Merchant Account Glossary (H-I)

<p>&nbsp;</p><p><font face="tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="2"><br /><strong>Holdback </strong><br />A portion of the revenue generated from a merchant&#39;s credit card transactions, which is held in reserve by the acquiring bank to cover possible future disputed charges, fees and other expenses. After a predetermined time, holdbacks are released and deposited into the merchant&#39;s checking account, usually with no interest accumulated<br /><br /><strong>Host Capture </strong><br />Host is the processor where the transactions are held until the batch is closed either manually or automatically, which is determined by the merchant or terminal program options. Transactions are then forwarded for processing, crediting the merchant and charging the cardholder&rsquo;s account within various time frames. <br /><br /><strong>Http (Hypertext Transfer Protocol)</strong><br />HTTP is a client/server protocol for delivering hypertext material across an Internet. HTTP is stateless: when a client makes multiple requests to a single HTTP server, each request is treated independently. HTTP servers do not remember the earlier requests. The stateless protocol allows HTTP servers to respond to requests quickly<br /><br /><strong>Https (Hypertext Transfer Protocol &ndash; Secure)</strong><br />A variant of HTTP for handling secure transactions. Browsers that support the URL access method, &quot;https&quot;, connect to HTTP servers using SSL. &quot;https&quot; is a unique protocol that is simply SSL underneath HTTP. Use &quot;https://&quot; for HTTP URLs with SSL and &quot;http://&quot; for HTTP URLs without SSL. The default &quot;https&quot; port number is 443.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Hyperlink</strong><br />An active cross-reference from one resource to another. The cross-reference is called active because it is presented in a medium which allows the reader to follow it, for example, by mouse-clicking it. A reader can follow hyperlinks in an HTML document using a Web browser, or navigate through online help, or follow hyperlinks between terms defined in a glossary.<br /><br /><strong>Imprinter </strong><br />Manual &ldquo;slide&rdquo; machine used to obtain an imprint of credit cards when an electronic printer is not being used. Must be made available in case of emergency terminal failure. Paper sales drafts are manually completed and signed by cardholder. Merchant is required to maintain a copy of a signed sales draft for (7) seven years per Visa/MasterCard Rules &amp; Regulations. <br /><br /><strong>I.M.P.A.C.</strong><br />Acronym for International Merchant Purchasing and Acceptance Card. The I.M.P.A.C (or IMPAC) card was the name of the original U.S. Government Purchasing Card issued by USBank. <br /><br /><strong>Independent Service Organization (ISO)</strong><br />An ISO is an Independent Sales Organization that represents a Bank or Bank/Processor alliance. The<br />ISO has an agreement to sell the services of the Bank or Bank/Processor alliance, and is allowed to mark up the Fees and sign up merchants.<br /><br />-These entities are classic Middle Men, as they are typically not performing the services sold. They<br />typically match the banking services they sell with &ldquo;Front End&rdquo; solutions for accepting transactions in<br />order to offer merchants a working system.<br /><br />-Their Front End Systems can be anything from Verifone or Hypercom POS Terminals to PC based<br />Dial-Out Credit Card Processing Software, to Shopping Carts paired with a Secure Payment Gateway.<br />(In all cases, the Front End solution must be compatible with the Processor in order to function.)<br /><br /><strong>Interchange</strong><br />The standardized electronic exchange of financial and non-financial data associated with sale and credit data between merchant acquirers and card issuers on various types of MasterCard and Visa transactions.<br /><strong><br />Interchange Fee</strong><br />A fee paid by an acquirer to an issuer for transactions entered into interchange. The interchange fee is a percentage applied, according to Visa/MasterCard regulations, to the dollar value of each transaction. The fee compensates the issuer for the time after settlement with the acquiring bank/merchant bank and before it recoups the settlement value from the cardholder There are multiple categories of interchange, and Visa and MasterCard each have their own criteria for their own categories. A transaction must meet the specified criteria for a category in order for that category&#39;s rate to be applied. Each transaction is evaluated individually, so various interchange rates may apply within one batch of merchant transactions. <br /><br /><strong>Interchange Rate</strong><br />Interchange rates are baseline costs established by the two bankcard associations, Visa and MasterCard, on behalf of their member banks that set the foundation costs which makeup the merchant&#39;s bank card processing fees. Additional fees may be added by the merchants acquiring bank to reach a final rate called the &quot;discount rate&quot;.<br /><br /><strong>Interchange Reimbursement Fee </strong><br />One of the following: A fee that an acquirer pays to an issuer in the clearing and settlement of an interchange transaction, based on either the standard (paper-based) rate or electronic rate. A fee that an issuer pays to an acquirer for making a cash disbursement to a cardholder or check purchaser. <br /><br /><strong>Internet</strong><br />A global public network consisting of millions of interconnected computers all linked together using the Internet Protocol.<br /><br /><strong>Internet Payment Gateway</strong><br />An Internet payment gateway is a centrally managed service that offer merchants the ability to process credit card transactions into the credit card networks. Typically, the credit card data uses the Internet as a method of transporting the data from the merchant&#39;s systems to the operator of the payment gateway.<br /><br /><strong>I-Purchasing</strong><br />I-Purchasing (iPurchasing) is a MasterCard sponsored capability that allows intra-organizational use of the corporate purchase card (procurement cards) to process Level-3 (level III) transactions without paying the interchange fees.<br /><br /><br /><strong>ISA </strong><br />Acronym for Independent Sales Agent. Registered agent licensed with an organization to sell merchant accounts. (aka MSP, Merchant Service Provider) <br /><br /><br /><strong>ISP</strong><br />Acronym for Internet Service Providers. ISPs are the Web Site Hosting companies that provide a home for merchant&rsquo;s web sites. They typically resell and/or support the services of a Secure Gateway Provider and/or ISO or Agent or Bank.<br /><br /><strong>ISO</strong><br />Acronym for Independent Service Organization. In the payment systems industry, a third-party organization that facilitates merchant registration to accept charge or credit cards.<br /><br /><strong>Issuer</strong><br />Any association member financial institution, bank, credit union, or company that issues, or causes to be issued, plastic cards to cardholders. <br /><br /><strong>Issuing Bank</strong><br />A bank that issues MasterCard and/or Visa credit cards. <br /><strong><br />Issuing Financial Institution </strong><br />The financial institution that extends credit to a cardholder through bankcard accounts. The financial<br />institution issues a credit card and bills the cardholder for purchases against the bankcard account. Also referred to as the cardholder&#39;s financial institution.</font></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><font face="tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="2"><strong><a href="http://www.offshoremerchantexperts.com/offshore_merchant_account_terminologies_d_to_g.html">previous </a> <a href="http://www.offshoremerchantexperts.com/offshore_merchant_account_terminogies_k_to_n.html">next </a></strong></font></p>