A

ABA Routing Number- Also referred to as a Transit Routing Number. Directs electronic ACH deposits to the proper bank institution.
Acquirer- A financial institution that maintains the merchant credit card processing relationship and receives all transactions from the merchant to be distributed to the Cardmember Banks.
Address verification- A service in which the merchant verifies the cardmember's address. Primarily used by Mail/Telephone order merchants. Not a guarantee that a transaction is valid.
Arbitration-  The procedure an Acquirer may use to resolve a complaint with a Card Issuer on behalf of the establishment.
Associations- MasterCard International, Visa U.S.A., or Visa International, which are licensing regulatory agencies for bankcard activities.
Authorization- Approval by, or on behalf of, the card issuer to validate a transaction for a merchant or another affiliate bank. An authorization indicates only the availability of the cardmember's credit limit at the time the authorization is requested.
Authorization approval code- A number issued to a participating merchant by the Authorization Center that confirms the authorization for a sale or service.
Automated clearing house (ACH)- A method of transferring funds between the banks and financial institutions via the Federal Reserve System.
Average ticket- The average dollar amount of your credit card transactions.
Auto-representment- Chargebacks (credit not issued, transaction not authorized, etc.) that were automatically resolved on the merchants behalf without their knowledge or intervention.

B

Balance sheet- A financial statement that shows assets, liabilities, and net worth as of a specific date.
Batch- Usually a day's worth of transactions, including sales and credits to be processed by the card processor.

C

Card issuer- Financial organizations authorized by a regulatory organization to issue credit cards to individual cardholders. Also see Cardmember Bank.
Cardholder- Also referred to as cardmember. The authorized user to whom a credit card has been issued.
Cardmember bank- The bank that issued a bankcard to an individual. The term is frequently used in conjunction with interchange arrangements to identify the card-issuing bank.
Chargeback- A returned transaction resulting from the lack of adherence to the conditions of the Sales Agreement, Association regulations or these Operating Procedures and the resultant debiting of your merchant account.
Client reference number- An 8-digit number supplied with a credit card transaction. This number is given to the Acquirer along with a retrieval request.
Compliance- Compliance to the Visa and MasterCard regulatory bylaws.
Credit- A refund or price adjustment given for a previous purchase transaction.
Credit draft- A document evidencing the return of merchandise by a cardmember to a merchant, or other refund made by the merchant to the cardmember.

D

Data encryption- The scrambling of information sent over the Internet. Only the intended users can read and understand encrypted information
DDA- Demand Deposit Account. The individual business bank account that is credited or debited for deposits, fees, and adjustments.
Discount Rate- The amount a merchant processor charges a merchant to give credit for depositing and handling merchants' daily credit card transactions.

E

Entitlements- Also known as card types. The credit card processing services provided to an establishment.
Exceeded timeliness- Transaction was deposited late. The authorization date, compared to the processing date, exceeded the time frame allowed for the interchange level for which the merchant is priced.
Expiration date- The date embossed on the credit card beyond which the card is not acceptable by the establishment at the point-of-sale.

F

Fraud investigation- The process of identifying suspicious merchant and/or cardholder activity. I Issuing bank- Cardmember's bank, or the bank that has issued a MasterCard or Visa card to an individual.

M

Media- The documentation of monetary transactions (i.e., sales drafts, credit slips, computer printouts, etc.).
Media retrieval requests- Media retrieval is the process of obtaining paper documents from a centralized location. You can obtain two types of media retrieval requests: 1) requests for sales record from cardholders and 2) requests for documentation in defense of the chargeback from card issuers. You must fulfill media within 12 days of receipt. If you fulfill media after 12 days of receipt, the status is fulfilled late. If you cannot fulfill the media, the status is expired.
Merchant- Store owner or seller of products.
Merchant account number- A number that numerically identifies each merchant to the merchant processor for accounting and billing purposes.
Merchant category code (MCC)- A code assigned by an Acquirer to identify a merchant's type or mode of business and the merchandise sold.
MID- A unique identification number assigned to a merchant by the Acquirer.

P

Primary account number (PAN)- The cardholders account number to which transactions are to be charged.
Point of sale (POS)- The point at which a product is purchased and delivered.

R

Recurring transaction- A transaction that is periodically charged to the cardholder's account for ongoing goods or services, for which written permission has been granted by a cardholder to a merchant.
Referral- The message received from an issuing bank when an attempt for authorization requires a call to the Voice Authorization Center.
Representment- A transaction presented to the issuer by the Acquirer when the establishment requests a reversal of a chargeback.
Retrieval request- A request to a merchant for either a legible copy or an original sales record.
Reversal- A request by the establishment to represent a chargeback to the card issuer.

S

SIC code- The Standard Industry Classification assigned by an Acquirer to identify a merchant's business type.
Submission- The process of sending batch deposits to the Acquirer for processing.
Summary adjustment- A correction to an establishment's deposit made by the Acquirer when there is an error in the submitted deposit.

T

TID- A unique identification number assigned to a specific point of sale device by the Acquirer.
Transaction- A credit card sale or refund between the cardholder and merchant, or the processing of the exchange by the Acquirer.
Transaction fees- Service costs charged to a merchant on a per transaction basis.

V

Valid date- The date embossed by the card issuer on the credit card. An establishment cannot accept a card for payment of goods or services prior to this date.