Payment Processing Bank

There are several participants in the credit card transaction processing cycle: a card holder, a merchant, a processing bank, the Associations of Visa or MasterCard, and a card issuing bank. The processor (e.g. UniBul), also referred to as the acquirer or the merchant bank, is the financial company that provides the merchant with credit card processing capabilities and acquires its transactions. Acquiring of transactions in this case means that they fund the merchant the transaction amount, minus the processing cost, and then submit a payment request to the bank that issued the card, used to make the payment.

Every credit card merchant processor is a member of Visa and MasterCard and is usually a card issuer too. Credit card processing companies rarely offer merchant account processing services directly to businesses. They work with Independent Sales Organizations and Member Service Providers and underwrite the accounts they sign up. Processing banks have the last word on whether or not a merchant will be approved for a credit card processing account and will suspend it is not used properly and according to the processing agreement.