The payment industry is constantly changing. It can be overwhelming to keep up with different terms, regulations, and processes. At Midigator, we strive to remove this complexity and simplify the challenge of payment risk management. That’s why we created Midigator University, a resource for everything you wanted to know about the payment industry.
Midigator University
Payment Industry Terms
Use Midigator’s simplified explanations and definitions to understand complex payment industry terminology.
3D Secure is a fraud prevention tool used by online merchants. It helps verify that…
Jennifer MeredithSeptember 17, 2018
An acquirer is a bank or financial institution that operates on the merchant’s behalf to…
Jennifer MeredithSeptember 26, 2018
Address Verification Service (AVS) is an identity verification tool used by eCommerce merchants to reduce…
adminSeptember 13, 2018
If a transaction dispute can’t be resolved with the standard chargeback process, the issue can…
adminSeptember 13, 2018
Before finalizing a transaction, the merchant must submit an authorization request to the customer’s issuer.…
Jennifer MeredithSeptember 17, 2018
The average monthly sales volume is calculated as the total value of sales processed in…
Jennifer MeredithSeptember 17, 2018
The average monthly transaction volume is calculated as the total number of transactions processed in…
Jennifer MeredithSeptember 17, 2018
The average ticket amount is calculated as the net value of sales divided by the…
Jennifer MeredithSeptember 17, 2018
A bank identification number (BIN) is used to uniquely identify each bank or financial institution…
Jennifer MeredithSeptember 17, 2018
A billing descriptor is the short explanation of the transaction that appears on the cardholder’s…
Jennifer MeredithSeptember 17, 2018
Some card brands, like Visa and Mastercard, are part of a card network or association.…
Jennifer MeredithSeptember 17, 2018
Card brands facilitate credit and debit card payments. They essentially lend funds to merchants and…
Jennifer MeredithSeptember 17, 2018
Every debit and credit card has a card security code (sometimes referred to as CVC2,…
Jennifer MeredithSeptember 17, 2018
A card-not-present (CNP) transaction happens when the physical card is not read with a point-of-sales…
Jennifer MeredithSeptember 17, 2018
A card-present transaction happens when the physical card is read with a point-of-sales (POS) terminal.…
Jennifer MeredithSeptember 17, 2018
The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) is legislation that regulates how businesses handle consumers' personal…
Max JonesNovember 4, 2019
A chargeback is a consumer protection mechanism. It ensures cardholders don’t have to pay for…
Jennifer MeredithSeptember 17, 2018
Compelling evidence is certain documents that a merchant can submit with a chargeback response to…
Jennifer MeredithSeptember 17, 2018
Credit cards provide a line of credit to cardholders to purchase goods or services. Credit…
Jennifer MeredithSeptember 17, 2018
Businesses use a customer relationship management (CRM) system to store information about their various contacts…
Jennifer MeredithSeptember 17, 2018
Debit cards withdraw funds directly from a checking or savings account so the cardholder can…
Jennifer MeredithSeptember 17, 2018
A payment dispute is a consumer protection mechanism. Cardholders have the right to dispute a…
Jennifer MeredithSeptember 17, 2018
Dispute responses allow merchants to challenge illegitimate disputes. The purpose of a dispute response is…
Jennifer MeredithSeptember 17, 2018
Mastercard offers merchants two ways to process payment card transactions. With the dual message system,…
Jennifer MeredithSeptember 17, 2018
Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC) is a service provided to cardholders when they shop with international…
Jennifer MeredithSeptember 17, 2018
In regards to risk management, a false positive is a transaction that has been incorrectly…
Jennifer MeredithSeptember 17, 2018
Some merchants are considered high-risk because they have the potential to be a financial liability…
Jennifer MeredithSeptember 17, 2018
Rather than maintain their own in-house teams for sales, customer support, etc., many acquirers and…
Jennifer MeredithSeptember 17, 2018
Each credit or debit card transaction a merchant processes is accompanied by an interchange fee,…
Jennifer MeredithSeptember 17, 2018
An ISO agent is essentially a salesperson, an individual contracted to sell services provided by…
Jennifer MeredithSeptember 17, 2018
An issuing bank is the cardholder’s bank. As a member of the card associations, issuing…
Jennifer MeredithSeptember 17, 2018
A simplified explanation of the rules regulating the Mastercard Excessive Chargeback Program.
Jennifer MeredithOctober 25, 2018
Mastercard SecureCode is a fraud prevention tool used by online merchants. It helps verify that…
Jennifer MeredithSeptember 17, 2018
The Member Alert to Control High-Risk Merchants (MATCH) List is a database of merchants who…
Jennifer MeredithSeptember 17, 2018
Card associations have two different types of members. Members can be licensed to issue cards…
Jennifer MeredithSeptember 17, 2018
An acquirer provides a merchant account so a business can accept and process payment card…
Jennifer MeredithSeptember 17, 2018
The merchant’s acquirer will create a merchant account reserve to withhold a portion of the…
Jennifer MeredithSeptember 17, 2018
A merchant category code (MCC) is a four-digit classification code use to describe a merchant’s…
Jennifer MeredithSeptember 17, 2018
The merchant identification number (MID) is a unique alphanumeric identifier assigned to a merchant account.…
Jennifer MeredithSeptember 17, 2018
A merchant service agreement is a contract between a merchant and acquirer. Service agreements establish…
Jennifer MeredithSeptember 17, 2018
A payment gateway is a software or device-based service that receives, protects, and shares transaction…
Jennifer MeredithSeptember 17, 2018
A payment processor shares and receives data from the card associations, acquirer, and gateway in…
Jennifer MeredithSeptember 17, 2018
If a cardholder agrees to pay recurring transactions, the merchant is authorized to charge the…
Jennifer MeredithSeptember 26, 2018
The representment process allows merchants to respond to chargebacks. The purpose of representment is to…
Jennifer MeredithSeptember 17, 2018
Mastercard offers merchants two ways to process payment card transactions. With the single message system,…
Jennifer MeredithSeptember 18, 2018
Transaction settlement is the process of moving funds from the cardholder’s account to the merchant’s…
Jennifer MeredithSeptember 18, 2018
A Value-Added Reseller (VAR) sheet is a file that contains important payment processing information, such…
Jennifer MeredithSeptember 24, 2018
A simplified explanation of the rules regulating the Visa Chargeback Monitoring Program (VCMP)
Jennifer MeredithOctober 25, 2018
Visa Claims Resolution (VCR) is an initiative to streamline workflows and standardize rules for chargeback…
Jennifer MeredithSeptember 18, 2018
Visa Secure is a fraud prevention tool used by online merchants. It helps verify that…
Jennifer MeredithSeptember 18, 2018
Win rate is a calculation that compares the number of successful chargeback responses against the…
Jennifer MeredithSeptember 18, 2018