To the untrained eye, the processing of debit and credit cards may seem like a piece of cake. In actuality, there are numerous participants who play different roles to make the entire process successful. Credit card processing is an intricate, but reassuringly comprehensive procedure. Nonetheless, given the innumerable amounts of money that change hands daily via credit card schemes, this is no surprise. It is imperative that you are well-versed in the inner-workings of the bank card system. This entails knowing the key players involved in this system. Outlined below are the prime participants in the credit card processing system.
Cardholder
If you have ever utilized a credit card, then you must be familiar with the role played by a cardholder. This is the individual who acquires a card from a card issuing bank. Being a cardholder, your greatest responsibility entails taking care of your card by using it in safe transactions. You should monitor your financial statements on a regular basis, and if possible set up alerts to notify you of any suspicious charges.
Merchant Provider
Merchant Provider is the term used to describe businesses that deal in sales of goods and services at http://www.houstonmerchantservices.com. In this case, only enterprises that provide merchant services on card systems are pertinent. Such a company will provide a merchant account, which will enable a merchant to accept credit cards as a payment means from customers. Additionally, if you're in the Dallas, Texas area and need a merchant provider, merchant services dallas can help.
Acquiring Bank
An acquiring financial institute is a registered member of a card association. It is also referred to as the merchant bank as it often contracts with merchants to generate and maintain accounts that allow enterprises to accept the credit cards. They provide the merchants with all pieces of equipment and software that they require so as to carry out transactions using credit cards. Another significant role of the acquirer entails depositing funds from the credit card sales into the merchant's account.
Bank Card Issuer
An issuer does the work of providing credit and debit cards. These cards can be requested by either individual consumers or businesses. The issued cards are linked to various checking and credit accounts.
Card Networks
The different card associations are the focal point in the affordable credit card processing ecosystem, and they have two prime roles. Firstly, they handle routing transactions between the acquirers and the issuers. This is to mean that they can solve any issues or disputes that arise when a transaction between the issuer and acquiring financial institute goes south. Secondly, card networks establish rules by which all the other players operate.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merchant_services