Apart from providing an authorisation for a card transaction, an acquiring bank may be able to provide a range of additional services to help a merchant and these are listed below in alphabetical order.
- AVS and CSC
- Card Reward Scheme
- Dynamic Currency Conversion
- E top Up
- Gratuity
- Management Information
- Multi-currency
- Purchase With Cash Back
- Polling
- Recurring Transactions
- Transax
- Voice or Telephone Authorisations
AVS and CSC
These two acronyms stand for Address Verification Service (AVS) and Card Security Code (CSC). They refer to information that a merchant can pass to their acquiring bank via the terminal (or by other means) to will help them decide whether to proceed with a transaction or not. Used together, AVS and CSC provide a simple fraud prevention tool. Although AVS and CSC do not provide full cardholder identification, they present a tool to deal with most common types of CNP (card not present) fraud. For more information visit the Fraud Prevention Tools pages.
Card Reward Scheme
To incentivise shop staff to spot and stop card fraud, the card industry operates a reward scheme for the return of wanted or suspicious cards.
A merchant’s acquiring bank can provide details on the level of reward available.
Dynamic Currency Conversion
In the UK, the Dynamic Currency Conversion service will provide overseas cardholders with the option to be charged in their own currency at the point-of-sale using the latest currency exchange rates or to pay in £ sterling.
E top Up
A merchant can use their terminal, where this functionality is available, to allow customers to top up their mobile phone account using their plastic card. The top up can be paid by using the phone users payment card or by accepting another form of payment. There may be a commission / payment from the mobile phone company for providing this service and a merchant’s acquiring bank can provide further details.
Gratuity
A service whereby an amount can be added to a cardholder’s bill, over and above the amount for the goods / service they have purchased. For example, a restaurant can use this service to collect tips from customers. An acquiring bank can explain how this works and provide details of any additional facilities they may have to track gratuities in the merchant’s business.
Management Information
An acquiring bank may provide a facility for a merchant to receive electronic management information about their transactions. This will be in addition to the end-of-day terminal printout that shows a merchant the number and value of transactions that have been taken through their terminal that day.
Multi-currency
A multi-currency facility gives a merchant the ability to accept non-sterling transactions. This is of particular use if a merchant intends to accept transactions over the internet where overseas cardholders may wish to pay for goods in their own currency.
Purchase With Cash Back
This service provides a cardholder with the facility to withdraw cash, up to a limit agreed by the merchant’s acquiring bank. It can benefit a merchant as it has the potential to reduce the amount of cash held on their premises. This service can only be offered to a cardholder when making a purchase using certain cards.
Polling
Polling describes the collection of transaction data from a terminal for processing. This service is provided by a polling bureau that will discuss with a merchant when the transactions are to be polled during the day.
This service may be required to run in conjunction with the gratuity function and an acquiring bank will provide further details on how polling works and about completing the end-of-day procedure to allow polling to take place.
Recurring Transactions
A cardholder can authorise a recurring transaction to be set up on their card giving a merchant permission to periodically bill their account for goods or services delivered over a period of time. For example, this could be for magazine subscriptions or payment instalments.
A merchant’s acquiring bank will advise them on the procedures to be used to accept recurring transactions, which cards can be used, and how they should be processed.
Transax
Transax is a service provided through a terminal, by Certegy. They can authorise a cheque that is supported by a cheque guarantee card; guaranteeing that a merchant will be paid even if the cheque is later dishonoured.
An acquiring bank can provide further details on this service.
Voice or Telephone Authorisation
A merchant may use this service if they do not have a terminal, have a terminal that is unable to obtain an automatic authorisation, or if the terminal prompts them to seek a telephone authorisation.
An acquiring bank will provide further details on the correct procedures to follow when a merchant needs to seek a telephone authorisation.
