Merchant Account Services

Merchant Services Glossary - Letter B

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Bad Debt
Debt that has been written off and sent to a collection agency for payment.
Balance
The amount of money owed by the Cardholder to the card issuing bank.
Balancing
A procedure performed at a POS device to reconcile or account for purchases, returns, cashbacks and voided transactions. Balancing is complete when the totals are cleared and the business date is changed.
Bank Identification Number (BIN)
The first six digits of a Visa or MasterCard account number, which identifies the bank that issued the card.
Bankcard
A financial transaction card issued by a financial institution.
Bankcard Association
A group of institutions formed for the purpose of sponsoring a bankcard program using a common processing and administrative center.
Bankmate
A regional debit network.
Banknet
The primary data transport communications facility that links all MasterCard customers and MasterCard data processing centers into a single on-line financial network (also called a packet-switching network.) Banknet separates communication processing from financial applications to transmit messages over a single communications network. NOW CALLED Global Payment Systems.
Bankruptcy Notification Service
This service is a joint effort between MasterCard and Visa. Bankruptcy filings and cases are gathered from all the bankruptcy courts and sent to the credit bureau for account numbers. Bankruptcy information is routed daily to appropriate members.
BASE I
The VisaNet data processing systems, networks and operations that provide authorization and authorization related services to Visa members.
BASE II
The VisaNet data processing systems, networks and operations that provide clearing, settlement and other interchange related services to Visa members.
Basis Point
Divide a penny into 100 pieces and 1 basis point would equal to 1 piece of those 100 pieces. Discount rates for merchants are assigned as basis points.
Batch
A grouping of credit card transactions as captured by a merchant. A batch is usually an entire day’s activity.
Batch Close
A function in the EDC system used to ascertain the current (open) batch number, total item count and total (net) dollar amount in the current batch for BTT merchants. After the batch is done, a GBOK number is received.
Batch Detail Report
Printed information for each transaction currently in the terminal. Can be run in transaction sequence or for the entire batch.
Batch Header
The batch header is used for paper merchants when making their deposit at the bank. The batch header has to have the merchant number and merchant name, total transactions (dollar amount) attached to the sales slips. Documentation that should be filled out by all paper merchants when submitting sales drafts. The batch header shows total sales, total credits and net amount that is paid to the merchant.
Batch Open
In a host-based environment, the merchant must send a transaction to the host telling it to open a batch. If this is not done, all transactions will be authorized but not captured.
Batch Review
A function in the EDC (Electronic Draft/Data Capture) used to ascertain the current (open) batch number, total item count and total (net) dollar amount in the current batch of a terminal
BET
Billing Element Table. Used by Vital for pointing merchants to different rates based on levels of qualification and the interchange associated with the level.
Billing Date
The month, day and year when a monthly statement is produced. The current finance charges, minimum payment due and new balance are calculated as of the billing date.
BIN
Bank Identification Number - A unique series of numbers assigned by MasterCard or Visa to a principle member institution which identifies the member in transaction processing. It is the first three to six digits of a standard cardholder account number and can be used by the member’s affiliates if necessary.
Blow Out
Procedure done on all Verifone terminals to clear the memory. Another term for this function is Clear All.
BOH
Acronym or abbreviation for Bank of the Hamptons.
BOW
Acronym or abbreviation for Bank of the West.
Business Card
A bankcard issued to companies for use by company employees. The liability for abuse of the card typically rests with the company, not with the employee.
Buyer's Guide Service
A value added service included in some card programs, that offers the cardholder discounts on special catalog merchandise.

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