How Credit Card Processing Works

Who?s Involved

The typical bankcard transaction involves five parties:

1. Cardholder: ?Any consumer or business using a Credit or Debit/Check/ATM card.
2. Issuer: ?A financial institution that issues a credit or debit card to a cardholder.
3. Merchant: An authorized acceptor of credit and debit cards for the payment of goods and services.
4. Network: ?The system that acts as an authorization service for card transactions as well as a clearing and settlement service to transfer payment information between parties.
5. Acquirer: ?The financial institution that contracts with the merchant for card acceptance and enables card payments from customers.

A Bankcard transaction is a carefully orchestrated process. When your customer uses a bankcard to make a purchase, it?s Aliant?s job as your acquirer to ensure smooth credit card processing from start to finish, from confirming the authorization of the transaction, to the funds capture from each issuer to the direct deposit of your funds into your bank account.

What this means for Aliant?s Merchants

You can rest assured that your?customers? online credit card processing transactions will be swift, secure and seamless ? every time. You can be confident that you are with a processor who is always seeking improved and enhanced forms of payment processing solutions. And best of all, you can enjoy the satisfaction of being backed by one of the leading? merchant service providers in the industry.