Glossary of Terms A-B C-D E-F I-J L-M N-O P-R S-T U-Z

CheckGateway.com’s Glossary of Financial Terms (P-R)

Use CheckGateway.com as your information resource. Look through our glossary to get the details you need about merchant services, fraud protection and ACH processing.

Payment Gateway

A combination of software and hardware that provides an interface to the bank card processing network. These technologies allow merchants to electronically submit payment transactions to the payment processing networks (i.e., the Credit Card Interchange and the ACH Network). Payment gateways also provide merchants with transaction management, reporting, and billing services.

Personal Identification Number (PIN)

A code used to identify the customer attempting to use a credit card, or other type of bank card for a purchase/payment transaction. This code is alphanumeric or numeric.

Per-Transaction Fee

A fee applied to merchants by the payment processor for each transaction processed. Transaction types for which merchant services providers charge merchants are: charges, refunds, voids and declines.

Point of Sale

A term referring to the physical location where a payment transaction takes place. Point of Sale also describes credit card payment acceptance systems designed for the place of sale, such as card swipe terminals.

Point of Sale Solutions Provider

A Point of Sale device, system or software manufacturer that provides Point of Sale services to merchants.

Point of Sale Terminal

Electronic device used by retail businesses to process credit card transactions. If the customer is present, they swipe or slide their credit card through the machine.

Prior Authorization Capture

A credit card transaction request to capture funds for a separate, previously authorized authorization-only transaction. With this type of transaction, the merchant will submit an authorization code received from the issuing bank at the time of the original authorization-only transaction.

Processor

An entity in the credit card processing network that handles posting of transactions for authorization, clearing and settlement to credit card accounts at the card associations; and the settlement of funds to merchant bank accounts. Processors may also provide merchants with billing and reporting services.

Real-Time Processing

The processing of a credit card transaction immediately after the purchase has been made. Real-Time is the preferred choice for Internet-based merchants.

Receiver

The person or corporate entity that has authorized a merchant to initiate a refund or charge transaction to their bank account.

Receiving Depository Financial Institution

A financial institution that provides depository account services to consumers, employees, and businesses and accepts electronic debits and credits to and from those accounts.

Reconciliation

Comparing transaction activity or account statements from multiple banks or service providers involved with transaction processing align transaction activity. The reason for reconciliation is to confirm that no transaction activity is unaccounted for by anyone in the transaction loop.

Recurring Billing Transaction

The submission of a transaction on a recurring basis, typically for ongoing billing or subscription payments.

Reference Transaction ID

The transaction ID that associates, a subsequent transaction to a different transaction. In the case of refunds, you must enter a reference transaction ID to identify the original charge against which the refund is being submitted.

Regulation D

Provision under the 1933 US Securities act for exempting some private companies under certain conditions from the filing requirements of the Act. If the private company meets the requirements, they are allowed to attempt to raise up to $1 million dollars without filing Form S-1 with the SEC. The Reg D filing format is a simple question and answer format. It allows public investment in your private company.

Regulation E

A regulation (12 CFR 205) promulgated by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System to ensure consumers a minimum level of protection in disputes arising from electronic fund transfers.

Reseller

A Merchant Service Provider that uses merchant customers for payment processing services.

Response Code

A code provided to a merchant by the card providing bank indicating the result of a transaction request; and if declined, the reason why the transaction was declined.

Return or Returned Item

A transaction that could not be processed for reasons such as NSF, invalid account number, account closed or other rejection reason(s) provided by the customer's bank.

Reversal

A refunded transaction. This occurs when the merchant produces sufficient proof that disputes a chargeback or the customer rescinds the chargeback.