Mobile payments may be the new “big thing” in the payment industry, but because it is still a relatively new concept, it is extremely important that your mobile payment options are both safe and secure.  Due to the relatively recent adoption of mobile payments, there are currently no PCI Security Counsel standards for the mobile payment industry.  Although the payment industry has no official guidelines that enforce security and privacy of mobile payment users, the core PCI security standards in general, should be followed.  It is crucial to select a mobile payment processor that not only adapts these standards, but also goes a step further by implementing additional security features.  Fortunately for anyone that uses our mobile payment options, like our RentPayment mobile iPhone app, we have created a mobile payment solution which is both simple and secure, through the utilization of a critical security feature known as, tokenization.

Tokenization is a technique that must be applied to the mobile payment industry to ensure that a consumer’s credit card information is secure. It is a “best practice technology,” that in the multi-family housing industry alleviates the responsibility of the individual property from storing their renters’ credit card information.  Credit card information is stored through RentPayment rather than through the property management company, via an alphanumeric “token” that can only be used at RentPayment and serves as a substitute for the actual card data.  No token can be used twice; every time a new payment is made the information is stored under a new token, which is useless to anyone that tries to access it. At no time does a renter’s credit card information leave RentPayment’s secure system nor is the information ever stored locally on the user’s phone. 

Every time a renter wishes to make a payment, we access their information with the “token,” the payment is made, and their credit card information is stored with a new “token” or “key.” Not only does this process make mobile payments extremely secure, it also allows for a user friendly experience, since residents do not need to type in their information every time they wish to make a payment. 

 Some of our other mobile payment security features include:

1. Username and password login: Your renters create their own username and password to ensure no one besides them, can access their payment information.

2. Secure Channels: RentPayment uses digital certificates that encrypt data over a secure connection called a SSL (Secure Socket Layer) channel, preventing someone from listening in when the iPhone app is communicating with our servers.

3. Credit card and bank account validation: RentPayment always makes sure account numbers are valid and users’ account information matches with the issuing bank.

 Therefore, whether your residents like to pay their rent online, by phone, or by mobile application, you can always give them the guarantee that their payment is safe and sound with RentPayment. 

Want to learn more about tokenization? Check out this great visual explanation by one of our Software Architects, Xuyen On.

For more information about RentPayment’s mobile payment options, please click here.