What is a Credit Card Processing Company?
In order for a business to be able to accept credit cards in person, online, or over the phone, it must have a payment provider that can process each transaction securely. Businesses like ours that enable merchants to handle credit and debit card payments are known as credit card processing companies.
Essentially, A Better Credit Card Processing Company acts as the middleman between the customer’s bank (where the payment comes from) and the merchant’s bank (the payment destination). While it may not be necessary to understand everything about payment systems to find the best credit card processor, it helps to know how credit card processing works in order to choose the best processing solution for your business.
Who Is Involved in the Transaction?
The parties involved in this transaction include the cardholder, the merchant or business, the merchant’s bank (acquiring back), the cardholder’s bank (issuing bank), the card association (Visa or Mastercard), and the payment processor (A Better Credit Card Processing Company).
What is the Role of the Card Association (Visa or Mastercard)?
Visa and Mastercard are not banks, and they do not actually issue credit cards or merchant accounts. Instead, they function as clearing houses for their respective card brand. Their main responsibilities are to oversee members of their associations, establish qualification guidelines and set interchange fees. They also act as an arbiter between issuing and acquiring banks and maintain the card network.
A Two-part Process
Credit card transactions consist of two main parts: authorization and settlement.
Authorization
When a customer swipes a credit card through a processing terminal to pay for an item, the terminal recognizes the card and contacts the credit card processing company, which sends the information over to the issuing bank for approval. As soon as the card issuer sends a response code back through the appropriate network, the card is authorized.
Settlement
Settlement is the second part of a credit card transaction which occurs after authorization. Usually once a day, the merchant sends a batch of authorizations to the payment processing company (ABCCPC). We then reconcile these authorizations and send the batch over the respective card association networks. In addition, we deposit the money received from the sales into the merchant’s bank account minus the processing fees. This is the end of the merchant’s part of the transaction. At this point, the issuing bank pays the acquiring bank for the cardholders’ purchases. Eventually, the cardholder pays the issuing bank.
What Forms of Payment Do You Process?
We process the following forms of payment through our systems:
- Credit, Debit and Charge Cards – Visa, MasterCard, and American Express
- NFC Payments – Apple Pay and Google Pay
- Specialty Cards: PayPal, EBT Cards, JCB, Diners Club
- Fleet Cards: Voyager, Wright’s Express Card
- Recurring payments
- Checks
- ACH
ABC Card Processing Company believes in providing the maximum benefit for our merchants at the lowest possible cost. Because businesses come in different sizes, we offer solutions tailored to match your specific needs, goals, and budget. Whether you handle mainly in-person transactions with point of sale (POS) systems or online payments or a combination of both, A Better Credit Card Processing Company has you covered.