Glossary
ABA Routing Number
A unique nine-digit number assigned to a financial institution used for directing electronic deposits to the proper bank. Also referred to as transit routing number.
Account Number (Cardholder)
A unique sequence of numbers assigned to a Cardholder account that identifies the Issuing Bank and type of financial transaction card.
Acquirer or Acquiring Member
A financial institution or bank that establishes and maintains merchant accounts for the acceptance of card transactions.
Automated Clearing House (ACH)
The method by which funds are transferred between banks or financial institutions via the Federal Reserve.
Authorization / Authorization Request
The process of verifying whether a card has sufficient funds available to cover the amount of a transaction.
Authorization Code
A numeric or alphanumeric code received from a card issuer verifying the cardholder has sufficient funds or credit to make a purchase.
Average Ticket
The average dollar amount of a merchant's sale transactions. The average ticket amount is generally calculated by dividing the total sales volume by the total number of sales for a specified time period.
Address Verification Service (AVS)
A fraud reduction service that enables verification of the cardholder's billing address.
Batch
The accumulation of transactions. A batch can be as few as one transaction or as many transactions that the processing device will allow.
Cardholder
The person to whom a financial card is issued or the person authorized to use the financial card.
Card Issuing Bank
A bank or other financial institution that issues a financial cards to consumers. Also referred to as Issuer or Issuing bank.
Chargeback
Fee assessed by the card-issuing bank each time a customer-disputed charge is filed. This is in addition to the disputed transaction amount.
Corporate Card
A bankcard issued to companies for use by company employees.
CVV2/CVC2
The 3-digit code located on the back of a card in the signature panel immediately following the account number.
Decline
A transaction that has not been authorized by the card issuer.
Demand Deposit Account (DDA)
The bank account to which electronic funds can be transferred.
Discount Rate
A percentage charged to the merchant for processing a transaction.
Imprinter
A device used by a merchant to imprint the embossed card information onto a sales draft.
Magnetic Stripe
A stripe on the back of a card that is magnetically encoded with Cardholder account information.
Merchant
Any business that has met the qualification standards of an acquiring member to accept credit and/or debit cards as payment for goods and services. A merchant is also a customer of the acquirer.
Merchant Identification Number
A unique number that is assigned by the acquiring bank as a method of identifying a merchant.
Merchant Processing Agreement (MPA)
A written agreement between a merchant and an acquirer containing their respective rights and performance obligations with respect to card acceptance.
Point Of Sale (POS) Equipment
A device at the merchant's establishment that connects via telecommunication lines to a central computer. Used for authorizing and settling card transactions.
Recurring Transactions
A transaction in which a cardholder has given permission to a merchant to periodically charge the cardholder's account for recurring goods or services.
Retrieval Request
A request initiated by the Issuing Bank for documentation from a merchant regarding a specific transaction.
Settlement or Settling
The process by which a merchant's transactions are submitted to the acquirer for payment to the merchant.
Transaction
Any action between a cardholder and a merchant that results in activity on the cardholder's and merchant's account.
Transaction Date
The actual date that a transaction occurs. Used in recording and tracking transactions.
Voice Authorization Center
The place where a merchant calls to get voice authorization. The Voice Authorization Center is contacted when a merchant receives a call center or referral response during an authorization request.
Void
The process by which an approved but not settled transaction can be cancelled.
