Hardware a PIN debit cardholder uses to enter their PIN at the POS. Also called a keypad.

A program that is integrated into a website and makes it possible for shoppers to keep a running tally of products and services they plan to purchase. At checkout, the shopping cart connects to a secure payment page where they can complete their purchase with a payment card.

This is a nine digit number that appears on all checks along with the bank account number. ABA actually stands for American Banker’s Association. It is also sometimes called the Transit Routing Number. The ABA number identifies which banks the account is from. Each bank is issues its own ABA number. When you send a bank wire or an ACH transaction f [..]

ACH is short for Automated Clearing House. When you send and receive money from one bank account to another, you can do it through bank wire, which happens very quickly the same day, or ACH, which takes a couple days. Think of ACH as an electronic payment from one bank account to another. The transaction is initiated by a business to debit an accou [..]

An acquiring bank provides credit card merchant accounts. The acquiring bank is a bank that has a relationship with Visa®

These terms all refer to Visa, MasterCard, American Express®

An ATM (Automated Teller Machine) debit card is a card similar in size and shape to a credit card with an account number and magnetic stripe on one side. When swiped through a point-of-sale terminal, the card holder is prompted to enter a PIN number via a pinpad. This will create an instant debit transaction to the customer’s bank account. Funds ar [..]

This is the term given to the process of validating funds available on a credit card or debit card. It is done at the time the transaction is entered or swiped through a point-of-sale terminal. When a merchant enters a credit card transaction, a response comes back from the issuing bank to the acquirer and back to the merchant, all in a second or s [..]

Authorization code is the response code from the issuing bank returned to the merchant at the time of authorization. This code is usually 6 or 7 digit number and is recorded either by the point-of-sale terminal or software, as well as printed on any receipt or sales draft. If doing a phone or voice authorization, the merchant should record the auth [..]

This is also called a transaction fee. This is the amount charged to a merchant account each time a communication happens between the software or point-of-sale terminal and the authorizing network. The communication can occur either over a dial up telephone line, leased line, or an Internet IP line. In all cases, each time the merchant communicates [..]