| Policy Title | Credit Card Policy |
|---|---|
| Responsible Office | Senior Associate Vice President for Budget and Business Affairs |
| Policy Type | Business Affairs |
| Policy Number | 223 |
| Last Revision Date | 5/23/2022 |
Binghamton University accepts all major credit and debit cards (Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express) as payment for goods and services.
To begin accepting credit cards, complete the form available at https://www.binghamton.edu/offices/business/merchant-request.html to become a campus merchant located on the Business Systems Portal. All information is required to complete the request.
Before credit cards can be accepted, the department must be fully compliant with PCI-DSS (University Policy #218). Continued compliance is required to maintain merchant status.
The university will acquire physical point of sale terminals or assist with connecting to Nelnet for online payments. If a department chooses to work with an outside vendor or a homegrown software, they will be responsible for additional costs associated with doing so.
All credit card merchant fees are currently covered by state allocation funds. However, if this funding is terminated at any point, the departments will be responsible for all fees incurred.
Credit card batch settlements should be completed at a minimum of once per day. In the case of a physical terminal, a batch should be submitted for each change in cashier. Cashiers may never share a terminal. Nelnet batch settlements are automatically created each evening.
Each time a batch is settled, funds are deposited in the university’s checking account. A deposit transmittal form must be completed for each settlement to record this activity in the general ledger. The form must be emailed to the Student Accounts Office at deptrans@binghamton.edu within five business days to ensure timely recording of the activity. Campus has developed an automated receipting process for Nelnet Storefront and Commerce Manager.
Copies of the terminal batch settlement reports, deposit transmittal, and completed receipts should be maintained by the department in accordance with SUNY record retention policy.
One financial representative per department can be granted access to the bank settlement reports. Regular monthly reconciliations need to be completed between a department’s software, the bank, Business Intelligence, and Revenue Web Application/Revenue Details SAS VA Dashboard.
All departments must have a refund policy. In accordance with this policy, credit cards may be refunded up to the original purchase amount. Online transactions must include acknowledgement and acceptance of the refund policy as part of the checkout process. In accordance with card brand standards, any amount originally paid with a credit card must be refunded in the same manner.
Credit card disputes are managed by the Accounting Office. In the event a dispute notification is received, Accounting will reach out to the appropriate department for more information regarding the transaction. If the dispute is lost, the department account will be debited to reflect the lost funds.
To avoid potentially fraudulent transactions:
- In person transactions should require EVM (chip) readers.
- Online transactions should require AVS (address verification) and CVV (security code) authorization.
