Can I store credit card information on my own server for recurring billing?

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Merchants often misunderstand what data they are allowed to save. This answer clarifies the "Do's and Don'ts" of data storage to prevent severe security violations.

1 Answers

No, you must never store full credit card numbers (PAN) or CVV codes on your own systems. Doing so would make you fully liable for PCI compliance and require a complex security audit.

Instead, you should follow these guidelines:

  • Do Not Store: Raw credit card numbers or security codes (CVV).

  • Store Only: The Payment Token returned by the 4Geeks API. You may also store the last 4 digits of the card for display purposes so customers can identify their payment method.

For recurring billing (like in a SaaS platform), you should use the stored Token to initiate future charges. When a customer signs up, you tokenize their card via the API, save the token in your database, and use that token for all subsequent automatic payments.