Glossary

A general term for any payment card that is used to pay for goods and services or to withdraw cash. This includes credit cards, charge cards, debit cards, cheque guarantee cards and cash cards.
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A merchant will call the CAC when their terminal has requested them to or they are suspicious about a card transaction they have been asked to accept.
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A bank, building society or other organisation issuing payment cards, ATM cards or cheque guarantee cards to it customers. For payment and ATM-only cards the card issuer undertakes responsibility to settle transactions made with the card (except in some cases where fraud has occurred).
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A business that provides cardholders with a card number registration service. In the event that a card is lost or stolen, the cardholder can contact the CPA who will, on their behalf, advise the card issuer so that a 'stop' can be placed against that card number. CPAs may also provide a registration service for a wide range of other personal items and documents.
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A transaction where the merchant, retailer or other service provider does not have physical access to the payment card, but where the card is inserted in a device by the customer and the card details are verified by an electronic process. Examples are transactions at unattended payment terminals, by telephones equipped with card readers, or via the Internet when a card reader is in use.
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Card schemes set the business rules that govern the issue of the payment cards that carry their logo. Typically these rules apply throughout the world to ensure that a cardholders card can be used anywhere. In many countries, domestic schemes also operate. The schemes operate the clearing and settlement of payment card transactions. In the UK, banks and building societies must be members of the appropriate scheme to issue cards and acquire card transactions. Examples of international card schemes are Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Diners Club International and JCB.
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A transaction where the merchant, retailer or other service provider does not have physical access to the payment card, but where the card is inserted in a device by the customer and the card details are verified by an electronic process. Examples are transaction at unattended payment terminals, by telephones equipped with card readers or via the Internet when a card reader is in use.
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An advance that draws directly against a cardholders' credit line, where the service is available
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A payment card that allows a cardholder to make purchases and to draw cash up to a pre-arranged credit limit. The terms include the obligation to pay the account in full at the end of a specified period. Cardholders are normally charged an annual fee.
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A transaction that has been returned by an issuer to the acquiring bank because it has been disputed by the cardholder and/or found to be improper by the issuer. The acquiring bank will deduct the value of the chargeback from the merchant’s bank account.
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These are a set of prescribed codes used by the card schemes that give a reason as to why a transaction has been charged back.
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A court order placing restrictions on the disposal of certain assets, such as property or securities, given after judgement and gives priority of payment over other creditors.
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A payment card containing a chip that requires use of a PIN as the preferred method of cardholder verification at the point-of-sale and at cash machines.
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A chip card holds details on a secure computer chip that can store and process information.
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A MasterCard brand enabling a cardholder to obtain cash at a cash machine.
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A store card may only be used in designated shops which, typically, are part of the same group or chain of shops and this is know as a "closed loop" card.
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A transaction where the merchant, retailer or other service provider does not have physical access to the payment card; examples are transactions by telephone, mail order or Internet.
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A payment card issued by an organisation in partnership with another, often non-financial, institution (usually one which has a well-known brand name) bearing the brand / logo of both. The non-financial institution offers certain benefits to cardholders, often using a points system.
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A generic term covering business, corporate and purchasing cards.
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The legislation that regulates the consumer credit market in the UK, including credit cards.
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A payment card typically issued to larger companies for staff to make business-related transactions, for example travel and entertainment (see also Business Card).
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A contractual agreement in which a borrower receives money, with the agreement to repay the lender at some date in the future in accordance with agreed terms and conditions. Credit is also used to mean a positive balance on an account. For instance, an account may be credited with interest.
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A payment card enabling the holder to make purchases and to draw cash up to a pre-arranged ceiling. The credit granted can be settled in full by the end of a specified period or can be settled in part, in which case interest is normally charged.
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A cheque drawn against a credit card account that gives the cardholder another way of accessing funds - up to their credit limit - usually to make transactions where credit cards are not accepted. Interest is normally charged from the transaction date.
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A partial profile of how an individual has paid credit accounts in the past, given within a particular time frame (usually measured in years). It is used as a guide to determine whether or not the applicant is likely to pay future accounts on time, and is used by credit card issuers to decide whether to provide customers with a credit card, and as a guide to set the credit limit on a credit card account (see also Credit Record).
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The maximum amount of credit issued by a lender. Under some circumstances, a credit card issuer may increase or decrease a credit limit
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A rating used by banks, insurance companies, mortgage companies and other financial institutions making loans, which is used to judge an individual or company's creditworthiness. Credit Reference Agencies provide credit data to financial institutions that use this data, along with other information about a customer, to give points based on how it compares to people who pay their bills and loans on time. The more positively a customer's behaviour compares to those people who pay on time, the higher that customer's score and overall credit rating will be.
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The information held about a cardholder, by a credit reference agency, concerning that cardholder's financial status (see also Credit History).
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An organisation, licensed under the Consumer Credit Act 1974, that holds
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The likelihood of a consumer to pay back an outstanding debt.
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Someone to whom you own money.
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A measure of a consumer's past credit behaviour that allows a potential lender to decide whether or not to extend credit to that consumer.
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The last three digits of the number printed on the reverse of the card (usually found on the signature strip). In the case of an American Express card, it will be four digits on the front of the card.
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The means by which the presenter of the card may be identified as genuine.
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