My Merchant Account Blog

Super ISO

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

A large, independent sales organization that supports multiple downstream ISOs and MLSs. Some super ISOs are also processors. The application supports multi-level hierarchical accounting, reporting and security access so that the user can define the levels of processing as a financial institution, Super ISO or standard ISO to fit the requirements of their business.

Sponsor Bank

Monday, August 29, 2011

A federally insured financial institution responsible for connecting merchants to Visa Inc. and MasterCard Worldwide authorization and settlement systems. Also called an acquiring bank, merchant bank or sponsor bank. Acquirers and merchants are the two signatories to merchant agreements. Acquirers can be thrifts, banks or credit unions. For example, First National Bank of Omaha is an acquirer and a bank. To sell bankcard services, it is necessary to have a signed agreement with an acquirer or be part of an ISO that is sponsored by an acquirer. Among other things, an acquirer deposits daily card totals to merchant accounts and debits monthly processing fees from those accounts. The acquiring bank must handle all funds, deposits and settlements with merchants. ISOs and other entities on the acquiring side of the bankcard business also refer to themselves informally as acquirers, as evidenced by several regional acquirers associations thriving throughout the United States, but strictly speaking, they are not acquirers. Also known as: acquirer.

Sniffer

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Malware used by hackers to intercept payment card data traveling through merchant or processor networks.Sniffers monitor network data. A sniffer can be a self-contained software program or a hardware device with the appropriate software or firmware programming. Sniffers usually act as network probes or "snoops." They examine network traffic, making a copy of the data without redirecting or altering it.

Skimming

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Running credit or debit cards through an electronic device (skimmer) to capture and store account information from cards' magnetic stripes. The data are then used to create counterfeit cards or fraudulent transactions. Often skimmers are placed surreptitiously over legitimate payment equipment, from which they lift the payment data from any subsequent transactions.

Signature Debit

Saturday, August 20, 2011

A Visa Debit or Debit MasterCard transaction authorized by a cardholder's signature; to the casual observer it looks just like a credit card transaction. Signature-debit transactions are processed much like credit card transactions. They are sent over one of the major credit card networks -- Visa, MasterCard, Discover, etc -- depending on which credit card network your bank is associated with as a member bank.

Settlement

Friday, August 19, 2011

The process by which the processor, working on behalf of the acquirer , debits the issuer for a transaction and credits the acquirer, and where the acquirer then credits the merchant. Settlement also involves payment to the card brands, calculating discount and qualifying a transaction for the appropriate interchange. Other aspects include exception processing, returns and disputes.

Self-Assessment Questionnaire

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

A document used as a validation tool by merchants and service providers to demonstrate compliance with the PCI DSS. Updated in 2008, it is designed to simplify and streamline the assessment process and aid small and mid-sized merchants who are not required to have on-site PCI compliance assessments. The new SAQ comes in four versions with questions tailored specifically for different categories of card acceptors.It has been developed to address requirements applicable to merchants who retain only paper reports or receipts with cardholder data, do not store cardholder data in electronic format and do not process or transmit any cardholder data on their systems or premises.

Reversal

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

A method of recourse for merchants to counter chargeback claims. Cardholders can also set reversals in motion when they rescind chargeback claims. A change in the direction of a price trend. On a price chart, reversals undergo a recognizable change in the price structure. An uptrend, which is a series of higher highs and higher lows, reverses into a downtrend by changing to a series of lower highs and lower lows. A downtrend, which is a series of lower highs and lower lows, reverses into an uptrend by changing to a series of higher highs and higher lows.

Chargeback Fee

Monday, August 15, 2011

Chargebacks in general can be costly, sometimes costing the merchant to lose their merchant account (Chargeback Ratios).  Most providers will charge the merchant about $25.00 per chargeback.

A chargeback occurs when the consumer calls the issuing bank to request a refund.  Some chargebacks might be a mistake, Non Receipt of Information Chargebacks.  These should never happen - your customer should always know what company is charging their credit card: What Make a Good Receipt.

While you will read a lot of information on chargebacks, one thing to keep in mind - always fight a chargeback if you are in the right.  You have to respond to every chargeback, otherwise you might lose your merchant account and placed on the TMF list.

Customer Service Fee

Sunday, August 14, 2011

The customer service fee is a fixed fee charged by the card processor at the end of each monthly processing cycle.  The fee covers the any customer service the merchant may need.  It is usually a flat monthly fee that is charged to the merchant to help cover any extra costs outside the merchant account fees. 

The fee is sometimes useful to help keep the costs down with a merchant account processor.

The customer service fee can be anywhere from free to $20.00 monthly.

Restricted Authorization Network

Thursday, August 04, 2011

Pertains to cards issued by a corporate entity, or group of corporate entities. They can only be redeemed within a restricted selection of corporate entities, defined by geography, type of business, type of terminal et cetera. Also known as restricted loop card or semi-open-loop cards.