How Visa Payments Work

Visa card transactions are quick, convenient and secure. But what exactly happens during the process? Beyond you and your customer, Visa’s advanced network involves several different parties. Here is a quick glimpse of Visa in action.

Key Players

The following definitions will give you a good understanding of who's who in the Visa 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 transactions, as well as a clearing and settlement service to transfer payment information between parties.

Two-part Process

Processing a Visa card transaction involves two stages:

1. Authorization:
   An electronic request is sent through various parties to either approve or decline a transaction.

2. Clearing and Settlement:
   All parties settle their accounts and get paid.

See how Visa Payments Work

Scroll over the icons in the charts below for a brief explanation of each step in the transaction process.

Clearing and Settlement

Roll over the icons below for a brief explanation of each step in the transaction process.

Confused by any terms? Visit our Merchant Glossary.