Good Thursday morning everyone. Several years ago my daughter discovered texting. She would now at the age of 15, consider herself technologically skilled master
texter, and she would rather send a text message other than having to make a phone call.
Shortly after discovering how to text, she began getting texts back using lexicons, those text-speak acronyms that have a specific meaning. Of course, since there’s no school that teaches “text speak” she didn’t quite understand them right away.. She couldn’t understand how people could make typos like LOL or (my favorite) TTYL.
Lexicons and acronyms have found a place in the English language in this day of smart phones and tablets, too. I hear people use LOL, TTYL, and others in conversations.
The world of merchant services is filled with acronyms. We love them and use them for just about everything in the industry. We also tend to reuse them for different things, adopting a new meaning just for our industry, although it may be a common term elsewhere. That can make it difficult for those who are new to the industry to stay on top of these terms. It also makes it confusing for merchants when we use them in everyday conversation.
Merriam-Webster defines an acronym as a word (as NATO, radar, or laser) formed from the initial letter or letters of each of the successive parts or major parts of a compound term; also: an abbreviation (as FBI) formed from initial letters.
For example, POS is an acronym for Point of Sale. This acronym has been used to define a terminal, a computer-based program, or even a standalone system like Harbortouch and others. Ask someone who sells merchant services what they think of when they hear the term and they’ll most likely say a computer-based system or a standalone system. However, it was originally used as another way of saying terminal.
The same thing happens with the term ISO. This acronym began years ago with Visa, as Independent Sales Office was their term for a registered ISO. Now it can mean any office, or even a one man shop, that sells merchant services. Registration is no longer assumed or implied when using this term. Scary huh.
Lately I’ve received several questions regarding industry acronyms. That’s why I’d like to clarify some of their meaning and help eliminate any confusion. After all, there is no one dictionary that focuses solely on terms used in business credit card processing.
So, here’s a test for you. Below is a list of acronyms that you’ll hear in the industry. I know it’s hard, but try not to look at the answers and see how many you can define, with both their original meaning as well as any alternate meanings that you may have heard.
- MLS:Merchant Level Salesperson, could refer to either a company or an individual agent
- ISA:Independent Sales Agent
- VAR:Value Added Reseller and Value Added Resource
- DSL:Digital Subscriber Line or Digital Subscriber Loop; refers to a type of Internet service
- IP:Internet Protocol; refers to a terminal that connects over the Internet; some also use this term when referring to Internet access
- ETF:Early Termination Fee
- EMV:Enhanced Member Card, Merchant Value Card, and we should all know by now, Europay, MasterCard and Visa; these are those chip cards we heard about, as if you didn’t know…
- NFC:Near Field Communication; very similar to its more well established cousin, RFID (Radio Frequency Identification); used for contactless payments
- CAP:Chip and PIN
- ABR:Agent Bank Referral
- MSP:Merchant Services Provider; this is what MasterCard originally called ISOs; it now refers to the organization that does the actual settlement
- PIN:Personal Identification Number
- PCI DSS: Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS) – Created in 2004 by the four major credit card companies (American Express, Discover, MasterCard, and Visa) and maintained by the PCI Security Standards Council (PCI SSC), the PCI DSS is a widely accepted set of policies and procedures intended to optimize the security of credit, cash, and debit card transactions and to protect cardholders against the misuse of their personal information. Also see cardholder data.
How many were you familiar with? Perhaps you knew what the term meant, but were unsure about what each letter stood for. (This is often the case with EMV.)
Do you have any other acronyms that you hear or use frequently when your out selling? Send me an email and I will add them to the list.
Payment Lynx Daily 