Merchant Services Glossary - Letter A
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- ABA
- Transit number or routing number for a bank. This identifies a bank at the Federal Reserve.
- Access Card
- The plastic card used in an automated teller machine (ATM) for deposits, cash withdrawals, account transfers and other related functions.
- Account History
- The payment history of an account over a specified period, including the number of times the account was past due or over the credit limit.
- Account Number
- A unique sequence of numbers assigned to a cardholder account that identifies the issuer and type of financial transaction card.
- ACH
- Automated Clearing House-Mechanism by which banks utilize the Federal Reserve to fund and/or debit merchants electronically.
- Acquirer/Acquiring Member
- A member of MasterCard and/or Visa which maintains merchant relationships and receives all bankcard transactions from the merchant. Can also be used to describe the disbursement of funds in a cash disbursement.
- Activity File
- A file maintained within the MasterCard or Visa processing system that lists account numbers for which stand-in authorization has been approved within a four-day period.
- Activity Limits
- Values representing the maximum dollar amount or maximum transaction count (or both) that can be authorized.
- Affiliate
- A member or licensee of Visa International or Visa USA or an organization affiliated with a MasterCard member that participates under the member’s rule or card plan on either the cardholder or merchant side.
- Affinity Card
- A credit card issued by a member in conjunction with an organization or collective group (e.g., a professional association or special interest group) that is identified on the card. The card issuer often pays the organization a royalty on charge transactions.
- Affinity Group
- A club, organization, or group with a common bond, such as an alumni association, a fraternal order or a professional organization. Such groups sometimes offer their members a Visa or MasterCard with the group’s logo on it.
- Agent Bank
- Also called processing banks. Acquiring banks quote pricing to these banks and the banks, in turn, quote pricing to the merchant.
- Agent Member
- A member that, by agreement, participates in another member’s card program, usually by turning over its cardholder and merchant applications to the member administering the card program and by acting as a depository for merchants.
- Aging
- The procedure by which accounts are classified for the purpose of determining delinquency, ranging from current to charge-off status.
- Altered Card
- A card on which the original embossed or encoded information has been altered for fraudulent purposes.
- AMEX
- The normal abbreviation of American Express. For Voice Auth call 800-528-2121, for Customer Service call 800-528-0682, for merchants that want to accept Amex call 800-528-5200.
- Annual Fee
- A fee paid by a cardholder to the issuer for the privilege of holding a financial transaction card and using it to buy goods and services. Not all cards have fees.
- Annual Percentage Rate
- The yearly interest charge applicable to outstanding credit balances for one year. Often calculated as the monthly rate times 12.
- Arbitration
- The procedure a member can use to resolve a chargeback-related dispute between two members. MasterCard or Visa resolves the dispute between members and decides responsibility for the fines that may be assessed to the participating members.
- Arbitration Filing
- A formal case filing submitted after unsuccessful dispute resolution through the chargeback/presentment cycle.
- ARN
- Acquirer’s Reference Number - An identification number assigned by the acquirer to each INET record. It includes the Bank Identification Number (BIN) and acquirer’s processing date.
- ARU
- Audio Response Unit. A series of questions asked and answered over the phone, then an audio response is given. Such as voice authorizations.
- Assessments
- Fees charged to the Acquirer by Visa/MasterCard to maintain the Interchange system.
- Associate Member
- An organization owned by members which services and obtains processing services for members and functions as a principal/ proprietary member of Visa.
- Association
- An organization owned by members that services and obtains processing services for members and functions as a principal/proprietary member of MasterCard .
- ATM
- Automated Teller Machine - An unattended computer terminal that performs basic teller functions: dispensing cash, accepting deposits and loan payments and enabling a bank customer to order transfers among accounts and make account inquiries.
- Authorization
- The process by which a transaction is approved by the issuer or by MasterCard or Visa on behalf of the issuer. Permission is given (or denied) to the merchant, via the acquirer, to accept a specific transaction for the card account number. Authorization is based on the cardholder account status and available credit. Authorizations can be electronic through a terminal, voice operator, or automated response unit.
- Authorization Code
- A code received (either verbally, electronically, or by ARU) from an authorization center verifying that a credit card is not listed on the negative file and has the available open-to-buy for the transaction submitted. The numerical code designated by the issuer, given to a sales transaction as verification that the sale has been authorized. The authorization code should always be included on the merchant sales draft.
- Authorization Fee
- A fee charged to a merchant for every response the merchant receives through the terminal.
- Authorization File
- A file used by the issuer to record current account information and status. Accessed during authorization request.
- Authorization Only
- Process of reserving amount on cardholder account, but not electronically claiming the funds. Either sales draft must be deposited to receive payment or the transaction must be keyed in as a Force for electronic settlement.
- Authorization Request
- A merchant’s request for approval to accept a cardholder sales transaction.
- Authorization Terminal
- A point-of-sale terminal permitting electronic authorization. Authorization terminals do not necessarily capture transaction data into a payment system. See also EDC terminal.
- Available Credit
- The difference between a cardholder’s credit limit and the present balance on the account, including outstanding transactions not yet received through interchange.
- Average Daily Balance
- An amount calculated by dividing the balance outstanding at the close of each day during the billing cycle by the number of days in that cycle. Used to calculate the interest due on the outstanding account balance.
- Average Monthly Volume
- Total amount of sales for the year divided by 12 (months.)
- Average Ticket
- Total net sales divided by the number of transactions.
- AVS (Complete)
- Address Verification Service - A service that verifies the cardholder’s billing address in order to combat fraud in mail order/telephone order transactions.
- AVS (Backend)
- Address Verification Service - A prompt that must appear on the POS device so that the MO/TO merchants can qualify for the lowest rates. The minimum prompt that will be accepted is zip code.
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