Frequently Asked Questions

General

• What is a merchant account?
• Do I need a merchant account?
• How fast can we get this done?
• What if my credit is bad?
• What do I need to qualify?
• Can I use a personal checking account?
• Can I use a savings account?
• How long does it take to get my money?
• Become a Bankcard Central merchant
• What does it mean to “process” a credit card?
• What is an Electronic Check?

eCommerce

• What is an Internet Merchant Account?
• How do I get an Internet Merchant Account?
• How do I accept credit cards online?
• Can I use my account on multiple web site?
• Do I Need a Shopping Cart for Online Sales?
• Do I need a secure certificate for the order form on my web site?
• If I already have a retail account, can I use it to process Internet orders?
• How long does it take to get an Internet Merchant Account?
• Why should I automate the acceptance of credit cards at my Web site?
• Are there Web businesses like mine that are successfully accepting credit cards?
• What is Search Engine Optimization? Why is it important?
• I'm having trouble attracting customers to my Web site to make purchases. What am I doing wrong?

Finance Terminology

• Accounts Receivable Factoring
• Alternative Business Financing
• Benefits of Cash Advances
• Bill of Exchange
• Business Debt Consolidation
• Cash Advance Amounts
• Clean Import Loans
• Deferred Payment Credit
• Equipment Finance Loans
• Free On Board (FOB)
• Initial Public Offering (IPO)
• Letters of Credit
• Letters of Guarantee
• Liquidity Ratio
• Loan Against Imports
• Merchant Accounts
• Process of a Cash Advance
• Small Business Loans
• Tax Refund Anticipation Loans
• UnderCapitalization and Small Businesses
• Working Capital Finance for Small Businesses

Merchant Related Terms

• A2A
• ABA Transit Routing Number
• Account to Account
• Acquiring Bank
• Address Verification System (AVS)
• Automated Clearing House (ACH)
  
• What is AVS?
• Affinity Card
• Age Verification
• Alternative Business Financing
• American Express CID
• Arbitration
• Authentication
• Authentication (AUTH)
• Batch Upload Gateway Processing
  
• Bill of Exchange
  
• Business Debt Consolidation
  
• Capture
• Card Associations
• Cardholder
• Cardholder Data Security
• Cardholder Fraud
• Card Not Present (CNP)
• Credit Card Generator
• Card Present
• Card Validation Value (CVC)
• Card Verification Value (CVV)
• Card Verification Value 2 (CVV2)
• Cash
• Cash Advance Amounts
• Cash Reserves
• Chargeback
• Chargeback Period
• CISP
• Clean Import Loans
  
• Credit Card Authorization
  
• Credit Card Swipe Machines
• Credit Card Processor
• Data Encryption Standard (DES)
• Deferred Payment Credit
• Demand Deposit Account (DDA)
• Digital Certificates
• Direct Deposit
• Discount
• Discount Rate
• Downgrade
• Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC)
• Electronic Checks
• 
  
• Electronic Data Interchange
• Equipment Finance Loans
  
• Fraud & Chargebacks
• Free On Board (FOB)
• Gateway
• High Risk Merchant
• Identity Management and Access Control
• Initial Public Offering (IPO)
• Issuer
• Letters of Credit 
• Letters of Guarantee
  
• Liquidity Ratio
  
• Loan Against Imports
• Mail Order Merchant
• MasterCard Secure Code
• MasterCard SDP
  
• Micropayments
• Merchant Account
• Merchant Sales Agreement
• Mid-Qual
• Non-Qual
• Offline Credit Card Processing Transactions
  
• Online Credit Card Payment Processing
  
• Open Source Software
• Payment Gateways
• PIN Based Debit
• Point of Sale Terminals and Printers
• POS
• POS Device
• Process of a Cash Advance
• Processor
• Real Time Credit Card Processing Transactions
• Reason Code
  
• Recurring Billing Services
• Recurring Transaction
• Reserves
• Retrieval
• Retrieval Request
• Secure Electronic Payment Transactions
  
• Secure Socket Layer (SSL)
• Settlement
• Shopping Cart
  
• Small Business Loans
• Statement Fees & Transaction Fees
• SSL
• Store & Forward
• Swipe & Capture
• Switch
• Tax Refund Anticipation Loans
• Terminal
• Terminated Merchant File (TMF)
• Transaction
• Transaction Fee
• Truncation
• UnderCapitalization and Small Businesses
• Underwriting
• USA Patriot Act of 2001
• VBV
• Virtual Terminals
  
• VISA® CISP
  
• VISA® Transaction Life Cycle
• Voice Authorization
• Void
• Wireless Terminal
• Working Capital Finance
  
  

Merchant Support Help

• Terminal Support Questions
• Updating Merchant Information

Credit Card Security and Risks

• What to look out for when accepting credit cards
• Security Risks when sending out emails
• Accepting Order from Foreign Locations
• Importance of AVS
• How can I verify card holders name and address with VISA® and MasterCard
• Federal Trade Commission Best Business Practices

The following steps should be taken to avoid additional transaction expenses and/or reduce potentially disputed sales.

• Retail Merchants
• Mail / Telephone Order Merchants