Payment Industry Terms & Definitions

Term	Definition
Bank Card Association	A group of banks and financial institutions that offers bankcards and is frequently associated with other payment entities.
Bank Identification Number	The first six to eight digits of a debit or credit card account number The digits identify the bank that issued the card to the customer. The Bank Identification Number is the first part of a two-part code that also identifies the issuing bank’s location.
Bank Rate	A rate, based on the type of transaction, that the merchant pays as a percentage of each credit card transaction General examples of bank rates are listed below: Card Present rate: 1.49% Card Not Present (CNP) rate: 2.24% Imprinted or phone authorization rate: 2.62%
Bankcard	A credit or debit card issued by a bank or financial institution.
Basis Point (BP or Discount Rate)	The unit of measure used to describe a percentage of change in rate in the finance industry is called a Basis Point. One basis point equals .01%. Example: A fee increase of 1.55% to 1.65% is expressed as an increase of 10 basis points.
Batch	A merchant upload or transmission of a bundle of authorized transactions Merchants usually send their card transactions at the close of each business day. Processors charge a batch fee for each bundle, so merchants usually transmit their transactions only once each day.
Batch Upload	A merchant tool used to transmit a batch of multiple transactions Most merchants use a proprietary system, application, or spreadsheet to transmit their transactions.
Brick and Mortar	The physical location of a retail store where merchants conduct face-to-face transactions with their customers The opposite of a brick and mortar retail outlet is an e-Commerce website.
Business Profile	A merchant’s business description defined by the type of card transactions most frequently processed at the business Card Associations, such as Visa and MasterCard, assign a business one of three merchant profiles. Swiped Accounts Telephone or Mail Order Internet.

Bank Card Association

A group of banks and financial institutions that offers bankcards and is frequently associated with other payment entities.

Bank Identification Number

The first six to eight digits of a debit or credit card account number The digits identify the bank that issued the card to the customer. The Bank Identification Number is the first part of a two-part code that also identifies the issuing bank’s location.

Bank Rate

A rate, based on the type of transaction, that the merchant pays as a percentage of each credit card transaction General examples of bank rates are listed below: Card Present rate: 1.49% Card Not Present (CNP) rate: 2.24% Imprinted or phone authorization rate: 2.62%

Bankcard

A credit or debit card issued by a bank or financial institution.

Basis Point (BP or Discount Rate)

The unit of measure used to describe a percentage of change in rate in the finance industry is called a Basis Point. One basis point equals .01%. Example: A fee increase of 1.55% to 1.65% is expressed as an increase of 10 basis points.

Batch

A merchant upload or transmission of a bundle of authorized transactions Merchants usually send their card transactions at the close of each business day. Processors charge a batch fee for each bundle, so merchants usually transmit their transactions only once each day.

Batch Upload

A merchant tool used to transmit a batch of multiple transactions Most merchants use a proprietary system, application, or spreadsheet to transmit their transactions.

Brick and Mortar

The physical location of a retail store where merchants conduct face-to-face transactions with their customers The opposite of a brick and mortar retail outlet is an e-Commerce website.

Business Profile

A merchant’s business description defined by the type of card transactions most frequently processed at the business Card Associations, such as Visa and MasterCard, assign a business one of three merchant profiles. Swiped Accounts Telephone or Mail Order Internet.

Glossary