By LeiraOlecra

ATM – Automated Teller Machines; cash machine in the US; cash points in UK; allows one to access cash with a credit card or other card associated with your bank account. You need to enter your Personal Identification Number (PIN code) into the machine to access cash. It is wrong to say ATM machine; it is like saying “pizza pie,” while pizza is already a kind of pie.

Access – The old name for MasterCard.

Account Number – A unique number assigned by a financial institution to their customer. On a credit card, this number is embossed and encoded on the plastic card.

Acquirer – A bank that makes arrangements with businesses to accept credit card sales. When you pay for something in a shop, the money is sent to the acquirer, who then puts it into the shop’s bank account and sends details of the sale to the credit card issuer. The card issuer records the sale and charges it to your account. The acquirer charges the shop a small fee.

Acquiring Bank – A bank that receives the credit card transactions and then settles with the issuing banks; banks that signs up and or enables the merchant to process transactions.

Additional/Supplementary Card Holder – When you have a credit card it is possible to add an additional card to the account for use by someone else usually by members of the family. The main card holder has responsibility for ensuring payments on the additional card/s purchased. Purchases for both cards are shown on the statement of account sent monthly.

Address Verification Service (AVS) – A method of reducing fraud in mail, internet order or telephone order transactions by using cardholder’s billing address information in the authorization request.

American Express – Also known as AMEX, one of the biggest international credit card issuer. Unlike Visa and MasterCard, it issues its own credit card and is responsible for its own relationships with retailers.

Annual Fee – Some issuers charge for the management of your credit card account. They sometimes provide access to a number of additional benefits as part of the charge. This is expressed as percent per annum or % P.A.

Authorization – Every retailer has a purchase limit above which they must seek authorization from the card issuer before they can complete the sale. This can be done by telephone or electronically at the cash till. Authorization is used to control if not prevent totally the credit card fraud. The cardholder’s available credit limit may be reduced by the bank or institution that issued it depending on the movement of cardholder’s account.

Authorization Amount – Currency amount approved.

Authorization Code – A code that an issuer or its authorizing processor provides to indicate approval or denial for an authorization request.

Authorization Date – Date and Time that transaction was authorized.

Authorized Transactions – Transactions that has been approved.

BIN – Bank Identification Number. This is the first six-digit of Visa or MasterCard account number and is used to identify the card issuing institution.

Bad Credit – A term used to describe a poor credit rating. Common practices that can damage a credit rating or credit score including late payments, skipping payments, exceeding card limits or declaring bankruptcy. This will also result in being denied credit.

Balance Transfer – The process of moving an unpaid credit card debt from one issuer to another. Transfers of the balance owed may occur through the use of special checks, or may be handled directly by the issuer on your behalf.

Card Issuer – Any association member financial institution, bank, credit union, or company that issued, or causes to be issued, plastic cards to cardholders.

Cardholder – An individual to whom a card is issued, or who is authorized to use an issued card. This is you and me and them.

Cash Back – Cash back returns to you a percentage of the total amount spent on your credit card over a specific period of time, usually monthly or quarterly. This is particularly useful if you normally pay your credit card bills in full each month, as it means you get an effective discount on the products bought by the use of your credit card.

Chargeback – A transaction returned through interchange by an issuer to an acquirer it may be because of it was non-compliant with the association’s rules and regulations or it was disputed by the cardholder.

Credit Card Number – Unique number assigned to a credit card.

Credit History – A partial profile of your financial life given within a particular time frame. It shows the extent to which you pay your bills on time and how much you may owe particular parties. Credit card issuers use this information to decide whether to provide customers with credit cards. If you have been turned down in the past due to a bad credit history you can sometimes still obtain a credit card after a certain period of time.

Credit Limit – The maximum amount of credit you may receive on your card; in some situations, your card issuer may increase or decrease your credit line.

Debit – A charge to a customer’s bankcard account. A transaction, such as a check, ATM withdrawal, or point-of-sale (POS) transactions debit purchase that debits a demand deposit account.

Deposit – Process of transmitting a batch of transactions from the merchant to the acquiring institution in preparation for settlement. Normally we take this as an act of depositing money over the counter with a live teller or through an ATM.

Expired Card – A card on which the embossed, encoded, or printed expiration date has passed.

Finance Charge – The charge for using a credit card comprised of interest cost and other fees.

Fraudulent Transaction – A transaction unauthorized by the cardholder of a bankcard. Such transactions are categorized as lost, stolen, not received, issued on a fraudulent application, counterfeit, fraudulent processing of transactions, account takeover, or other conditions as defined by the card company or the member company and consider as fraudulent activities.

Fraudulent User – An individual who is not the cardholder or designee and uses a card to obtain goods or services without the cardholder’s consent. This is usually done via internet, in a mail or phone order or recurring transaction with the same account number.

Magnetic Stripe – A stripe of magnetic information affixed to the back of a plastic credit or debit card. It contains customer and account information required to complete electronic financial transactions. The physical and magnetic characteristics of this stripe are specified in the International Organization for Standardization standards 7810, 7811, and 7813.

Magnetic-stripe Reader – A device that reads information from the magnetic stripe and transmits that information to a transaction processor or computer terminal. Also referred to as card reader.

Magnetic-stripe Terminal – A terminal that reads the magnetic stripe on plastic cards.

Mail/Phone Order Transaction – A transaction where a cardholder orders goods or services from a merchant via telephone, mail, internet, or other means of telecommunications, and neither the card nor the cardholder is present at the merchant outlet.

MasterCard – This refers to MasterCard International Inc., and all of its subsidiaries and affiliates.

MasterCard Acquirer – A member that signs a MasterCard merchant or disburses currency to a MasterCard cardholder in a cash disbursement, and directly or indirectly enters the resulting transaction receipt into interchange.

MasterCard Card – A card the bears the MasterCard symbol or logo, enabling a MasterCard cardholder to obtain goods, services, or cash from a MasterCard merchant or an acquirer.

MasterCard Issuer – A member that issues MasterCard cards.

Merchant – The one that transacts business by internet, mail, phone or over the counter. An entity that contracts with merchant banks or ISO’s to originate transactions.

Merchant Agreement – A written agreement between a merchant and a bank containing their respective rights, duties, and warranties with regards to acceptance of the bankcard and matters related to the bankcard activities.
Merit – MasterCard’s requirements for obtaining favorable interchange rates.

PIN (Personal Identification Number) – A sequence of digits used to verify the identity of the cardholder. It is a kind of electronic password.

POS System (Point Of Sale) – A system that process commercial transactions such as a credit card terminal, electronic cash register, or specialized software.

Posting – The process of updating individual cardholder account balances to reflect merchandise sales, instant cash, cash advances, adjustments, payments, and any other charges or credits.

Primary Account Number (PAN) – The number that is embossed encoded, or both, on a plastic card that identifies the issuer and the particular cardholder account.

Processing Date – The date on which the transaction is processed by the acquiring bank.

Receipt – A hard copy document recording a transaction that took place at the point of sale, with a description that usually includes: date, merchant’s name and its location, primary account number, purchased amount, and reference number.

Refund – Create a credit to a cardholder account, usually as a result of a product return or to correct an error.

Reversal – An online financial transaction used to negate or cancel a transaction that has been sent through interchange in error.

Statement of Account – A written record prepared by a financial institution, usually once a month, listing all transactions for an account, including deposits, withdrawals, checks, electronic transfers, fees, and other charges and interests credited or earned. Bill statement is mailed to customer while other cardholders opted to receive them by E-Bill or electronic bill sent via email. Very few prefer to receive them via SMS or short messaging service or text message in generic term.

Transaction – (a) Any agreement between two or more parties that establishes a legal obligation. (b) The act of carrying out such an obligation. (c) All activities that affect a deposit account that are performed at the request of the account holder. (d) All events that cause in the assets, liabilities or net worth of a business. (e) Action between a cardholder and a merchant or a cardholder and a member that results in activity on the cardholder account.