Transaction Flow

A detailed description of the flow of a credit card transaction.

It's important to understand the basics of transaction processing before you can make educated decisions on the products and services you need to properly support your business. This illustration is intended to provide you with that basic understanding

Who is Involved in a Typical Transaction?

• Cardholder - Makes a purchase using their card
• Merchant - Accepts the card as payment for a purchase
• Issuer - Provides the card to Cardholder and maintains that cardholder's account
• Acquirer - Processes card sales for Merchant (First Data)
• Associations - Visa and MasterCard
• Authorization/EDC Vendor - Provides a means of electronic communication between Merchant, Acquirer and Issuer

Overview of a Card Transaction

• Cardholder presents a card to the Merchant for payment
• Merchant sends transaction on to their Acquirer (First Data)
• The Acquirer sends the transaction to the Association (Visa or MasterCard)
• The Association submits the transaction to the Issuer
• Issuer pays the amount of the transaction to the Association
• The Association pays the Acquirer, who then pays the Merchant