What Are Prorated Charges | Synapse Payments (2024)

Want to process a credit card without a CVV code? Unfortunately, you may not be able to if you process payments with Square, Stripe or other payment facilitators. However, you can if you are using a payment processor with a traditional merchant account. Read on…..

If you are ready to start working with a processor directly instead of companies that have high pricing and limited features, you need to open an account with a payment processor.

There are significant pros that come with working with a direct payment processor, pricing being a major one. If you want to accept payments without CVV codes whenever you like you will need you own merchant account.

To make an informed decision about what is best for your business, you must know a few things about CVV codes.

If you are working with a payment processor like Synapse, you can choose to use CVV or not. However, with Payment facilitators such as Square and Stripe you are required to use CVV.

While there is a significant security benefit, the most important reason that flat rate providers require CVV codes is pricing.

Processing credit cards without CVV incurs higher merchant fees. Every card has a fixed hard cost to accept known as “Interchange”. Including the CVV in the transaction qualifies you for lower Interchange rates. This principle also applies to the Address Verification Service (AVS) which checks if the address matches what the card issuer has on file.

Both Square and Stripe impose flat rates on their clients, ranging from 2.60% to 2.90%. It is in their best interest to secure the lowest Interchange rates possible from their payment processor, maximizing their profit on each transaction.

As a business expands and eventually surpasses the capabilities of a payment facilitator account, the next step is to establish a traditional merchant account with a merchant processing company like Synapse.

Unlike payment facilitators, payment processors generally do not demand CVV codes for card-not-present transactions.

Once you have opened a merchant account you need to configure your online portal to handle CVV transactions the way that works best for your business.

So now you have your own merchant account. Now what?

Among the widely used payment gateways today, Authorize.net and NMI.Com are the most popular. If you are using a different gateway, reach out to us and we can help you configure it for your needs.

800-925-5191 [email protected]

Authorize.net –

Authorize.net allows you to configure CVV filters in ways that match your risk tolerance. When you submit a transaction for processing, the issuing bank of the credit card will respond with a code that indicates the CVV status.

NMI.Com –

NMI is a popular payment gateway that allows you to integrate with any payment processing company that you choose. They also allow you to set parameters for how to handle CVV codes. NMI is our preferred payment gateway that has an excellent user interface and easy to use portal.

Generally speaking, its best to alert your customer of the potential that a small charge will appear on their account and will expire in a day or so. Even verifying a credit card without charging it will show up on a customers account so to avoid giving a customer a potentially negative experience, information up front is the best policy.

Do you need to be able to verify credit cards for your business? If so, reach out to us today and we can set you up with some of the “Best pricing in the industry”.

There are risks with accepting a credit card payment without using CVV validation, especially for first time customers. Fraud is prevalent in the electronic payment industry, and there are always fraudsters looking for a way to steal merchandise from businesses that have weak security practices.

There are risks with accepting a credit card payment without using CVV validation, especially for first time customers. Fraud is prevalent in the electronic payment industry, and there are always fraudsters looking for a way to steal merchandise from businesses that have weak security practices.

You must weigh the convenience of accepting transactions against the potential for fraud and determine the level of risk you are willing to accept in your business. A business that sells jewelry online would be wise to utilize as many fraud prevention systems as possible compared to a doctor’s office where fraud is far rarer.

If you want the maximum amount of control over the way you process payments, open an account with Synapse today and enjoy some of the “Lowest credit card processing fees” in the industry. We can help set you up with the CVV parameters that are right for your business.