, including the transaction posting date, authorization number and cardholder’s signature if provided. Credit card numbers should not be retained once the transaction has been posted.
    • If a department decides to discontinue accepting credit/debit card payments please notify the Revenue Analyst at ext: 56768 and return any electronic devices to Treasury Operations who will return them to the provider.

11 Related Sites: