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Payments 101

Payments terminology can be confusing at the best of times. With that in mind, our experts have put together this glossary to help you traverse the A-Z.

A

Authorization
The process of receiving a response from an Issuing Bank regarding the status of a Card Payment or Deposit.
ACH Network
The processing network that pulls or pushes money to a bank account utilizing a batched nightly process.
ACH
Automated Clearing House, or ACH, is a type of transaction that utilizes a Routing and account number to pull or push funds to a bank account. Also called an EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer) or eCheck (Electronic Check).
Account Holder
The consumer or business who owns the bank account utilized in an ACH Payment

B

Bank Identification Number (BIN)
The first six digital of a Card which will identify the Issuing Bank

C

CVV
Card Verification Value, also called Card Verification Code (CVC), refers to the 3 or 4 digit number on a Card.
Chargeback
A Payment that has been challenged by the Cardholder or Issuing Bank. Also known as Dispute.
Cardholder
The consumer or business who owns the card utilized in a Card Payment
Card Data
The 15 or 16 digit card number (PAN), expiration date, CVV, and billing address of the cardholder. Some elements of Card Data are required to be stored securely per PCI DSS requirements (such as the PAN), and some cannot be stored at all (CVV).
Card
Visa, Mastercard, Discover, or American Express (or other accepted card brand) credit or debit card account.
Capture
The process of finalizing the submission of a card payment.

D

Dues, Fees, and Assessments (DFA)
The grouping of fees collected from the Merchant or Platform and paid to the Card Brands for costs associated with managing and maintaining the card networks.
Dispute
A Card or ACH Payment that has been challenged by the Cardholder, Account Holder, Issuing Bank, or RDFI.
Deposits
Money movement from the Merchant Ledger to a Merchant.
DDA
Demand Deposit Account is the checking or savings account utilized in an ACH Payment.

E

EMV
EuroPay, Mastercard, and Visa is a microchip based authentication method utilized for in-person Card Payments.

F

Funding
A Payment that has been made available to the Merchant for Deposit
Faster Deposit
An accelerated deposit to a Merchant

G

Gross Deposit
A Merchant deposit that the whole amount of the Payments processed, less Refunds and Disputes.

I

Issuing Bank
The financial institution who issued the card to the Cardholder
Interchange
Generally expressed as a percentage of volume and per item fee on card volume, Interchange is collected from the Merchant or Platform and paid to the Issuing Bank via the Card Brands for costs associated with servicing the Cardholder. There are 1,000+ interchange categories assessed based on Merchant type, card type, entry method, and data elements included with the transaction.

L

Ledger
The record of money movement or transfers for a particular entity or account.

M

Multi-Factor Authentication
Method for authenticating a user utilizing two or more factors. These factors generally include something the user has, something the user knows, or something the user is or does.
MID
Merchant Identification Number is the identifying number of a Merchant Account
Merchant Billing
The amounts charged to the Merchant for moving money through its account.
Merchant Account
The account created for a Merchant for the purposes of processing Payments
Merchant
A business using a Platform's software to move money

N

NSF
A Non-Sufficient Funds is a type of ACH return due to the account not having sufficient funds for a particular Payment.
NOC
Notification of Change is a notice provided by the RDFI indicating that information on the ACH Payment should be updated prior to submitting additional transactions to the same DDA.
Net Deposit
A Merchant Deposit that is net of Merchant Billing.
NACHA
National Automated Clearing House Association is the entity that oversees the ACH network.

P

Platform Fee
An amount charged to the Merchant by the Platform as a part of a Payment
Platform
A SaaS platform utilizing Rainforest for payment functionality
PCI DSS
Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard is a set of requirements around data security. For more information visit https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org.
Payment
Money movement to or from a User on behalf of a Merchant, including Payins and Payouts
Payins
Money movement from a User to a Merchant
Passthrough Fees
Used to describe the collection of fees that are charged to the Platform and directly passed to Card Brands for Interchange and Dues, Fees, and Assessments (DFA).
PAN
Primary Account Number, referring to the 15 or 16 digit Card number.

R

RTP
Real Time Payment is a processing network that pushes money in real-time to a bank account.
Routing Number
The 9-digit number that routes transactions to a particular bank for the purposes of processing an ACH or RTP Payment or Deposit.
Residuals
The Merchant Billing amounts paid to a Platform after deducting costs.
Reason Code
Additional information regarding the nature of a Dispute or Return.
RDFI
Receiving Depository Financial Institution is the Account Holders bank for an ACH Payment.

S

Sponsor Bank
The financial institution who is responsible for Payments activity initiated by, or on behalf of, the Merchant

T

Top-up
Money movement from a Merchant or third-party into a Merchant Ledger
Tokenization
The process of replacing sensitive information, such as a PAN or ACH Account, with a surrogate value.

U

User
A consumer or business transacting with a Merchant