How It Works

Merchants, cardholders, and financial institutions are all connected with Visa's advanced network, offering you the assurance of secure transactions and timely payments.

But what exactly happens from the moment you accept a customer's Visa card to the time you receive payment? See exactly how the Visa payment process works.

Key players

Every Visa card transaction involves multiple parties. The following definitions will give you a good understanding of who's who in the transaction process.

	Cardholder: an authorized Visa user.
	Issuer: a financial institution that issues Visa cards and maintains a contract with cardholders for repayment.
	Merchant: an authorized acceptor of Visa cards for the payment of goods and services.
	Acquirer/Payment Processor: The acquirer (financial institution) that initiates and maintains contractual agreements with merchants for the purpose of accepting and processing Visa card transactions.
	VisaNet®: an advanced network that acts as an Authorization service for Visa card ransactions, as well as a clearing and settlement service to transfer payment information between parties.

A two-part process

Processing a Visa card transaction involves two stages: Authorization, where an electronic request is sent through various parties to either approve or decline the transaction; and Clearing and Settlement, where all parties settle their accounts and get paid.

• Becoming a Visa Merchant
• Accepting Visa Cards Online
• Merchant Glossary