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to an amount pre-deposited into the card account; can be startup kit – Supplies provided to newly signed merchants;
single use or reloadable, network-branded or private label include sales slips, batch header tickets, return envelopes,
(issued by banks or nonbanks). signage and instructional documents.
processor – Organization linked to the card brands that store card – Retailer-issued credit/debit/prepaid card.
provides authorization, as well as payment clearing and super ISO – Very large independent sales organization
settlement services. that sponsors and services hundreds of thousands of
Q small retailers and smaller ISOs; provides a full suite of
technology- and marketing- oriented products and services.
qualified transaction – Signifies the transaction was surcharge – Specific fee charged by merchants to customers
swiped, the mag stripe was read and the cardholder signed using credit and/or debit cards as opposed to cash;
for the purchase; also known as swiped rate. If one or more merchants are required to notify card brands in advance of
conditions is unmet it becomes a mid-qualified transaction. plans to surcharge.
If the transaction is key-entered, is delayed entering the switch fee – Charge assessed by acquirers for PIN-based
collection stream, or there are other problems it is deemed POS debit card payments.
non-qualified.
QR (quick response) code – Two-dimensional code T
with large storage capacity that can be decoded at high
speed; used in some mobile wallet schemes (for example, tiered pricing – Pricing technique that assigns transactions
Starbucks). to different pricing "buckets" based on acquirer-set criteria,
such as risk factors. At least three buckets are typically
R used, designating that transactions are qualified, mid-
qualified or non-qualified.
RAM scraping – Attack in which thieves hack a POS TIN (taxpayer identification number) – Identification
device and retrieve payment card data from random access assigned a business by the Internal Revenue Service.
memory as it is being processed by the device.
reference number – Transaction identifier assigned by an TMF (terminated merchant file) – See MATCH list.
acquiring organization. tokenization – Use of non-decipherable data substitute to
residuals – Payments made by acquirers to an MLS after reference cardholder data to protect sensitive information
during payment processing.
the MLS signs merchant; contracts dictate size, duration
and other factors influencing residuals. transaction authentication number – One-time
response code – Number provided by card issuer to authorization code that helps secure online payments.
merchant that verifies transaction was accepted or explains transaction identifier – Unique, 15-digit identifier that
why it was not accepted. creates an audit trail through the lifecycle of a card payment.
rewards cards – See loyalty programs. transaction number – Number assigned by acquirer to
RFID (radio frequency identification) – Wireless identify individual transactions.
technology used to transfer data for mobile payments. 3DES or Triple DES – Type of encryption used to secure
transaction and account information; describes function
S of Triple Data Encryption Algorithm, which applies Data
Encryption Standard (DES) cipher algorithm three times to
sales draft – Hard-copy documentation of a transaction; each data block encrypted.
also called sales/charge slip. U
security code – See CVV.
settlement – Exchange of payment data between acquirer underwriting – Process of analyzing the risk of a prospective
and issuer that completes card transactions. ISO or merchant and setting acceptance criteria intended to
mitigate those risks.
settlement bank – Financial institution authorized to
execute settlements on a given processing network. V
shopping cart – Ecommerce tool that draws its name from
brick-and-mortar world; refers to software that enables validation code – Unique, four-character value Visa
online shoppers to select items for eventual purchase. includes as part of the CPS/ATM program in each
signing bonus – Incentive, paid by ISO/acquirer, to get authorization response; ensures that key authorization
MLSs to sign more deals. fields are preserved in the clearing or settlement record.
skimming – Stealing credit/debit card information by Z
means of small electronic devices that can scan for and
store information contained on cards' magnetic stripes. zero floor limit – Policy requiring that all transactions be
smart card – See chip card. authorized, regardless of amount.

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