Visa Card Features and Security Elements

Every Visa card contains a set of unique design features and security elements developed by Visa to help merchants verify a card’s legitimacy. By knowing what to look for on a Visa card, your sales associates can avoid inadvertently accepting a counterfeit card or processing a fraudulent transaction.
Train your sales staff to take a few seconds to look at the card’s basic features and security elements after they have swiped the card and are waiting for authorization. Checking card features and security elements helps to ensure that the card is valid and has not been altered in any way.

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Parties to Visa Transactions

A cardholder :  is an authorized user of Visa payment cards or other Visa payment
products.
A merchant : is any business entity that is authorized to accept Visa cards for the
payment of goods and services.
An acquirer : is a financial institution that contracts with merchants to accept
Visa cards for payment of good and services. An acquirer may also contract with
third party processors to provide processing services.
A card issuer : is a financial institution that maintains the Visa cardholder
relationship. It issues Visa cards and contracts with its cardholders for billing
and payment of transactions.
Visa Inc. : is a publicly-traded corporation that works with financial institutions
that issue Visa cards (card issuers) and/or sign merchants to accept Visa cards
for payment of goods and services (acquirers). Visa provides card products,
promotes the Visa brand, and establishes the rules and regulations governing
participation in Visa programs. Visa also operates the world’s largest retail
electronic payments network to facilitate the flow of transactions between
acquirers and card issuers.
VisaNet® is part of Visa’s retail electronic payment system. It is a collection of
systems that includes:
• An authorization service through which card issuers can approve or decline
individual Visa card transactions.
• A clearing and settlement service that processes transactions electronically
between acquirers and card issuers to ensure that:
          – Visa transaction information moves from acquirers to card issuers for
             posting to cardholders’ accounts.
          – Payment for Visa transactions moves from card issuers to acquirers to be
             credited to the merchant accounts.

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American Express cards

American Express cards are the most special ones issued in the U.S. By that I don’t mean that AmEx’s card programs are all that different from their competitors’. Well, perhaps some of them are, but other issuers have programs that are so similar that you would not be able to tell them apart, unless you saw the brand logos on the terms and conditions disclosure.

The uniqueness of American Express cards can be found in some of the security features on their cards. In this post I will review these features and will explain how to recognize their validity.

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Security Features of American Express Card

There are several different types of 'American Express cards ' and not all of them will display all of the security features listed below, but most of them will:

1. All American Express card account numbers are embossed and begin with “37″ or “34″. This rule applies to all AmEx cards. By comparison, Visa card numbers begin with “4,” MasterCard’s start with “5″ and Discover’s — with “6″.
2. AmEx account numbers are embossed, 15-digit long, with no alterations and spaced in 4, 6 and 5 digits. This is another unique AmEx security feature. Visa, MasterCard and Discover numbers are all 16-digit long and spaced in four groups of four digits.
3. The Card Identification Number (CID) is AmEx’s equivalent to Visa’s CVV2, MasterCard’s CVC 2 and Discover’s CID. Unlike its competitors who all use three-digit numbers and place them on the back of their cards, in or immediately to the right of the signature panel, AmEx’s CID is four-digit long and is printed above the embossed account number on the right or left of the card.
4. The cardholder name is printed in the lower left corner of AmEx cards, just as the competitors do it.
5. The “Member Since” date is embossed to the right of the expiration date. By comparison, Visa, MasterCard and Discover all place the “Member Since” date to the left of the expiration one.
6. The expiration, or “Valid Thru,” date is embossed above the cardholder name field, in the format “mm/yy.”
7. The Centurion image is of course unique to the brand (not to mention trademarked). It is phosphorescent and the words “AMEX” are visible under UV light.
8. Some cards feature a hologram of the Centurion image embedded Into the magnetic stripe.
9. Also uniquely, the account number is printed in the signature field of most AmEx cards and must match the embossed one on front of card and the one printed on the transaction receipt. The competitors only print the last four digits of their card numbers in the signature field.
10. The signature field is located below the magnetic stripe, match as it is on Visa, MasterCard and Discover cards. The words “Cardmember Signature” are printed underneath it.

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Identification Features of MasterCard Card

 the MasterCard identification features you should be checking:

1. cards must include a full-color MasterCard brand mark.
2. MasterCard account numbers must always start with the number “5”.
3. The first four digits of the card number must be the same as those printed directly below (pre-printed BIN).
4. The 16-digit card number must be clear and uniform in size and spacing and must appear on one line.
5. The expiration date should be in the future and in the format “mm/yy.”
6. There may be a chip on some cards, located above the account number.
7. The MasterCard Hologram or HoloMag tape can be located on the front or back of the card. If located on the front, it will be above the brand mark. If located on the back, it will be next to or below the signature panel.
8. On some cards, the design and brand mark may be oriented vertically.
9. The signature panel is located on the back of the cards, with the word “MasterCard” printed in multi-colors at a 45° angle.
10. The last four digits of the account number must be printed in reverse italic letters on the signature panel.
11. The Card Verification Code 2 (CVC 2) must be printed in reverse italics to the right of the last four digits of the account number within the signature panel.
12. The magnetic stripe must be present, located above the signature panel and appear smooth and straight with no signs of tampering. On some cards the HoloMag tape may be used in place of the magnetic stripe.

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Security Features Of Visa Card

What to Look for on all Visa Cards

• The Signature panel : must appear on the back of the card and contain an ultraviolet element that repeats the word “Visa®.” The panel will look like this one, or have a custom design. It may vary in length. The words “Authorized Signature” and “Not Valid Unless Signed” must appear above, below, or beside the signature panel. If someone has tried to erase the signature panel, the word ‘VOID” will be displayed.
• The Magnetic stripe : is encoded with the card’s identifying information.
• Card security code:  or Card Verification Value (CVV) is a unique threedigit code that is encoded on the magnetic stripe of all valid cards. CVV is used to detect a counterfeit card.
• Hologram: The Mini-Dove Design Hologram may appear on the back anywhere within the outlined areas shown . The three-dimensional dove hologram should appear to move as you tilt the card.
• Brand mark : must appear in blue and gold on a white background in either the bottom right, top left, or top right corner.
• Account number : The account numbers of all Visa, MasterCard and Discover cards are comprised of 16 digits and for American Express the number is made up of 15 digits. All digits must appear even, straight, and the same size. The first digit of each card number identifies its type. Listed below are the first digits that the major U.S. card brands use in their account numbers.
  

  Card Type	First Digit of Account Number
  American Express	3
  Visa	4
  MasterCard	5
  Discover	6




• Bank Identification Number (BIN) (only for Visa and MasterCard cards): These are four-digit numbers that are printed below the account number. This BIN must be identical with the first four digits of the account number.
• Expiration date: or “Good Thru” date should appear below the account number.
• Cardholder name:   or a Generic Title may be embossed or printed on the card. This field may be blank on some Visa cards.

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MY CREDIT CARDS ARE LOST OR STOLEN

WHAT SHOULD I DO IF MY CREDIT CARDS ARE LOST OR STOLEN?

Phone the credit card company immediately, and report that your card is lost or stolen. Your monthly billing statement will list the phone number for reporting lost cards. Be sure to get the name of the person you talked to. The issuer will cancel your card so no unauthorized charges can be made on it.
To create a record for the company and for your own files, write to the company after you have phoned. Include your name, address, account number, the date you believe the card was lost or stolen, and the name of the person you spoke to when you called the company.
You will not be liable if you notify your issuer that your cards were lost or stolen before unauthorized charges are made. If your cards are used before you report them missing, the most you can be liable for is $50 per account.

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