Payments terms

A set of authentication flows where the issuer challenges the customer (e.g., SMS, app push, biometrics) before approving a transaction.

The financial institution that holds your merchant account and is on the hook for accepting card transactions on your behalf.

The step where the issuer decides whether to approve a payment attempt based on risk, balance, and scheme rules.

The percentage of attempted payments that receive an approval from the issuer.

A card dispute where the issuer reverses a transaction and pulls funds back from the acquirer on behalf of the cardholder.

The share of processed transactions that turn into chargebacks over a given period, typically measured per scheme.

The fee that card schemes route from the acquirer to the issuer for each transaction; it is largely non-negotiable and varies by market and card type.

The bank or institution that issued the customer’s card and ultimately approves or declines each authorization request.

Non-card methods preferred in specific markets, such as bank transfers, vouchers, or wallets.

An architectural pattern where you route payments across multiple PSPs, acquirers, and risk tools through a single control layer.

Logic that decides which PSP, acquirer, or method to use for a given transaction.

A provider that bundles gateway, acquiring, and often risk and reporting into a single payments platform.

Fees charged by card networks (schemes) on top of interchange for using their rails, often blended into provider pricing.

The processes of receiving funds from providers and matching them back to transactions and ledger entries.

Replacing raw card numbers with tokens that can be stored and used safely across your systems.