What is an Acquirer?
A financial institution that provides facilities for businesses to accept payments by cards and receive these funds.
 
What is AVS (Address Verifications Service)?
Fraud-prevention mechanic that verifies a customer address against a card.
 
What is AVV/CID?
The American Express equivalent of AVS & CVC2.
 
What is meant by APACS?
The Association for Payment Clearing Services - who are responsible for matters relating to money transmission and payment clearing activities generally in the United Kingdom.
 
What is meant by the term ATV?
Average transaction value or ticket value of good/services sold by the business.
 
What is Authorization?
A process whereby a transaction for a specified amount is approved or declined by a card issuer or an acquirer on behalf of a card issuer. This approval confirms that the card number is valid, not reported lost or stolen and that funds were available at the time of the transaction.
 
What is an Authorization Code?
A code (which must not be all zeros) which is generated by a card issuer or by an acquirer on behalf of a card issuer when an authorisation request is approved.

What is meant by the term BACS?
Bankers Automated Clearing Services Limited - an electronic funds transfer service whereby customers may enter debit and/or credit entries directly into the UK bank clearing system. The automated transactions may be created either by their own computer installation or by a service bureau on their behalf.

What is meant by Batch?
A batch is a collection of transactions held at a single terminal or outlet. A batch may contain any number of shifts or days' data.

What does BIN represent?
The bank identification number with the card schemes.

Who is the Card Issuer?
An Institution which issues a payment card to the cardholder.
 
Who is the Cardholder?
An individual to whom a card has been issued or an individual authorised to use such a card.
 
What is a Cardholder Transaction?
The use of a card by a customer (normally assumed to be the cardholder) in order to purchase goods or services from a merchant or obtain cash from an ATM or financial institution.
 
What is a Card scheme?
e.g., Visa and MasterCard.
 
What is a Card Security Code or CVV2 (Card Verification Value)?
An anti-fraud device used by some card issuers as a means of protection against invented or altered magnetic stripe content.A discreet code, known only to the card issuer which is included in the electronic authorisation as a means of verifying that the card, which has been presented, is genuine.
 
What is Chip and PIN?
Chip and PIN is a programme aimed at reducing fraud for those transactions where the cardholder and card are present at the time of the transaction. The Chip (silver or gold coloured square on the front left side of the card) is embedded into a card to provide highly secure memory and processing capabilities. In addition to holding the same personal data as the magnetic stripe, the chip provides additional security features to safeguard against counterfeiting.
 
The PIN is a four-digit number that the cardholder will enter into the PIN pad instead of signing a card receipt. From January 2005, liability for counterfeit card transactions and lost and stolen card fraud, will pass to the party that is not chip & PIN compliant. Where all parties are compliant, then counterfeit transactions should reduce significantly and there will be no recourse by the cardholder saying they did not authorise the transaction.
 
What does CNP (Cardholder Not Present) mean?
A transaction undertaken via telephone/coupon/letter, where the card is not seen by the merchant.
 
What is meant by Commodity Codes (CC)?
VISA specified codes for categorising the actual commodity (eg: nuts and bolts). Approximately 300codes.
 
What is a Credit Card?
A payment card (e.g. MasterCard, Visa) linked to an account which may be settled in full by a set date or may be repaid over a period of time, subject to minimum monthly repayments being made. Interest will normally be charged on the outstanding balance.

What is a Debit Card?
A card (e.g. Visa Delta or Maestro (Domestic), which is designed to enable a customer to transfer money from a current account (including a savings or deposit account, which provides for transfers without notice to third parties), or an account on which cheques can normally be drawn to the account of some other person.

What is the definition of Delta?
The UK Visa debit card badged with the Delta mark, comparable to Maestro (Domestic). Like Maestro (Domestic), it can support purchase with cash back and cheque guarantee functions. Unlike Maestro (Domestic) it can be used in a paper only environment and by virtue of Delta being a Visa product, is acceptable worldwide, wherever the Visa logo is displayed.

What is the ECI (Electronic Commerce Indicator)?
A mandatory requirement from card Schemes to distinguish transactions generated through the Internet.
 
What is EDC/Maestro?
An international payment (debit card) scheme launched in 1993 offering issuers the choice of European usage (EDC) or global usage (Maestro).
 
What is an EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer)?
The technology and practice of making payments by means of functions embodied in computer systems.
 
What is meant by the term EFTPOS?
Electronic Funds Transfer at the Point of Sale - the technology and practice of making payment for goods and services by means of EFT initiated at the point where the goods or services are purchased.
 
What is the definition of Electron?
A Visa International debit card for use in on-line Point of Sale devices. All Electron branded cards are electronic only, zero floor limit cards and are normally not embossed. Participating merchants must meet electronic requirements and display Electron decals.
 
What is an EPOS (Electronic Point of Sale)?
A point of sale equipped with electronic equipment for pricing and recording transactions but not necessarily incorporating functions for EFT.

What is Fraud Screening?
Aimed at Mail Order Telephone Order (MOTO) and E-Commerce merchants. Fraud Screening is an additional service and forms part of the transactions authorisation flow process, prior to authorisation to reduce fraud and prevent chargebacks.

What is an Issuer?
The financial institution that supplies customers with credit and/or debit cards for their personal/company use.

What is the JCB (Japan Credit Bureau)?
An issuer of the JCB Card, the leading Japanese travel and entertainment card, accepted in over 100 countries worldwide.

What is a Maestro (Domestic) Card?
A debit card issued by a card issuer, which meets the Maestro (Domestic) Card Scheme standards and contains a Maestro (Domestic) Switch logo.
 
What is a Maestro (Domestic) Card Scheme?
An electronic debit card scheme through which Maestro (Domestic) cards issued by all card issuers can be used in merchant terminals approved by acquirers to make payment for goods and/or services.
 
What is a Mag Stripe?
Contains magnetically encoded information relevant to the cardholder and is affixed to back of a card.
 
What is the definition of MasterCard?
An international payments system organization controlled by its members.
 
What is a Merchant?
A business, which accepts, cards and provides goods and/or services and possibly other facilities to cardholders.
 
What is a Merchant Terminal?
An EPOS or EFTPOS terminal. It includes a controller or device to which the terminal is connected and to whose data the terminal has access.
 
What is a Merchant Service Charge?
A charge paid by a merchant to their acquirer, calculated as a percentage of turnover or fixed charge per transaction or a combination of both. Usually credit cards are charged on turnover and debit cards on transactions.
 
What is meant by the term MID?
The Merchant Identification Number with the bank acquirer.
 
What is MOTO (Mail Order Telephone Order)?
Where a Merchant takes an order and card details over the telephone or by post.
 
What is meant by Multi-function?
A payment card which fulfills two or more roles, e.g. credit or debit card, cheque guarantee and ATM card.

What is Off-line Authorization?
This refers to a transaction that is approved or declined at a merchant terminal where there is no on-line dialogue with the acquirer.
 
What is meant by the term 'On-line'?
This term is used to define a connection or data transmission via a data communication link.
 
What is On-line Authorization?
This refers to a transaction that is approved or declined by a card issuer or an acquirer on behalf of a card issuer. The authorisation process includes an on-line dialogue between the merchant terminal and the acquirers host system.
 
What is an On-line Terminal?
This refers to a transaction that is approved or declined by a card issuer or an acquirer on behalf of a card issuer. The authorisation process includes an on-line dialogue between the merchant terminal and the acquirers host system.

What is the definition of a Payment Card?
A generic term for any plastic card (credit, debit, charge etc) which may be used on its own to pay for goods and services, or to withdraw cash.
 
What is PCI?
Visa and MasterCard have jointly developed a standard for merchants who store, process or otherwise have access to cardholder information. It details the measures that you should take to ensure that the cardholder data you handle is secure. This standard is called the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) and is also endorsed by American Express, JCB and Diners Card.
 
Merchants are required to adopt the new standard and to review the guidelines against their current business practices. The exercise will, of course, be useful in itself as it may help to uncover security weaknesses and as it is an ongoing process, you can progressively tighten your procedures in the face of new and unexpected threats.
 
What is a PSP?
Payment Service Provider
 
What is your PIN Personal (Identification) Number?
A set of characters, usually a four-digit sequence, used to authenticate cash withdrawals or instructions initiated by a payment card through a customer-activated terminal such as an ATM.
 
What is a PIN-pad?
A tamper resistant device featuring a keypad with which a cardholder may enter their personal number (PIN).
 
What is PIN Verification?
A means of cardholder verification in which PIN checking is performed at card acquirer or card issuer.
 
What is meant by the phrase 'Polling'?
The collection of data stored in a terminal by a central computer or polling service.
 
What is POS Point of Sale (Service)?
The physical location at which a merchant terminal is sited and where card transactions are conducted.
 
What is Pre-authorization?
An authorization transaction intended to be followed by a separate financial transaction within a specific time interval. Pre-authorisations are used primarily in situations where the cardholder/merchant wishes to obtain advance approval or verification that sufficient funds are available to make a subsequent purchase using a payment card. Generally restricted by card schemes to Hotel and Car Hire sectors.
 
What/When is a Processing Day?
Settlement Transactions performed by a merchant during non-banking days (i.e. Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays) are consolidated with the transactions performed during the nearest immediately preceding banking day to produce single credits per card scheme.
 
What is meant by PWCB- Purchase with Cash Back?
An optional transaction type within the Maestro (Domestic) previously Switch and Delta card schemes where a merchant may, with the approval of its acquirer, allow a cardholder to draw cash up to a limit agreed with its acquirer (but maximum £50) within a standard sale transaction. Also known as 'Cash Back'.

What is Reconciliation?
The method by which a merchant compares the business undertaken at his electronic data capture terminal with that recorded by the acquirer and credited to his bank account.
 
What is meant by 'Response Time'?
The time taken for a terminal to obtain a reply from a remote computer system.
 
What is meant by RFI (Request for Further Information)?
A request by either the card issuer or cardholder wishing to obtain further information about a particular transaction.

What is a Settlement?
A transfer of funds to complete one or more transactions.
 
What is the definition of SPA/UCAF?
The Mastercard equivalent of VbV (Now also known as MasterCard Secure Code).
 
What is Signature Verification?
Checking a person's identity by comparing his/her signature with a previously supplied specimen. To date, this has been done almost entirely manually but electronic signature verification systems are beginning to appear.
 
What is meant by the term 'Swipe'?
A card is swiped when it is passed through an electronic POS terminal and the magnetic stripe is read.

What is a Terminal?
A device, which allows a user to send data to, receive data from and invoke the functions of a remote computer system.
 
What is a TID Terminal Identification Number?
A unique identification given to a terminal. The first part is registered with APACS to identify manufacturer/merchant/ supplier.

What is meant by the term VbV "Verified by Visa" ?
A methodology introduced by the Card Scheme and Banks to provide an additional, secure cardholder verification process prior to an Internet transaction proceeding.
 
What is the definition of Visa?
An international payment systems organisation controlled by its members. What is meant by the term BACS?
Bankers Automated Clearing Services Limited - an electronic funds transfer service whereby customers may enter debit and/or credit entries directly into the UK bank clearing system. The automated transactions may be created either by their own computer installation or by a service bureau on their behalf.