Here’s the behind the scenes summarization explaining how the payment process develops. There are 2 words to identify; the Acquirer and the Issuer. The Acquirer is the Merchant’s bank or financial institution, and the Issuer is the Customer’s bank or financial union that issued the credit /debit card.
Step 1: The customer pays with Credit or Debit Card
The customer uses their card for purchase
Step 2: Payment is Authenticated
The merchant’s point-of-sale captures the card account information, matches merchant info, and securely processes it for authentication to the merchant’s bank ( Acquirer)
Step 3: Transaction is submitted
When authenticated, it transfers to get the authorization from the customer’s issuing bank (Issuer)
Step 4: Authorization is requested
Once submitted to the issuing bank, it seeks approval that there is enough cash or credit limit on the card for authorization
Steps 5 & 6: Authorization response & Merchant payment
The issuing bank authorizes the transaction and assigns an approval to the merchant. The issuing bank directs payment, the processor then schedules deposit for merchant when transactions settle or batch.
So what’s that mean? You need to find a processor that will securely transmit the transaction involvement between the acquirer, card service (Visa®, MasterCard®, Discover®, and American Express®) the issuer and back to you. Why doesn’t Visa® or MasterCard® offer the service? They stay neutral and it won’t cloud any decision on what the interchange rate is.
We process faster, better and for less fees when using us.
