Glossary of Terms
Account number
The 16-digit account number that appears in print on the front of all valid Visa cards. The number is one of the card security features that should be checked by merchants to ensure that a card-present transaction is valid.
Acquirer
A financial institution that provides services for merchants who accept Visa cards
Address Verification Service (AVS)
AVS allows merchants that accept card-not-present transactions to compare the billing address (the address to which the card issuer sends its monthly statement for that account) given by a customer with the billing address on the card issuer's master file before shipping an order. AVS helps merchants minimize the risk of accepting fraudulent transactions in a card-not-present environment by indicating the result of the address comparison.
Authorization
The process by which a card issuer approves or declines a Visa card purchase. Authorization occurs automatically when you swipe the magnetic stripe of a payment card through a card reader. See also: Voice Authorization Center.
"Call" or "Call Center" response
A response to a merchant's authorization request indicating that the card issuer needs more information about the card or cardholder before a transaction can be approved; also called a referral response.
Card acceptance procedures
The procedures a merchant or merchant employee must follow at the point of sale to ensure a card and cardholder are valid.
Card expiration date
See Good Thru date.
Cardholder
The person to whom a Visa card is issued.
Card issuer
A financial institution that issues Visa cards.
Card-not-present
A merchant, market, or sales environment in which transactions are completed without a valid Visa card or cardholder being present. Card-not-present is used to refer to mail order, telephone order, and Internet merchants and sales environments.
Card-present
A merchant, market or sales environment in which transactions can be completed only if both a valid Visa card and cardholder are present. Card-present transactions include traditional retail-department and grocery stores, electronics stores, boutiques, etc.-cash disbursements, and self-service situations, such as gas stations and grocery stores, where cardholders use unattended payment devices.
Card security features
The alphanumeric, pictorial, and other design elements that appear on the front and back of all valid Visa credit and debit cards. Card-present merchants must check these features when processing a transaction at the point of sale to ensure that a card is valid.
Card Verification Value 2 (CVV2)
A Visa fraud prevention system used in card-not-present transactions to ensure that the card is valid. The CVV2 is the three-digit value that is printed on the back of all Visa cards. Card-not-present merchants ask the customer for the CVV2 and submit it as part of their authorization request. For information security purposes, merchants are prohibited from storing CVV2 data.
Cardholder Information Security Program (CISP)
A Visa program that establishes data security standards, procedures, and tools for all entities-merchants, service providers, issuers, and merchant banks-that store Visa cardholder account information. CISP compliance is mandatory.
Cash disbursement
A bankcard transaction involving the payment of cash or travelers cheques to a cardholder. In general, only financial institution branches are allowed to make cash disbursements.
Chargeback
A transaction that is returned as a financial liability to a merchant bank by a card issuer, usually because of a disputed transaction. The merchant bank may then return or "charge back" the transaction to the merchant.
Code 10 call
A call made by a sales associate to the merchant's voice authorization center when the appearance of a card or the actions of a cardholder suggest the possibility of fraud. The term "Code 10" is used so calls can be made without arousing suspicion while the cardholder is present. Specially trained operators then provide assistance to point-of-sale staff on how to handle the transaction.
Copy request
A request by a card issuer to a merchant bank for a copy or facsimile of a sales receipt for a disputed transaction. Depending on where sales receipts are stored, the merchant bank either fulfills the copy request itself or forwards it to he merchant for fulfillment. A copy request is also known as a retrieval request.
Credit receipt
A receipt that documents a refund or price adjustment a merchant has made or is making to a cardholder's account; also called credit voucher
CyberSource Advanced Fraud Screen Enhanced by Visa
A real-time fraud-detection service that examines transactions generated from online stores. It estimates the level of risk associated with each transaction and provides merchants with risk scores, enabling them to more accurately identify potentially fraudulent orders.
Disclosure
Merchants are required to inform cardholders about their policies for merchandise returns, service cancellations, and refunds. How this information is conveyed, or disclosed, varies for card-present and card-not present merchants, but in general, disclosure must occur before a cardholder signs a receipt to complete the transaction.
"Doing Business As" (DBA)
A merchant's legal business name as differentiated from the names of a company's principals or other entity that owns or manages the business. A DBA that is significantly different from the principals' or other entity's name can result in an unrecognizable merchant name, or descriptor, on a cardholder's monthly Visa statement, which can in turn lead to potential copy requests and chargebacks.
Dove hologram (For original Visa card-Good through 2010)
A three-dimensional hologram of a dove in flight that appears on all valid Visa cards. When the card is tilted back and forth, the dove should appear to "fly." The dove hologram is one of the card security features that merchants should check to ensure a card-present transaction is valid.
Dove hologram (For updated Visa card)
A multiple-color animated dove that appears in the holographic magnetic stripe on the back of all valid updated Visa cards.
Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC) Service
An optional service, which is facilitated by a merchant at the point of sale with either a third party agent or through its merchant bank. The DCC allows a cardholder to see the transaction amount in his or her billing currency and the merchant's pricing currency. This way, the cardholder knows exactly how much the goods or services cost, and is able to make value judgments quickly and easily.
Exception file
A list of lost, stolen, counterfeit, fraudulent, or otherwise invalid account numbers kept by individual merchants or their third-party processors. The exception file should be checked as part of the authorization process, particularly for transactions that are below a merchant's floor limit.
Firewall
A security tool that blocks access from the Internet to files on a merchant's or third-party processor's server and is used to ensure the safety of sensitive cardholder data stored on a server.
"Flying V" (For original Visa Card-Good through 2010)
The stylized, embossed "V" located to the right of the Good Thru date on all valid Visa cards. The "flying V" is one of the card security features that should be checked by merchants to ensure that a card-present transaction is valid.
Good Thru date
The date after which a bankcard is no longer valid, embossed on the front of all valid Visa cards. The Good Thru date is one of the card security features that should be checked by merchants to ensure that a card-present transaction is valid. See also: Card expiration date.
High-Risk Chargeback Monitoring Program (HRCMP)
A Visa program that notifies merchant banks when a high-risk merchant has a chargeback-to-transaction rate of over one percent.
High-risk merchant
A merchant that is at a high risk for chargebacks due to the nature of its business. As defined by Visa, high-risk merchants include direct marketers, travel services, outbound telemarketers, inbound teleservices, and betting establishments. See also: High-Risk Chargeback Monitoring Program
Internet Protocol address
A unique number that is used to represent individual computers in a network. All computers on the Internet have a unique IP address that is used to route messages to the correct destination.
Key-entered transaction
A transaction that is manually keyed into a point-of-sale device.
Magnetic stripe
The magnetic stripe on the back of all Visa cards is encoded with account information as specified in the Visa U.S.A. Inc. Operating Regulations. The stripe is "read" when a card is swiped through a POS terminal. On a valid card, the account number on the magnetic stripe matches the account number on the front of the card.
Magnetic-stripe reader
The component of a point-of-sale device that electronically reads the information on a payment card's magnetic stripe.
Mail order/telephone order (MO/TO)
A merchant, market, or sales environment in which mail or telephone sales are the primary or a major source of income. Such transactions are frequently charged to customers' bankcard accounts. See also: Card-not-present.
Member
An organization that is a member of Visa and which issues cards or signs merchants, or does both.
Merchant
A business entity that accepts Visa for payment.
Merchant agreement
The contract between a merchant and a merchant bank under which the merchant participates in the Visa payment system, accepts Visa cards for payment of goods and services, and agrees to abide by certain rules governing the acceptance and processing of Visa transactions. Merchant agreements may stipulate merchant liability with regard to chargebacks and may specify time frames within which merchants are to deposit transactions and respond to requests for information.
Merchant bank
A financial institution that enters into agreements with merchants to accept Visa cards as payment for goods and services; also called acquirers or acquiring banks.
Merchant Chargeback Monitoring Program (MCMP)
A Visa program that alerts merchant banks when one of their merchants has a chargeback-to-transaction rate of over one percent. Merchants then work with the bank to reduce their chargeback rates to acceptable levels. Failure to reduce chargebacks can result in fines for a merchant.
Payment gateway
A system that provides services to Internet merchants for the authorization and clearing of online Visa transactions.
Pick-up response
An authorization response instructing a card-present merchant to refuse a transaction and recover the card. In all circumstances, card recovery should only be attempted if it can be done by reasonable and peaceful means.
Point-of-sale terminal (POS terminal)
The electronic device used for authorizing and processing bankcard transactions at the point of sale.
Printed number
A four-digit number that is printed below the first four digits of the printed or embossed account number on all valid Visa cards. The four-digit printed number should begin with a "4", and be the same as the first four digits of the account number above it. The printed four-digit number is one of the card security features that merchants should check to ensure that a card-present transaction is valid.
Processor
A Member, or Visa-approved non-member acting as the agent of a Member, that provides authorization, clearing, or settlement services for merchants and processors: authorizing processors, clearing processors, and V.I.P. system users. See also: VisaNet processor.
Representment
A chargeback that is rejected and returned to a card issuer by a merchant bank on the merchant's behalf. A chargeback may be re-presented, or redeposited, if the merchant or merchant bank can remedy the problem that led to the chargeback.
Sales receipt
The paper or electronic record of a bankcard transaction that a merchant submits to a merchant bank for processing and payment. In most cases, paper drafts are now generated by a merchant's POS terminal. When a merchant fills out a draft manually, it must include an imprint of the front of the card.
Signature panel (For original Visa Card-Good through 2010)
The panel for cardholders' signatures on the back of all valid Visa cards. Valid panels are white with the repeated word "VISA" printed at an angle in blue and gold. It may also contain the full or truncated account number and the threedigit CVV2, printed in reverse italics. The words "Not Valid Without Signature" or "Authorized signature" should also appear below or to the side of the panel on most Visa cards. The signature panel is one of the card security features merchants should check to ensure that a card-present transaction is valid.
Signature panel (For updated Visa card)
The panel for cardholders' signatures on the back of all valid Visa cards. A valid panel may have a horizontal stripe pattern or a custom design. The signature panel is one of the card security features merchants should check to ensure that a card-present transaction is valid.
Skimming
The replication of account information encoded on the magnetic stripe of a valid card and its subsequent use for fraudulent transactions in which a valid authorization occurs. The account information is captured from a valid card and then re-encoded on a counterfeit card. The term "skimming" is also used to refer to any situation in which electronically transmitted or stored account data is replicated and then re-encoded on counterfeit cards or used in some other way for fraudulent transactions.
Split sales
The preparation of two or more sales receipts for the purchase of a single item, using a single cardholder account, in order to avoid authorization limits. Split sales are a violation of the Visa U.S.A. Inc. Operating Regulations.
Split tender
The use of two forms of payment, or legal tender, for a single purchase. For example, when buying a big-ticket item, a cardholder might pay half by cash or check and then put the other half on his or her Visa credit card. Individual merchants may set their own policies about whether or not to accept split-tender transactions.
Third-party processor
A non-member organization that performs transaction authorization and processing, account record keeping, and other day-to-day business and administrative functions for issuers and merchant banks.
Transaction
The act between a cardholder and merchant that results in the sale of goods or services.
Unsigned card
A seemingly valid Visa card that has not been duly signed by the legitimate cardholder. Merchants cannot accept an unsigned card until the cardholder has signed it, and the signature has been checked against valid government identification, such as a driver's license or passport.
Verified by Visa
A Visa Internet payment authentication system that validates a cardholder's ownership of an account in real-time during an online payment transaction. When the cardholder clicks "Buy" at the checkout page of a participating merchant web site, a Verified by Visa screen automatically appears on the cardholder's desktop. The cardholder enters a password that allows the card issuer to verify his or her identity.
Visa ReaderCleaner™
A specially treated card that effectively removes dirt, magnetic oxides, and other contaminants from concealed magnetic heads in POS devices. The heads should be kept clean so that Visa cards can be swiped and their magnetic stripes read quickly and easily, thus avoiding key-entered transactions.
VisaNet processor
A processor directly connected to VisaNet. See also: Processor.
Voice authorization
An authorization obtained by telephoning a voice authorization center.
Voice authorization center
An operator-staffed center that handles telephone authorization requests from merchants who do not have electronic POS terminals or whose electronic terminals are temporarily not working, or for transactions where special assistance is required. Voice authorization centers also handle manual authorization requests and Code 10 calls.
The 16-digit account number that appears in print on the front of all valid Visa cards. The number is one of the card security features that should be checked by merchants to ensure that a card-present transaction is valid.
Acquirer
A financial institution that provides services for merchants who accept Visa cards
Address Verification Service (AVS)
AVS allows merchants that accept card-not-present transactions to compare the billing address (the address to which the card issuer sends its monthly statement for that account) given by a customer with the billing address on the card issuer's master file before shipping an order. AVS helps merchants minimize the risk of accepting fraudulent transactions in a card-not-present environment by indicating the result of the address comparison.
Authorization
The process by which a card issuer approves or declines a Visa card purchase. Authorization occurs automatically when you swipe the magnetic stripe of a payment card through a card reader. See also: Voice Authorization Center.
"Call" or "Call Center" response
A response to a merchant's authorization request indicating that the card issuer needs more information about the card or cardholder before a transaction can be approved; also called a referral response.
Card acceptance procedures
The procedures a merchant or merchant employee must follow at the point of sale to ensure a card and cardholder are valid.
Card expiration date
See Good Thru date.
Cardholder
The person to whom a Visa card is issued.
Card issuer
A financial institution that issues Visa cards.
Card-not-present
A merchant, market, or sales environment in which transactions are completed without a valid Visa card or cardholder being present. Card-not-present is used to refer to mail order, telephone order, and Internet merchants and sales environments.
Card-present
A merchant, market or sales environment in which transactions can be completed only if both a valid Visa card and cardholder are present. Card-present transactions include traditional retail-department and grocery stores, electronics stores, boutiques, etc.-cash disbursements, and self-service situations, such as gas stations and grocery stores, where cardholders use unattended payment devices.
Card security features
The alphanumeric, pictorial, and other design elements that appear on the front and back of all valid Visa credit and debit cards. Card-present merchants must check these features when processing a transaction at the point of sale to ensure that a card is valid.
Card Verification Value 2 (CVV2)
A Visa fraud prevention system used in card-not-present transactions to ensure that the card is valid. The CVV2 is the three-digit value that is printed on the back of all Visa cards. Card-not-present merchants ask the customer for the CVV2 and submit it as part of their authorization request. For information security purposes, merchants are prohibited from storing CVV2 data.
Cardholder Information Security Program (CISP)
A Visa program that establishes data security standards, procedures, and tools for all entities-merchants, service providers, issuers, and merchant banks-that store Visa cardholder account information. CISP compliance is mandatory.
Cash disbursement
A bankcard transaction involving the payment of cash or travelers cheques to a cardholder. In general, only financial institution branches are allowed to make cash disbursements.
Chargeback
A transaction that is returned as a financial liability to a merchant bank by a card issuer, usually because of a disputed transaction. The merchant bank may then return or "charge back" the transaction to the merchant.
Code 10 call
A call made by a sales associate to the merchant's voice authorization center when the appearance of a card or the actions of a cardholder suggest the possibility of fraud. The term "Code 10" is used so calls can be made without arousing suspicion while the cardholder is present. Specially trained operators then provide assistance to point-of-sale staff on how to handle the transaction.
Copy request
A request by a card issuer to a merchant bank for a copy or facsimile of a sales receipt for a disputed transaction. Depending on where sales receipts are stored, the merchant bank either fulfills the copy request itself or forwards it to he merchant for fulfillment. A copy request is also known as a retrieval request.
Credit receipt
A receipt that documents a refund or price adjustment a merchant has made or is making to a cardholder's account; also called credit voucher
CyberSource Advanced Fraud Screen Enhanced by Visa
A real-time fraud-detection service that examines transactions generated from online stores. It estimates the level of risk associated with each transaction and provides merchants with risk scores, enabling them to more accurately identify potentially fraudulent orders.
Disclosure
Merchants are required to inform cardholders about their policies for merchandise returns, service cancellations, and refunds. How this information is conveyed, or disclosed, varies for card-present and card-not present merchants, but in general, disclosure must occur before a cardholder signs a receipt to complete the transaction.
"Doing Business As" (DBA)
A merchant's legal business name as differentiated from the names of a company's principals or other entity that owns or manages the business. A DBA that is significantly different from the principals' or other entity's name can result in an unrecognizable merchant name, or descriptor, on a cardholder's monthly Visa statement, which can in turn lead to potential copy requests and chargebacks.
Dove hologram (For original Visa card-Good through 2010)
A three-dimensional hologram of a dove in flight that appears on all valid Visa cards. When the card is tilted back and forth, the dove should appear to "fly." The dove hologram is one of the card security features that merchants should check to ensure a card-present transaction is valid.
Dove hologram (For updated Visa card)
A multiple-color animated dove that appears in the holographic magnetic stripe on the back of all valid updated Visa cards.
Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC) Service
An optional service, which is facilitated by a merchant at the point of sale with either a third party agent or through its merchant bank. The DCC allows a cardholder to see the transaction amount in his or her billing currency and the merchant's pricing currency. This way, the cardholder knows exactly how much the goods or services cost, and is able to make value judgments quickly and easily.
Exception file
A list of lost, stolen, counterfeit, fraudulent, or otherwise invalid account numbers kept by individual merchants or their third-party processors. The exception file should be checked as part of the authorization process, particularly for transactions that are below a merchant's floor limit.
Firewall
A security tool that blocks access from the Internet to files on a merchant's or third-party processor's server and is used to ensure the safety of sensitive cardholder data stored on a server.
"Flying V" (For original Visa Card-Good through 2010)
The stylized, embossed "V" located to the right of the Good Thru date on all valid Visa cards. The "flying V" is one of the card security features that should be checked by merchants to ensure that a card-present transaction is valid.
Good Thru date
The date after which a bankcard is no longer valid, embossed on the front of all valid Visa cards. The Good Thru date is one of the card security features that should be checked by merchants to ensure that a card-present transaction is valid. See also: Card expiration date.
High-Risk Chargeback Monitoring Program (HRCMP)
A Visa program that notifies merchant banks when a high-risk merchant has a chargeback-to-transaction rate of over one percent.
High-risk merchant
A merchant that is at a high risk for chargebacks due to the nature of its business. As defined by Visa, high-risk merchants include direct marketers, travel services, outbound telemarketers, inbound teleservices, and betting establishments. See also: High-Risk Chargeback Monitoring Program
Internet Protocol address
A unique number that is used to represent individual computers in a network. All computers on the Internet have a unique IP address that is used to route messages to the correct destination.
Key-entered transaction
A transaction that is manually keyed into a point-of-sale device.
Magnetic stripe
The magnetic stripe on the back of all Visa cards is encoded with account information as specified in the Visa U.S.A. Inc. Operating Regulations. The stripe is "read" when a card is swiped through a POS terminal. On a valid card, the account number on the magnetic stripe matches the account number on the front of the card.
Magnetic-stripe reader
The component of a point-of-sale device that electronically reads the information on a payment card's magnetic stripe.
Mail order/telephone order (MO/TO)
A merchant, market, or sales environment in which mail or telephone sales are the primary or a major source of income. Such transactions are frequently charged to customers' bankcard accounts. See also: Card-not-present.
Member
An organization that is a member of Visa and which issues cards or signs merchants, or does both.
Merchant
A business entity that accepts Visa for payment.
Merchant agreement
The contract between a merchant and a merchant bank under which the merchant participates in the Visa payment system, accepts Visa cards for payment of goods and services, and agrees to abide by certain rules governing the acceptance and processing of Visa transactions. Merchant agreements may stipulate merchant liability with regard to chargebacks and may specify time frames within which merchants are to deposit transactions and respond to requests for information.
Merchant bank
A financial institution that enters into agreements with merchants to accept Visa cards as payment for goods and services; also called acquirers or acquiring banks.
Merchant Chargeback Monitoring Program (MCMP)
A Visa program that alerts merchant banks when one of their merchants has a chargeback-to-transaction rate of over one percent. Merchants then work with the bank to reduce their chargeback rates to acceptable levels. Failure to reduce chargebacks can result in fines for a merchant.
Payment gateway
A system that provides services to Internet merchants for the authorization and clearing of online Visa transactions.
Pick-up response
An authorization response instructing a card-present merchant to refuse a transaction and recover the card. In all circumstances, card recovery should only be attempted if it can be done by reasonable and peaceful means.
Point-of-sale terminal (POS terminal)
The electronic device used for authorizing and processing bankcard transactions at the point of sale.
Printed number
A four-digit number that is printed below the first four digits of the printed or embossed account number on all valid Visa cards. The four-digit printed number should begin with a "4", and be the same as the first four digits of the account number above it. The printed four-digit number is one of the card security features that merchants should check to ensure that a card-present transaction is valid.
Processor
A Member, or Visa-approved non-member acting as the agent of a Member, that provides authorization, clearing, or settlement services for merchants and processors: authorizing processors, clearing processors, and V.I.P. system users. See also: VisaNet processor.
Representment
A chargeback that is rejected and returned to a card issuer by a merchant bank on the merchant's behalf. A chargeback may be re-presented, or redeposited, if the merchant or merchant bank can remedy the problem that led to the chargeback.
Sales receipt
The paper or electronic record of a bankcard transaction that a merchant submits to a merchant bank for processing and payment. In most cases, paper drafts are now generated by a merchant's POS terminal. When a merchant fills out a draft manually, it must include an imprint of the front of the card.
Signature panel (For original Visa Card-Good through 2010)
The panel for cardholders' signatures on the back of all valid Visa cards. Valid panels are white with the repeated word "VISA" printed at an angle in blue and gold. It may also contain the full or truncated account number and the threedigit CVV2, printed in reverse italics. The words "Not Valid Without Signature" or "Authorized signature" should also appear below or to the side of the panel on most Visa cards. The signature panel is one of the card security features merchants should check to ensure that a card-present transaction is valid.
Signature panel (For updated Visa card)
The panel for cardholders' signatures on the back of all valid Visa cards. A valid panel may have a horizontal stripe pattern or a custom design. The signature panel is one of the card security features merchants should check to ensure that a card-present transaction is valid.
Skimming
The replication of account information encoded on the magnetic stripe of a valid card and its subsequent use for fraudulent transactions in which a valid authorization occurs. The account information is captured from a valid card and then re-encoded on a counterfeit card. The term "skimming" is also used to refer to any situation in which electronically transmitted or stored account data is replicated and then re-encoded on counterfeit cards or used in some other way for fraudulent transactions.
Split sales
The preparation of two or more sales receipts for the purchase of a single item, using a single cardholder account, in order to avoid authorization limits. Split sales are a violation of the Visa U.S.A. Inc. Operating Regulations.
Split tender
The use of two forms of payment, or legal tender, for a single purchase. For example, when buying a big-ticket item, a cardholder might pay half by cash or check and then put the other half on his or her Visa credit card. Individual merchants may set their own policies about whether or not to accept split-tender transactions.
Third-party processor
A non-member organization that performs transaction authorization and processing, account record keeping, and other day-to-day business and administrative functions for issuers and merchant banks.
Transaction
The act between a cardholder and merchant that results in the sale of goods or services.
Unsigned card
A seemingly valid Visa card that has not been duly signed by the legitimate cardholder. Merchants cannot accept an unsigned card until the cardholder has signed it, and the signature has been checked against valid government identification, such as a driver's license or passport.
Verified by Visa
A Visa Internet payment authentication system that validates a cardholder's ownership of an account in real-time during an online payment transaction. When the cardholder clicks "Buy" at the checkout page of a participating merchant web site, a Verified by Visa screen automatically appears on the cardholder's desktop. The cardholder enters a password that allows the card issuer to verify his or her identity.
Visa ReaderCleaner™
A specially treated card that effectively removes dirt, magnetic oxides, and other contaminants from concealed magnetic heads in POS devices. The heads should be kept clean so that Visa cards can be swiped and their magnetic stripes read quickly and easily, thus avoiding key-entered transactions.
VisaNet processor
A processor directly connected to VisaNet. See also: Processor.
Voice authorization
An authorization obtained by telephoning a voice authorization center.
Voice authorization center
An operator-staffed center that handles telephone authorization requests from merchants who do not have electronic POS terminals or whose electronic terminals are temporarily not working, or for transactions where special assistance is required. Voice authorization centers also handle manual authorization requests and Code 10 calls.