Connecting to PaymentTrust's Secure Transaction Network - WorldPay

Glossary of useful terms
A
ABA
See American Bankers Association.
303
Appendix I
ABA Routing Number
The American Bankers Association (ABA) routing number is a unique, bank identifying number
that directs electronic ACH deposits to the proper bank. The routing number precedes the
account number printed at the bottom of a check and is usually printed with magnetic ink.
Account Number
A unique sequence of numbers assigned to a cardholder's account, which identifies the issuer
and type of financial transaction card.
ACH
See Automated Clearing House.
ACI
See Authorization Characteristics Indicator.
Acquirer
A bank or financial institution that acquires data relating to transactions from a merchant or card
acceptor for processing. The acquirer enters this data into interchange, either directly or
indirectly. See Interchange.
Acquiring Bank
A bank that receives credit card transactions and then deposits them with the issuing banks. This
is an acquirer.
Address Verification Service
A service that verifies the cardholder's billing address in order to help combat fraud in card-notpresent
transactions (e.g. mail order, telephone order, internet, etc.). Used only in the United
States.
Agent Bank
A bank that participates in another bank's acquiring program, usually by turning over its
applicants for bank cards to the bank administering the acquiring program.
American Banker's Association
The trade association of American bankers. This body also has the responsibility of assigning the
registration authority for identification numbers.
American Express
An organization that issues cards and acquires transactions, unlike Visa and MasterCard, which
are bank associations. American Express processes their own transactions through their network.
Amex
See American Express.
API
The Application Programming Interface (API) is the interface by which an application program
accesses the operating system and other services. An API is defined at source code level and