Cancellation Fee:
A fee incurred if a merchant cancels prior to the completion of the 3-year contract term.

Capture:
The submission of a credit card transaction for processing and settlement. POS terminals and real-time processing software capture transactions to submit to merchant account providers or credit card processors.

Card Issue:
Financial institution (or its agent), which issues the financial transaction card to the cardholder. The card issuer remains unchanged throughout a transaction.

Cardholder:
A person or company who has an active credit card account with which transactions can be processed.

Card Validation Code:
A unique encrypted 3-digit value that is encoded in the magnetic stripe and printed on the back of a MasterCard. It is used as an additional means of Cardholder validation during the authorization or referral process.

Card Verification Value 2:
A unique encrypted 3-digit value that is encoded in the magnetic stripe and printed on the back of a Visa Card. It is used as an additional means of Cardholder verification during the authorization or referral process.

CAS:
Customer Access System; NDC's Front End.

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS):
A method used to attach styles such as specific fonts, colors, and spacing to HTML documents. Because they "cascade," some elements take precedence over others.

Cash advance:
The amount advanced by a bank teller or ATM to the bankcard holder against the cardholder's line of credit.

CDPD:
Cellular Digital Packet Data; Wireless Technology allows data files to be broken into a number of “Packets” and sent along idle channels of existing cellular voice networks.

Certification:
A process during which a terminal or software provider meets certain standards required by the certifier.

CFR (cost and freight):
Indicates that a quoted price includes the cost of the goods and transportation charges but not of insurance.

Chain:
A series of merchant locations that are managed/owned by the same entity.

Channel:
A path along which a POS communication signal is transmitted.

Chargeback:
A fee charged by a merchant services provider against a merchant account for transactions that are successfully challenged by a credit card holder. After a charge is disputed and adjudicated in the cardholder's favor, the transaction total and chargeback fee are deducted from the merchant account. CIF (cost, insurance, and freight): A term indicating that a quoted price includes the cost of the goods, insurance, and transportation charges.

Chargeback Reason Code:
A two-digit code identifying the specific reason for a chargeback.

Check Guarantee:
A service which guarantees check payment (up to the limit defined for the account), provided that the merchant follows correct procedures in accepting the check. The service determines whether the check writer has previously written delinquent checks.

Check Services:
Authorization of a check.

CLASS A Certified:
Certification of a product WITH Help Desk support.

CLASS B Certified:
Certification of a product WITHOUT Help Desk support.

Clearing:
The process of exchanging financial details between an AQUIRER and an ISSUER to facilitate posting of a cardholder's account and reconciliation of a customer's settlement position.

Client:
A computer that requests and receives data over a network, including the Internet. The most common types of client on the Internet are computers running browsers or e-mail programs.

Close Batch:
The process by which transactions with authorization codes are sent to the processor for payment to the merchant.

Commerce Server:
A Web server that contains the software necessary for processing customer orders via the Web, including shopping cart programs, dynamic inventory databases, and online payment systems. Commerce servers are usually also secure servers.

Cookies:
Small files that are automatically downloaded from a Web server to the computer of someone browsing a Web site. Information stored in cookies can then be accessed any time that computer returns to the site. Cookies allow Web sites to "personalize" their appearance by identifying visitors, storing passwords, tracking preferences, and other possibilities.

Corporate Card:
a bankcard issued to companies for use by company employees.

Crawler:
A software application that automatically finds and retrieves information from the Web. Also called a "spider" or "robot."

Credit:
Commonly referred to as a "Refund," this is a transaction that transfers money from the merchant to the cardholder's account.

Credit Card:
A bankcard establishing the privilege of the person to whom it is issued to present it as payment to a merchant; the card bearer must reimburse the credit card company the amount of the sale. Credit card transactions are usually not profitable for amounts of less than $5 (U.S.); micropayment schemes are designed for much smaller increments of payment.

Credit Card Processors (or third-party processors):
Merchant services providers that handle the details of processing credit card transactions between merchants, issuing banks, and merchant account providers. Web site operators usually must first establish their own merchant account before contracting for credit card processing services.

Credit Limit:
The maximum amount the cardholder may owe an issuer on the card.