Merchant Services Terms Beginning with C
Cardholder: A cardholder is an individual, merchant or a corporate individual to whom a credit card is issued. The cardholder is the person or company who opens a credit card account and makes purchases using that respective credit card.
Card Present: A card present scenario indicates a merchant, sales or market environment in which credit card transactions can be completed only if both a valid credit card and its respective cardholder are both physically present during the transaction.
Card Issuer: A card issuer is a bank or financial institution that provides “card association” branded payment (credit or debit) cards directly to consumers.
Chargeback: A chargeback is the result of an action taken by a cardholder who disputes a credit card transaction through their credit card issuer. The card issuer initiates a chargeback against the merchant’s account. The sale amount of the disputed transaction is immediately debited from the merchant’s bank account. Merchants have 10 days in which to dispute the chargeback. This may be accomplished by providing the card issuing bank with a proof of purchase by the cardholder. This could be a signature or proof of delivery. A chargeback fee is generally assessed to the merchant account by the merchant bank for the handling of this process.
Charge Off: A Charge-off or write-off is a situation in which a credit card issuing institution is faced with a delinquent loan of such severity that it must temporarily or permanently absorb the entire amount of the debt in order to clear that amount from its records.
Checklister: In the formal course of merchant credit card and other electronic payment processing, a Checklister is a computer program that acts as a system – or what is known as a “gatekeeper” – through which all applications are entered. Once these application are submitted to the Checklister system, each one is automatically checked and verified for completeness and are then subsequently summarized in order to rapidly determine the exact status of that file, such as the acceptance or denial of a payment used in a traditional retail sales transaction or an online sales transaction.
Contingent Liability: Contingent liability is a term often used by financial institution underwriters and sales representatives to properly identify a situation created when merchants process credit card transactions ahead of the date that cardholder customers can expect to receive the goods or services that they originally purchased.
Corporate Resolution: A corporate resolution is a recorded formal process adopted by a majority of a company’s Board of Directors authorizing the company’s officers or management team to undertake actions on behalf of the entire company.
Credit Card – A credit card is a thin plastic card, roughly three by two inches in size, which is used by consumers and companies to make purchases.
Credit Card Fraud: Credit card fraud occurs when anyone uses another person’s credit card as a source of illegal funds.
Credit Card Processing: Credit card processing is a complex series of electronic events that accomplishes the secure, successful transfer of funds from a bank to a merchant in payment for goods and services purchased by a valid credit card holder.
Credit Card Processors: Credit card processors are businesses, including but not limited to chartered financial institutions, that give merchants the ability to accept debit and credit card payments for goods and services.
Credit Card Terminal: A credit card terminal is a real or virtual business device that allows merchants to process cardholder payments.
Credit Report: A credit report is a complete history of financial transactions conducted by an individual, a business or even a country over a fixed period of time.
Customer Satisfaction: Satisfying consumers through quality products or good employee consumer relations.
CVV2: The CVV code (Card Verification Value code) is a three- or four-digit number printed on credit cards, usually on the back. It was created to protect merchants and credit card issuing banks from fraudulent purchases in what are termed “cardholder not present” purchases.
