Montana Hall

Montana State University takes the security of its customers’ information seriously.  If your department needs to receive credit card payments, please contact University Business Services to ensure you collect in a secure, compliant manner.  Start by filling out an Application for Authorization to Process Bankcard Transactions and by reading the policies at 370 MSU Credit Card Merchant Policy and Appendix A.

Departmental duties upon accepting online credit card payments

Staff who will be processing credit card payments must be trained in credit card data security practices to meet PCI compliance.  Commitment to provide UBS with accounting information and timely reconciliation is a must.  

Methods and Timing of Establishing a Payment Channel

Sufficient lead time is necessary to ensure that a compliant solution is developed and tested well in advance of beginning collections.  Three to four weeks is a minimum lead time necessary to establish a payment channel. Changes to exisitng payment channels take two to three weeks and should be sent to fast@montana.edu.

Departments with simple needs for collecting customer information and payment may be able to use the services of UBS staff, as we are able to set up simple data collection and payment forms through our vendor-supplied user interface and third-party payment processor.

Some departments have unique needs regarding collection of data and student or customer information.  In these cases, your department may need to arrange for the development of web pages to publicize goods/services and collect customer information in a secure manner, following MSU’s IT and Web policies.  UBS staff will assist you in determining whether outside services will be necessary and if so, will arrange for a secure redirect to be provided for collection of payment through MSU’s third-party payment processor.

Costs associated with the service

Credit card fees are approximately 2%-3% of the sale price.  This includes bank charges, third-party payment software, and Visa/Mastercard/American Express/Discover fees.  Consultation and security review are funded as a part of the UBS budget, though any third-party website development is not.