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Glossary & FAQ

A

Account Holder

Reference to: openpaymentapi.com

An Account Holder represents a real person or organization that owns or controls the Payment Accounts and Payment Vehicles. This entity contains biographical/organizational data such as FirstName/LastName, Address, and CIP data.

ACH

Direct deposit to bank account using an account and a routing number. 

Normal ACH 

1-2 business days to receive ACH payment 

Same Day ACH 

Payments received the same business day if submitted prior to 2:00 pm. Otherwise, payments is received the next business day.

Acquiring Token

A token created by the acquirer, merchant, or a merchant’s service provider; may be used as part of the authorization process, including card-on-file transactions. 

API (Application Programming Interface)

Think of an API as a bridge between two sets of data that allows the data to be accessed and leveraged by multiple systems. In payments, an API allows a fintech to access your users in your existing ERP or TMR in order to process payments whether they are coming in or going out. This eliminates the need to re-enter data, maintain multiple data bases, and removes lag time in updating files.  

More formally, an API is a software intermediary that allows two applications to talk to each other. In other words, an API is the messenger that delivers your request to the provider that you're requesting it from and then delivers the response back to you.

C

Card-not-Present Transaction

A transaction that does not require a physical card to be present at the time of purchase, such as for eCommerce, mail, or telephone orders.

Card-Present Transaction

A transaction that requires a card to be present at the time of the transaction.

Cardholder number

The series of digits used to identify the cardholder, issuer and brand of card.

Check

An order written by a depositor instructing the bank to pay a specific amount to a recipient from the depositor's bank account. In other words, a check is a way to tell the bank to transfer money from your bank account to someone else personally or someone else's bank account.

CIP

Reference to: openpaymentapi.com

Customer Identification Program. In order to comply with United States regulatory requirements, Transcard may be required to obtain identifying data to issue accounts and Cards. Speak to your Transcard Account Manager for more details about the CIP requirements for your specific program(s).

Cloud Computing

Internet-based computing that utilizes a shared pool of resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) to manage, store and process data.

Contactless

Contactless smart chip technology that relies on a secure microcontroller or equivalent intelligence, internal memory and a small antenna embedded in a device that communicates with a reader through a contactless radio frequency (RF) interface.

Corporate Disbursements or B2C Push Payments

Do not require ID Validation and limits are up to $50k per transaction.  Also, we can validate the receiving account in real-time to ensure it exists and can receive funds.

Credit Card

Credit cards are funded by a line of credit that is extended based on income and other consumer financials.

D

Data Protection

Solutions such as encryption and acquiring tokenization that help to protect sensitive account data in the merchant and acquiring domains.

DDA Number

Reference to: openpaymentapi.com

Demand Deposit Account Number. Each Payment Account and Card in our system is assigned a unique DDA Number which can be used to sends funds to those accounts.

Debit Card

Debit cards are an extension of a checking or direct deposit account.

DFI (Distributor Financial Institution)

The bank a distributor utilizes to facilitate their access to the faster payments scheme.

Disbursement

The actual delivery of funds from a bank account or other funds. It is a payment made by a company in cash or cash equivalents during a set time period, such as a quarter or year.

E

Embedded Payments

Payment processing functionality that is included within a software solution such as business management software or an ERP application.

Encryption/Decryption

The process of converting information into an unintelligible form except to holders of a specific cryptographic key.

G

General Purpose Reloadable Card (aka Prepaid Card)

Reloadable prepaid cards, sometimes called 'prepaid debit' cards or accounts, are not linked to a checking account but can be an alternative to a checking account. You can deposit your income or other money on the card.

I

Integrated Payables

A fintech service that allows a business to issue and receive payments to and from vendors and providers for AP (accounts payable) and AR (accounts receivable) processes. A single file is uploaded by the sender and then payments are processed based on instructions set by the sender.

K

KYB/C (Know Your Business/Know Your Customer)

Regulatory checks which need to be undertaken on a merchant to ensure their identities are known and validated.

M

MPOS (Mobile Point of Sale)

A mobile application that can be used by merchants to collect payments without the requirement for an additional payment terminal.

O

Open Banking

The practice of sharing financial information electronically, securely, and only under conditions that customers approve of. Application programming interfaces (APIs) allow third-parties to access financial information efficiently, which promotes the development of new apps and services.

P

Payee/Beneficiary

Recipient of an outgoing payment (e.g. the owner of the bank account to which funds are being transferred).

Payment Account

Reference to: openpaymentapi.com

A Payment Account is a container for funds assigned to an individual or an organization. A Payment Account belongs to a Product, from which it inherits many of its behavioral settings. While there are technically no architectural distinctions between Payment Accounts, Payment Accounts are referenced in one of two ways based on the role it plays:

Product's Funding Payment Account

This is a Payment Account that is created, or assigned if using a preexisting account, to a Product when the Product is created. The Product will have only one Funding Payment Account associated with it, though multiple Products can share a Funding Payment Account. Its purpose is to supply funds for the Product to generate Payments to the users' Individual Payment Accounts.

Individual Payment Account

This is a Payment Account that is linked to an Account Holder and provides access to funds for an individual. To send funds to an individual you would transfer funds from the Product's Funding Payment Account to a user's Individual Payment Account.

Payment Processor

A payment processor is some sort of transactor for financial calculations, typically a company (often a third party) appointed by a merchant to handle transactions from various channels such as credit cards and debit cards for merchant acquiring banks.

Payment Vehicle

Reference to: openpaymentapi.com

A Payment Vehicle is a method of moving funds from Point A to Point B. In many cases, these funds moves will consist of moving funds from a Payment Account (Individual) to a Card, ACH, or Check Payment Vehicle. The Payment Account and Payment Vehicle must belong to the same Product and often belongs to the same Account Holder. Some Payment Vehicles – Cards - can move funds directly to other Payment Vehicles.

Payment Vehicle Types:

Card

Represents a link to a Transcard issued Card which the individual/organization can load funds to through the Individual Payment Account.

Check

Allows the Account Holder to move funds to a physical paper check, which will be printed and mailed to the desired address.

ACH

Represents an external savings or checking account at a financial institution. The Account Holder will provide an ACH Routing and Account Number. Any funds moved to this vehicle will be sent to that institutional account.

PCI Data Security Standard (PCI DSS)

A framework developed by the PCI Security Standards Council (SSC) for developing a robust payment card data security process, including prevention, detection, and appropriate reaction to security incidents.

Prepaid Card

Prepaid cards are cards that you load money onto, through cash or by linking it to other funding sources.

Push Payments

Near real-time payment for cards attached to one of the primary networks. Currently push payments work only for debit and prepaid cards but not credit cards.

R

Real Time ACH

The two biggest differentiators between real-time payments and bulk ACH systems are processing speed and system operating hours.

Real-time payment systems allow users to send and receive payments 24/7/365, whereas the US ACH system is not open outside of traditional banking business hours and days. 

Routing Number/ABA Routing Code

Identifies a financial institution and specific bank branch where an account is held.

S

SaaS (Software as a Service)

A method of software delivery that allows data to be accessed from any device with an internet connection and a web browser.

SDK (Software Development Kit)

A set of software tools and programs used by developers to create applications for specific platforms.

SMB/E Small Medium Business/Enterprise

A small or medium-sized enterprise, typically with fewer than 250 employees.

SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) Code

Unique codes that allow for transactions and communications among banks.
Е

Tokenized Payments

Tokenization is the process of protecting sensitive data by replacing it with an algorithmically generated number called a token. Often times tokenization is used to prevent credit card fraud. In credit card tokenization, the customer’s primary account number (PAN) is replaced with a series of randomly-generated numbers, which is called the “token.” These tokens can then be passed through the internet or the various wireless networks needed to process the payment without actual bank details being exposed. The actual bank account number is held safe in a secure token vault.

U

User Account

Reference to: openpaymentapi.com

An end user's authentication information (username/password/email address). A User record is attached to an Account Holder record. This allows you to scale your administration by allowing multiple users access to an account. In most cases, if you need to manipulate your customer's identifying data, that data will reside on the Account Holder record, not the User record.

V

VARs (Value-Added Resellers)

Companies that add features or services to an existing product, then resell it (usually to end-users) as an integrated product or complete “turn-key” solution.

Virtual Card

A virtual card acts exactly like a card would without ever having to wait or carry the card itself. They can be single use or reloadable.  

A virtual prepaid card is a unique 16-digit computer generated number used to settle a specific vendor payment transaction issued for a specific dollar amount. Designed as a more secure alternative to ACH and check payments, virtual cards are essentially “card-less” card payments.

Virtual Card Numbers

Also known as “single-use” or “disposable” cards, virtual card numbers offer a randomly generated substitute account number (issuer token) in place of the payment card number.

W

Wire Transfer

Electronic funds transfer from a payer to a payee's bank account.
Frequently Asked Questions

Is Transcard a Processor, Program Manager, or both?

Can I use Transcard’s applications or do I have to code to your API?

Can Transcard’s solution be embedded into my company’s user experience?

Can I select which disbursement methods and products are available to my users?

How do I find an issuing bank to sponsor my solution?

Who handles customer service?

What types of fraud protections are available?

How is Transcard's platform different?

What makes the Transcard platform unique (outside of its ability to handle multiple disbursement methods)?

How does a Payment Account work?

What methods can our customers use to access their disbursements?

How long does it take to get set up with Transcard?