!!! Overview
[{$pagename}] is the [Payment Card] is the [Access to Account] [Framework] that has been used within the [Payment Network] [1]

If you're using a so-called "universal" card like [VISA] or [MasterCard], there are typically four parties involved: 
* the [Merchant] is the person offering goods or services that you (the customer) want to buy.
* the [Card Processor] then sends the transaction information to the correct [Issuer Bank|Card Issuer] so the funds can be taken from the customer's account and delivered to the [Merchant].
* the [Acquirer] signs up [Merchants] to accept cards and routes each transaction to the [Payment Network|Card Processor].
* the [Card Issuer] distributes cards to customers, extends lines of credit to them in the case of credit cards, and bills them.


!! What happens when you buy something
When a transaction takes place, two major processes occur: 
* the card gets authorized
* the transaction is then cleared.


The terminal sends the [Merchant]’s identification number, the card information, and the transaction amount to the [Card Processor]. 

The [Card Processor]’s system reads the information and sends the authorization request to the specific [Issuer Bank|Card Issuer] through the card network. 

The [Issuer Bank|Card Issuer] conducts a series of checks for fraud and verifies that the cardholder’s available credit line is sufficient to cover the purchase before returning a response, either granting or denying authorization. 

The [Card Processor] receives the response and relays it to the [Merchant]. 

Usually, this process takes no more than a few seconds.

Once the card has been [authorized], the second part of the transaction is clearing it, or getting the goods to the customer and the money to the [Merchant]'s bank. The [Merchant] sends transactions to the [Card Processor], and the [Card Processor] sends that information along to the merchant accounting system, or MAS, that supports an individual merchant's account.  The distinction between the [Card Processor] and the MAS can be muddy. "In some cases, the MAS is a part of the [Card Processor]; in others, it is a different entity." 

The MAS distributes the transactions to the appropriate network—Visa transactions to the Visa network, MasterCard transactions to the MasterCard network, and so forth. Next, the MAS deducts the appropriate merchant discount fee (to cover the costs of the merchant acquirer’s activities) from the transaction amount and generates instructions to remit the difference to the merchant’s bank for deposit into the [Merchant]'s account. The MAS sends these instructions to the automated clearinghouse (ACH) network, which is a computer-based system used to process electronic transactions between participating depository institutions.

[Merchants] typically pay what is called a Discount Rate and a Transaction Fee, which are tied to what is called an Interchange Fee, which is determined by the [Payment Card Network|Payment Network]. According to a Quora post by CEO of 1st American Card Service Brian Roemmele, republished on Forbes, 85 percent of this Interchange Fee is paid to the card's [Issuer Bank|Card Issuer] (like Chase, or Bank of America, for example). These fees usually amount to about two percent of the purchase price on credit card purchases and are a profit driver for the [Issuer Bank|Card Issuer]. They also help cover fraud costs and fund reward programs.

This system is complicated, and it is growing increasingly fraud-prone, especially when card information is stored on a [Merchant]'s terminal or is sent insecurely. To keep this article (relatively) short, we won't discuss [Card Not Present] [CNP] transactions, which usually occur online or over the phone and require a [customer] to input her or his [Card Security Code].

In a quick note, however, because [CNP] transactions are much less secure than transactions where the card is present, [CNP] transactions usually demand higher Interchange Fees from [Merchants]. But although [NFC] transactions on an [Apple Pay] or [Google Wallet] enabled phone don't physically require a card to be present, they transmit information as if the card was present, so fees aren't higher for merchants that choose to enable [NFC] on their terminals.

!! More Information
There might be more information for this subject on one of the following:
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* [#1] - [OVERVIEW OF THE PAYMENTS INDUSTRY|https://letstalkpayments.com/overview-of-the-payments-industry/|target='_blank'] - based on information obtained 2017-08-31-