Transacting Credit Card Payments

The University has approved the acceptance of multiple credit card types for payment of departmental sales or services. The approved credit card types are MasterCard, Visa, Discover Card, and American Express. All merchants will accept Visa, MasterCard and Discover (through PNCMS).  The acceptance of American Express is at the discretion of the department.  The set-up of your Merchant Location for each credit card type you have selected MUST be done through the Office of the Treasurer. The initiation of all applications for accepting credit card payments MUST be done through the E-Business Resource Group (ERG). Set-up of your Merchant Location is NOT permitted to be done directly with the approved Credit Card Companies.

Credit card payments may be transacted by way of standard equipment, EBRG approved PC software, via the internet (WEB), and bank provided terminals. Terminals, PC software or internet capability MUST be acquired through the EBRG from University approved vendors.

Your department will be charged various fees such as rentals, interchange, discounts, and monthly maintenance. They will appear on your Merchant statements in the respective month but will be applied to your departmental account on a one-month delay by the General Accounting office. (Note: All fees associated with American Express will be charged to your department account.) General Accounting should immediately be alerted to any discrepancies associated with these fees that appear on your Level I report. It is recommended that all departments use the “Address Verification” component when processing credit card transactions when the card is not present. There is a higher risk associated with a cardholder transaction when the card is not present. Address Verification is a fraud protection tool for Merchants to reduce this risk. By passing along the address information through the equipment, it qualifies the transaction at a lower cost to the department.

 

Once your merchant application/proposal has been approved by the EBRG and you have obtained your Merchant ID (Location) number from the Office of the Treasurer and your equipment or software and/or WEB Page has been established, you can begin to process credit card payments.

You will need to follow the instructions provided to you by PNC Merchant Services (PNCMS-the University’s Credit Card processor) or the WEB Page provider. It is critical that you process all payments as they are received since a time lapse can result in a loss of payment due to a credit card maximum being obtained during such time lapse or the inactivation of a credit card.

For Non-WEB payments, this process also involves the settling of your transactions daily prior to 12:59 a.m. All settlements made from 1:00 a.m. on a given day to 12:59 a.m. the following day are considered one day’s business and must be recorded as such on the corresponding cash report that you must prepare.

For WEB payments, your WEB Page publisher must provide a reporting tool that allows access to determine total payments by card type made for a given day. This activity must also be recorded as such on the corresponding cash report.

You are required to reconcile your monthly statements from PNCMS, and if applicable American Express. Statements must be downloaded each month from the respective processor's website.

Enrollment for online merchant websites can be coordinated through the Office of the Treasurer for PNCMS and American Express.

These statements are to be reconciled to your cash reports to ensure that the appropriate dollars for each settlement day have been recorded to the proper bank accounts (PCC and AMX – see Account Number of the "Completing a Cash Report" section of this document for descriptions).

Your cash reports are to be reconciled to your monthly Level I report to ensure that each cash report has been received and properly credited to your department.

Cash reports received at the end of the month may not appear on your Level I report until the following month. Please call General Accounting if you believe that a cash item is missing and has not appeared in the subsequent month. This will avoid duplicate transactions. (See Instructions for Completing Direct Deposit and Credit Card Cash Reports for further information)

Both reconciliations are to be done on a monthly basis to avoid any loss of revenue. If you are not receiving these statements, please contact the Office of the Treasurer.

Chargeback notices are sent by the Merchant Provider (PNCMS Visa/MasterCard, Discover or American Express) directly to the individual who is responsible for the Merchant activity in your area. Chargebacks can also be viewed via the online merchant website.  If you choose to dispute the item, it is this individual’s responsibility to respond directly to the appropriate Merchant Provider within the number of days specified on the notice. General Accounting will charge your specified departmental account for the chargeback in the month that the transaction appears on the bank statement. In the event the chargeback is reversed, General Accounting will record the adjusting entry to the same specified departmental account.

As a recipient of revenue (cash, check or credit card payments), you are responsible for recording these transactions to your departmental accounts and the University’s Bank accounts via cash reports directly into PRISM. It is imperative that cash reports be completed according to Instructions for Completing Direct Deposit and Credit Card Cash Reports to avoid errors or delay in posting. Cash Reports must be input the same month the revenue is received.

Complete one cash report for each day’s activity (see the following). DO NOT combine multiple days on a cash report unless previously authorized to do so by the General Accounting Department.

Non-WEB Payments

• All settlements made from 1:00 a.m. through 12:59 a.m. the following day are considered one day’s business and should be recorded to the proper University bank account (PCC and AMX – see page 3 for descriptions) as one total amount per respective bank account on one cash report.
• A copy of the Balancing or Settlement Report showing the totals for Visa/MasterCard, Discover, and American Express must be attached to the back of the cash report.

WEB Payments

• All WEB-based transactions made from 12:00 a.m. through 11:59 p.m. per day are considered one day’s business and should be recorded to the proper University bank account (PCC and AMX – see descriptions below) as one total amount per respective Bank account on one cash report.
• A copy of the Transaction Report showing the totals for Visa/MasterCard, Discover, and American Express must be attached to the back of the cash report.

 

Proper security and access restrictions must be maintained when processing credit card transactions. All documents containing credit card numbers must be secured and unavailable to unauthorized individuals. All documents containing credit card numbers should be destroyed (shredded) unless otherwise required in accordance with University record retention guidelines, in which case they must be maintained in a secure location.

Record retention requirements: credit card cash reports, support documentation (copies of settlement information), and monthly statements for a fiscal year should be maintained for eighteen months in accordance with the University of Pittsburgh Record Retention Guidelines.

Should you elect to return the credit card equipment/printer, (either because business has closed or activity was seasonal), contact the E-Business Resource Group/FIS.

1. Open E-Business Resource Group (EBRG) Existing Merchants. Click "Request, Return, or Get Help with Terminals". Complete the form to submit a request. Please specify if the Merchant Location numbers are to be closed.
2. FIS will then contact PNCMS; PNCMS will make arrangements with the individual Merchant location to have a "CALL TAG" delivered to your location. You will be contacted and a “CALL TAG” will be delivered to your location.
3. You must place the call tag on the package/equipment to be returned and call the phone number on the tag.

Note: Please note that if equipment is no longer used but still resides in your possession - equipment rental fees will continue to be charged to your Merchant location until such equipment has been returned.