Merchants using this secure technology through the MeS proprietary platform, payment gateway or virtual terminal, will find it easier to comply with PCI requirements. In addition, recurring billers utilizing Merchant e-Solutions integration of Visa and MasterCard's Account Updater Services will be able to update cardholder data, and with tokenization protect cardholder information being transmitted during billing, payment and settlement processing.

"Using tokenization, the actual card number is only transmitted in the initial payment request, then with the approval or decline of the transaction MeS returns a token instead of the actual card number," explained Jim Aviles, COO, Merchant e-Solutions. "We're providing merchants with a secure process to help eliminate the risk and expense of storing credit card numbers on their business systems, thus lowering their operational costs."

With tokenization, card numbers are replaced with a unique ID or token, and must be combined with a Merchant Profile ID and Key, making it unusable if intercepted during transaction processing. Tokens are stored within the highly secure, PCI compliant Merchant e-Solutions servers, increasing the safety of the card information while minimizing the cost of a merchant's need to secure sensitive data in compliance with payment industry mandates.