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Sep
12
What You Need to Know About Credit Card
Posted by Melika Tajbakhsh ( LEENYX ) on 12 September 2012 07:07 AM

When you are shopping for a credit card, it’s wise to compare fees, charges, interest rates, and benefits. Some credit cards that look like a great deal at first glance may lose their appeal once you read the terms and conditions of use and calculate how the fees could affect your available credit and your payment.

What You Need to Know

Credit card issuers generally must disclose the important terms of use regardless of whether they require you to complete an application.

  • Fees. Many credit card issuers charge membership and/or participation fees. Issuers use a variety of names for these fees, including “annual,” “activation,” “acceptance,” “participation” and “monthly maintenance.” These fees may appear monthly, periodically, or as one-time charges: they can range from $6 to $150. What’s important is they can have an immediate effect on the credit that’s available to you. For example, a card with a $250 credit limit and $150 in fees leaves you with $100 in available credit.
  • Transaction Fees and Other Charges. Some issuers charge a fee if you use the card to get a cash advance, make a late payment, or if you go beyond your credit limit.
  • Annual Percentage Rate. The APR is a measure of the cost of credit, expressed as a yearly interest rate. The APR must be disclosed before your account can be activated, and it must appear on your account statements. Your card issuer also must disclose the “periodic rate” – the rate the issuer applies to your outstanding balance to determine the finance charge for each billing period.
  • Grace Period. A grace period lets you avoid finance charges if you pay your balance in full by the date it is due. Knowing whether a card gives you a grace period is important if you plan to pay your account in full each month. Without a grace period, the card issuer may impose a finance charge from the date you use your card or from the date each transaction is posted to your account.
  • Balance Computation Method for the Finance Charge. If you don’t have a grace period – or if you plan to pay for your purchases over time – find out how the issuer calculates your finance charge. Which method is used to compute your balance can make a big difference in how much of a finance charge you’ll pay – even if the APR and your buying patterns stay pretty much the same.
  • Balance Transfer Offers. Many credit card companies offer incentives for transferring your balance – moving your debt from one credit card (Card Issuer A) to another (Card Issuer B). Each offer is different – and the terms can be complicated.

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Sep
12
Glossary of terms At Visa Europe
Posted by Melika Tajbakhsh ( LEENYX ) on 12 September 2012 06:35 AM

3-D Secure

A technology developed by Visa which enables a cardholder to be authenticated during an e-commerce transaction. This technology is deployed in a service offered by member banks called Verified by Visa.

Acceptance location

We use this term to refer to any establishment or any device where Visa cards can be used to buy goods or services or withdraw cash – such as retailers, bank branches, ATM machines and unattended or cardholder activated terminals.

Acquirer

Also referred to as an acquiring bank, this is a Visa member that signs up retailers and businesses to accept Visa cards – and, along with the issuer, the cardholder, the retailer or business, constitutes one of the parties in a four party payment system.

ARF

The audit, risk and finance committee is one of the committees of the Visa Europe board of directors.

ATM

An automated teller machine, more commonly known as a cash machine, which enables cardholders to withdraw cash from their bank or card account.

Business forums

To develop its products and procedures Visa Europe operates a thorough consultative process, involving several business forums.

Card sales volume

We use this term to refer to the total number of transactions conducted using Visa cards.

Cardholder

We use this term to refer to any one of the customers of our members who has been issued with a Visa card – and, along with the acquirer, the issuer and the retailer, constitutes one of the parties in a four party payment system.

CEV

Cardholder expenditure volume is an amount of money which has been spent or withdrawn using a Visa card.

Chip and PIN

 

This term refers to any Visa transaction (at either the point of sale or an ATM) which is protected by a combination of a chip card and a personal identification number. The term can also be used as a description of the underlying technology involved in these transactions.

CVV2

 

Card Verification Value 2 is used to provide evidence that the card being used is actually in the presence of the cardholder and is valid. Such verification is used primarily in card not present (CNP) transactions occurring over the internet, by mail, or over the phone.

DCC

Dynamic currency conversion is a service which some retailers offer to foreign cardholders, whereby a currency conversion to the cardholder’s currency of domicile is conducted at the point of sale.

EC

The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. Its primary roles are to propose and implement legislation, and to act as ‘guardian of the treaties’ which provide the legal basis for the EU.

ECB

The European Central Bank is the central bank of the euro zone, in charge of monetary policy of the 25 countries that use the euro currency.

EMC

The executive management committee is the most senior internal day-to-day decision-making body within Visa Europe and reports to the board of directors.

EMV

The Europay MasterCard Visa chip specifications are regarded as the industry standard for payment cards in Europe.

EPC

The European Payments Council is a decision-making body that was established by the European banking industry to support and promote the creation of the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA).

EU

The European Union is an intergovernmental and supranational union of 27 European countries, known as member states.

Four party system

We use this term to describe payment systems, such as Visa, which involve four separate participants – that is, the issuer, the acquirer, the cardholder and the retailer.

Group member

 

A group member is an independent organisation or organisations which represent several individual banks within Visa Europe. In Spain for example, ServiRed S.A., Sistema 4B and ViaCajas S.A. represent the interests of all the Spanish banks, adapt Visa products to the Spanish market and manage the gateway to the Visa Europe processing systems.

Inter-bank routing and switching

 

A term used in connection with the processing of card transactions. Using the information within a card account number, processing systems such as Visa Europe will automatically send authorisation requests and clearing and settlement messages to the cardholder’s issuing bank.

Interchange

A fee which may be paid between two banks each time a card is used. It is a ‘cost sharing’ mechanism and its purpose is to ensure that Visa cards are as widely accepted and as widely used as possible.

Internal market

A term used by the European Commission referring to policies facilitating the free movement of goods, services, persons and capital, thereby opening up markets and removing obstacles to free trade.

Interoperability

 

This term generally refers to the ability of hardware and software from different vendors to understand each other and exchange data, either within the same network or across dissimilar networks. Within our own industry it means that different payment products from different payment schemes should work in the same way, in the same terminals, and across the same networks.

Issuing bank

An issuing bank is a member bank that offers Visa payment cards and products to consumers – and, along with the acquirer, the cardholder and the retailer, constitutes one of the parties in the four party payment system.

Transaction

This is the process that takes place each time a Visa card is used to make a purchase or to conduct a cash withdrawal.

Vendors

 

We use this term to refer to companies (often technology companies) which supply payment-related goods and services to Visa and its members – banks and other payment service providers. Examples may include card manufacturers, terminal manufacturers and software providers.

Verified by Visa

A service offered by members to Cardholders, retailers and businesses which provides additional security for e-commerce transactions – enabling cardholders to authenticate themselves.

Visa

We use the term Visa in many different ways. Depending on the context, it may refer to Visa Europe, Visa Inc., the Visa brand, or one of the Visa products.

Visa Commercial

 

We use this term to refer, collectively, to all of the business-to-business payment products and solutions which have been developed by Visa and are offered by our members. The products include Visa Business, Visa Corporate, Visa Company and Visa Purchasing.

Visa Inc.

 

Visa Inc. is a private stock corporation incorporated in the United States, formed through the merger of Visa Canada, Visa USA and Visa Inc. (including the Visa businesses in Asia Pacific, Latin America and Caribbean, Central and Eastern Europe Middle East and Africa). Visa Inc. floated on the New York Stock Exchange in March 2008. Visa Europe remains a member-owned, not-for-profit association in Europe.

Visa System

We use this term to refer, collectively, to all of the data centres, computer systems and access networks which deliver transaction processing and related services to our members.

VISOR

 

Visa Intelligent Scoring of Risk (VISOR) is a sophisticated fraud detection system developed by Visa Europe and provided to our members. Transactions passing through the Visa System are automatically scrutinised and ‘scored’ to determine the likelihood of fraud.

Volumes

 

We use this term to refer to the total number of transactions conducted using Visa cards. This could be either cardholder expenditure volumes (representing the total number of all point-of-sale transactions and cash withdrawals) or point- -of-sale volumes (representing the total number of point-of-sale transactions alone).


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Sep
12
Credit card(Visa, Master) glossary terms to know for first-time card client
Posted by Melika Tajbakhsh ( LEENYX ) on 12 September 2012 06:10 AM
Accounts Payable:

Debts your business owes to creditors.

Accounts Receivable:

Debts owed to your business.

Account Information Security (AIS):

Account Information Security is a standards-based compliance validation program designed to protect Visa Account and Transaction Information. It helps anyone who stores, transmits or processes Visa account data — financial institutions, merchants, Acquirers and Payment Processors — to assess whether cardholder data is secure within their organization.

Acquirer:

The financial institution that initiates and maintains contractual agreements with merchants for accepting and processing Visa card transactions.

Address Verification Service (AVS):

AVS matches the billing address of the purchaser against the address that the Visa card issuer has on file. This helps ensure the person making the purchase with their Visa card online, by mail or by phone is the correct card holder.

Audit:

An inspection and verification of financial accounts, records, and accounting procedures.

Authorization:

The approval from the financial institution that issued the credit card, allowing the merchant to accept the transaction.

Authorization Code:

Informs merchants that they have obtained the authorization for a specific Visa card transaction.

Automatic Bill Payment:

Arrangement between a merchant or service provider and a customer that allows recurring automatic charges for a service to an agreed-upon credit or debit account.

Cancellation Code:

The code that a lodging or car rental merchant gives to a cardholder. The code confirms that the cardholder cancelled a reservation.

Cardholder:

An individual to whom a card is issued.

Card-Not-Present (CNP) Transactions:

Credit or debit card transactions that take place online, over the phone or through the mail.

Card Verification Value 2, CVV2 (Three-digit Code):

CVV2 is a security requirement on all Visa cards. It is found on the back of cards, printed at the end of the signature panel or in a white box outside the signature panel. When a merchant asks their customers for this unique Three-digit Code, Visa and the card issuers can provide a real-time check to help ensure that the person making the purchase has the physical card in hand.

Chargeback:

Also known as a "Debit Memo", a chargeback is a reversal of a sales transaction. So if you deposited a $50 transaction in your merchant bank account, a chargeback for that transaction means that the $50 has now been debited from your merchant account.

Chip & PIN:

A chip card is a plastic payment card with an embedded chip containing a micro computer. The chip stores encrypted confidential information such as the cardholder's account number and Personal Identification Number (PIN).

"Code 10" Authorization:

This is a voice authorization code you might initiate when you suspect a card is stolen or fake, or when a customer is acting suspiciously.

Debit Memo:

 

Disclosure:

The terms or conditions for refunds, cancellations, or modifications made to reservations, etc.

Draft/Sales Draft:

A record (usually paper) used to document that a good or service was purchased.

Financial Institution:

Any organization that provides financial services to merchants or individuals, including commercial banks, credit card banks, savings banks and credit unions.

Floor Limit:

A specific dollar limit used to determine which Visa card transactions you must authorize. If your business has a floor limit of $100, you must obtain authorization for any transaction over that amount.

Note

All airline, telephone, and mail order transactions must be authorized, even if the amount is under your floor limit. It should also be noted that a floor limit is not utilized for most transactions processed through point of sale terminals, as typically all transactions are authorized.

Imprint:

The physical impression made from a customer's card on a sales draft, proving that the card was present when the sale was made. Electronic imprints can be made with a magnetic-stripe-reading terminal that includes the correct point-of-sale (POS) entry code.

Internet Payment Gateway Service (IPGS):

Provides a standard Internet connection for merchants and merchant aggregators (businesses that provide hosting and other e-commerce processing services for multiple merchants) to securely and reliably send and receive payment transaction messages.

Internet Payment Service Provider (IPSP):

An online entity that contracts with an Acquirer/Payment Processor to provide payment-related services to Sponsored Merchants. The IPSP interfaces with an Acquirer/Payment Processor on behalf of its Sponsored Merchants and must ensure that its Sponsored Merchants are contractually obligated to operate in accordance with Visa requirements.

Issuer:

A financial institution that issues Visa cards and maintains a contract with cardholders for repayment.

Merchant:

An authorized acceptor of Visa cards for the payment of goods and services.

Merchant Bank:

A financial institution that helps the merchant fulfill Visa card payments from customers.

Merchant Identification Number:

The number a financial institution assigns to a merchant to identify their business.

MO/TO:

Short for mail order (MO) or telephone order (TO).

Near Field Communication (NFC):

A short-range, high frequency wireless communication technology that enables the exchange of data between devices over about a decimetre’s distance.

Overhead:

Business expenses such as property taxes, utilities, and insurance that are not directly connected to the goods or services you produce.

Visa payWave:

Our contactless payment solution. Your customers wave their Visa card with the Visa payWave feature in front of a secure contactless reader at checkout and the transaction is completed in less than a second. With no signature to check or PIN to enter and cardholder receipt optional, expect faster transactions, shorter lines and happier customers.

POS Terminal:

A computerized point-of-sale terminal that processes payment cards and is connected to other systems in a network.

Visa Prepaid Cards:

A payment card containing a preset amount of funds that can be used anywhere in the world Visa cards are accepted.

Radio-frequency identification (RFID):

An automatic identification method that relies on storing and remotely retrieving data using devices called RFID tags or transponders.
An RFID tag is an object that can be applied to or incorporated into a product for the purpose of identification using radiowaves. Some tags can be read from several meters away, beyond the line of sight of the reader. This technology has a variety of potential uses in the payment industry including payment via mobile phones.

Secure Sockets Layer (SSL):

A security standard that many merchants use to keep their Web sites secure – and to protect the safety, privacy, and reliability of payment data traveling over the Internet. SSL encrypts the channel between browser and Web server so only the intended parties can read certain data, such as payment or customer information.

Sponsored Merchant:

An online business that contracts with an IPSP to perform some or all of its payment-related operations on its behalf.

Verified by Visa®

Verified by Visa (VbV) is a global online authentication service that makes online shopping more secure for both Visa merchants and cardholders.
VbV provides your business with added protection against fraudulent transactions and chargebacks for online sales, while providing your customers with added confidence when shopping online – helping to turn “browsers” into “purchasers.” Learn more about Verified by Visa.

VisaNet®

A global network that acts as an Authorization service for Visa transactions, as well as a Clearing and Settlement service to transfer payment information between parties.

Zero Liability Policy:

A Visa policy that protects cardholders from unauthorized use of their Visa cards†.
† Visa cardholders must establish that the transaction is not their responsibility as per all applicable agreements of the issuing financial institution. Commercial cards are excluded from the program.


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