Glossary

A bank having a business relationship with merchants, retailers and other service providers to process their plastic card transactions. Acquirers obtain financial settlement for the card issuers, typically via the card schemes, which maintain the clearing systems, and pay the proceeds to the merchant, charging a fee.
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Where there is more than one credit cardholder for any particular credit card account anyone who is not the primary account holder is an additional cardholder. All purchases will be shown on the account holders' statement and will be itemised. It will be the primary account holders' responsibility to make the necessary payments.
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A payment card issued on the basis that the card issuer makes a donation to a particular organisation (often a charity).
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information about the borrowing habits of people. Financial institutions may contact these agencies for information to help them make various decisions, for example, whether or not to open an account or provide loans or grant credit. Financial institutions share information with the agencies to improve the overall quality of lending decisions.
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An international card scheme.
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A fee charged by some card issuers to cover costs incurred maintaining an account and supplementary services.
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The interest charged on purchases over one year, expressed as a percentage of the amount borrowed. It includes the interest to be paid on the amount borrowed and other compulsory non-interest costs (for example annual fees). The APR does not include any avoidable charges such as late payment fees.
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Anything that belongs to you that may be used to pay your debts.
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Also known as a cash machine or cash dispenser. A computerised self-service machine permitting the holders of an appropriate card and personal identification number (PIN) to withdraw cash from their account and access other banking services.
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The average value for each card transaction and is calculated by dividing the total value of card transactions by the number of transactions.
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A process where a cardholder proves that they are the genuine cardholder. In the case of a card present transaction, a cardholder will be authenticated by inputting their Personal Identification Number (PIN) which is checked against the one held in the chip on the card. In the case of an internet transaction, the cardholder will be authenticated using either MasterCard SecureCode or Visa Verified by Visa.
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An authorisation is provided by a cardholder issuer and confirms that the card number is valid, that the funds were available at the time the transaction took place and the card had not been reported as lost or stolen at the time of the transaction. It is not a guarantee of payment.
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A telephone call made, having been prompted by the terminal or point-of-sale to obtain authorisation for a transaction.
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Generated by a card issuer or by an acquiring bank on behalf of a card issuer when an authorisation request is approved.
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Fraud prevention tool that verifies a cardholder address against the record held by the card issuer.

The total outstanding amount or positive amount on an account. The outstanding balance on a credit card includes borrowing for purchases, cash advances, balance transfers and any interest incurred.
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