A credit card payment is made to look easy on the outside but hides a complex system allying security, rapidity, and innovation. Indeed, when customers swipe, insert or tap their card to make a purchase, money does not magically transfer from customers to the merchant’s bank account.

What is credit card processing? 

Credit card processing refers to the process of verifying and authorizing credit card transactions. This process can be broken down into three distinct steps.

Step 1: Authorization

• The cardholder presents their card in person, online, or by phone to pay for goods or services. 
• Your payment gateway then sends a payment authorization request to your payment processor. 
• The payment processor then submits this request to the appropriate card network, which forwards it to the issuing bank for approval or denial. 
• Once the issuing bank approves the transaction, the status is communicated to the card network, your bank, and ultimately to you.

Step 2: Settlement

• Your payment gateway sends batches of authorized transactions to your payment service provider. 
• Your payment service provider then sends the details of these authorized transactions to the associated card networks, which communicate the debits to the relevant issuing banks.

Step 3: Funding 

In this phase, the issuing bank debits the cardholder's account for the transaction amount and transfers the funds to your company's bank account.

How TCB Pay can help you?

At TCB Pay, we make sure that Steps 1 to 3 are executed without hassle nor delay.

We offer an array of products and opportunities to expand your business, from our TCB Pay virtual terminal payment gateway to our TCB Pay Mobile Application, where you can essentially run your business from anywhere. We also offer Alternative Payment Methods and various plug-ins that will help optimize your business and can easily be added to your current e-commerce technologies. 

We are willing to go the extra mile in helping you with whatever it is you may need, whether it is finding the best integrations for your business or advising you on what terminal is the best for you.

Any questions? Contact us at support@tcbpay.com or 866 444 8585. We look forward to hearing from you!

Sources: 

• Authorize.net
• FIS Global 
• Wallet Hub 
• FiserV 
• Business News Daily