Payments Glossary

A

ACH

Automated Clearing House (ACH) is an electronic network for financial transactions in the United States. ACH is an electronic clearing system in which payment orders are exchanged among financial institutions, primarily via magnetic media or telecommunications networks, and handled by a data processing centre.

Acquirer

The entity or entities that hold(s) deposit accounts for card acceptors (merchants) to which the card acceptor transmits the data relating to the transaction. The acquirer is responsible for the collection of transaction information and settlement with the acceptors.

API

Application Programming Interface (API) is a set of routines, protocols and tools for building software applications. An API expresses a software component in terms of its operations, inputs, outputs and underlying types.

API Token

The API Token is a string of alphanumeric characters. This value is used to validate the identity of an online store when performing e-Commerce transactions.

B

Batch File Upload

The transmission or processing of a group of payment orders and/or securities transfer instructions as a set at discrete intervals of time.

C

Chip Card

Also known as an IC (integrated circuit) card. A card containing one or more computer chips or integrated circuits for identification, data storage or special purpose processing used to validate personal identification numbers (PINs), authorise purchases, verify account balances and store personal records. In some cases, the memory in the card is updated every time the card is used (eg an account balance is updated).

Contactless

Contactless payment systems are credit cards and debit cards or other devices, including smartphones and other mobile devices, that use radio-frequency identification (RFID) or near field communication (NFC) for making secure payments, so that no physical contact is necessary.

Credit Card

A card indicating that the holder has been granted a line of credit. It enables the holder to make purchases and/or withdraw cash up to a prearranged ceiling; the credit granted can be settled in full by the end of a specified period or can be settled in part; with the balance taken as extended credit. Interest is charged on the amount of any extended credit and the holder is sometimes charged an annual fee.

D

Debit Card

Card enabling the holder to have his purchases directly charged to funds on his account at a deposit-taking institution.

Draft Capture

Transactions are authorized and captured for clearing/settlement.

E

EMV

Europay, MasterCard and Visa (EMV) are the three companies that originally created the standard. The standard is now managed by EMVCo, a consortium with control split equally among Visa, MasterCard, JCB, American Express, China UnionPay and Discover.
EMV is a technical standard for smart payment cards and payment teminals. EMV cards are smart cards which store their data on integrated circuits rather than magnetic stripes, although many EMV cards also have stripes for backward compatibility. They can be contact cards that must be physically insterted into a ready or contactless cards that can be read over a short distance using radio-frequency identification (RFID or near field communication (NFC).

F

G

H

Host

Main computer hardware on which computer software is resident.

HTTP

Hypertext transfer protocol. Open-internet protocol to transfer or convey information on the World Wide Web.

I

Issuer

The entity which is obligated on a security or other financial instrument. For example, a corporation or government having the authority to issue and sell a security, or a bank that approves a letter of credit. Issuer is sometimes used to refer to a financial institution that issues credit or debit cards.

J

K

L

M

Merchant ID

Your Moneris Gateway Account Number is a 13-digit number provided to you in the e-mail that you received from Moneris to confirm your order.

Merchant Resource Center

Moneris Gateway™ is a Web-based point-of-sale (POS) solution that enables you to process financial transactions securely in real time and/or a batch environment. By using the standard functionality of the virtual interface, the Merchant Resource Center, you can also monitor transactions, pull reports, and reconcile batches.

MICR

Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) is a technology used to verify the legitimacy or originality of paper documents, especially checks. Special ink, which is sensitive to magnetic fields, is used in the printing of certain characters on the original documents.

MSR

Magnetic Stripe Reader (MSR) is a type of hardware device that reads the information encoded in the magnetic stripe located on the back of a credit card.

N

O

Online

In the context of payment and settlement systems, this term may refer to the transmission of transfer instructions by users, through such electronic means as computer-to-computer interfaces or electronic terminals, that are entered into a transfer processing system by automated means. The term may also refer to the storage of data by a transfer processing system on a computer database such that the user has direct access to the data (frequently in real time) through input/output devices such as terminals.

POA

Point-of-Authorization. Transactions are authorized only, Settlement for the transactions is via other means (i.e. XML or SCP).

P

POS

Point of Sale (POS) is the time and place where a retail transaction is completed. It is the point at which the customer makes a payment to the merchant in exchange for goods or after provision of a service.

Prepaid Card

A payment card that is loaded with money by you or someone else. Looks just like any normal credit or debit card, with a card number, signature strip and company branding.

Q

R

S

Settlement

This is the completion of a transaction, wherein the seller transfers securities or financial instruments to the buyer and the buyer transfers money to the seller. A settlement may be final or provisional.

SPDH

Standard POS Device Handler. Provides an interface for POS terminals into Base24 POS.

Store ID

This is a 10 digit alphanumeric string beginning with "mon".

T

U

V

VAU / ABU

Visa Account Updater (VAU), Automatic Billing Updater (ABU) are products that offer merchants a secure mechanism to exchange and update cardholder account information.

W

X

XML File

eXtensible Mark-up Language. A file sent between 2 entities containing transaction data for clearing. Supports EMV (chip) data.

Y

Z