Glossary

Acquiring Bank/ Merchant Bank

The financial institution that conducts business with merchants who accept credit cards. The bank buys the merchant's sales slips and credits the monetary value to the merchant accounts.

Issuing Bank

The financial institute that issues the credit cards to consumers.

Card Absent/ Manual Entry

Credit card information that is manually keyed-in through a computer or terminal key pad as opposed to being swiped though a terminal.

Cardholder

An individual who has opened a credit card account to make purchases and obtain cash advances.

Card Present/ Swiped Card

Credit card information that is entered electronically by swiping the card through the terminal.

Charge-back

A reversal against a sale, the disputed amount is credited back to the card holder.  Charge-backs are usually the result of an error made by the card-holder's bank, a misunderstanding by the customer, or fraud. The merchant must provide proof that the goods and services in question were provided to the customer

Discount Rate

A fee charged by the bank for processing credit card transactions. The fee is based on a percentage of the merchant's total sales volume.

ISO

An independent sales organization that is registered through Visa and MasterCard, and is responsible for setting up credit card merchant accounts for business owners. ISO represent banks or third party processors.

Merchant

A business owner, who has a merchant account for accepting credit cards.

MSR

A merchant service representative is usually a 1099 who contracts to an independent sales organization.

MOTO

MOTO is an acronym for mail order/telephone order. Typically, businesses that conduct credit card transactions over the phone or by mail are involved in a MOTO transaction.

Retrieval Request

A request from a cardholder's bank for information about a charge that is being disputed by the card holder. Retrieval requests usually precede a chargeback.

Third-Party Processor

A company that processes credit card transactions and distributes funds. Many banks choose to outsource credit card processing to third party processors instead of handling it in-house.

Transaction Fee

A processing fee charged by merchant service companies, issuing banks for processing credit cards transaction.

PCI Compliance

Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard.

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