Glossary

A glossary of common terms used throughout the Payrix platform and documentation.

Access Templates

A preset grouping of user roles that can be saved and applied to new users as they are created to automatically apply the same User Roles.

Acquiring Bank

A financial institution licensed by major card brand networks (i.e., Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover), that is responsible for underwriting Facilitators. The acquiring bank also acts as an intermediary between card brand networks and the Facilitator, assisting in the transfer of transaction funds to the Facilitator’s FBO account or to an entity within their portfolio. Additionally, playing a role in risk management and compliance, helping to ensure the security and integrity of the payment transactions within each Facilitator’s platform.

Assessment Fee

These are fees charged by the card networks themselves shown as a “cost”. They are generally a percentage of the transaction amount and are used to cover network operating costs.

Available Balance

The balance of an entity account recorded in the Payrix system identifying the total balance of the entity’s Payrix platform-hosted FBO Account.  

Batch

A group of captured transactions that are processed collectively by the acquiring bank for streamlined clearing & settlement of funds.

Batch Processing

The process of batch transactions being consolidated, transmitted for authorization from the acquiring bank, clearing, and settlement efficiently and systematically.

Boarding/Onboarding

The process of adding your clients (Merchants) to the Payrix Platform to utilize our payment solutions.

Chargeback

A dispute initiated by a cardholder regarding a transaction leading to a reversal of funds from the Merchant's account by the card brand issuer until the Merchant can provide supporting evidence in their favor to receive the credit back from the reversal for the transaction in question.

Cost of Acceptance

Refers to all costs associated with processing Merchant credit and debit card transactions. These costs are comprised of interchange fees, assessment fees, and processor fees.

Created

The date when the resource object was created. 

Creator

The login ID of the user that created the resource object. 

Decision

A risk automation configuration available to be set on Groups of entities to apply a review, and action/inaction of specified risk criteria as a Decision Rule, using the outcome of the risk review to determine whether or not to execute the Decision Action.

Decision Action

The specified automated process that occurs when the set risk review criteria or score threshold is met.

Decision Rule

The entity activity, score, or criteria set by the creator of the decision and required by the Group's entities to trigger a Decision Action.

Deposit Account

The bank account linked or manually added by an entity during initial boarding that is used to receive their transaction funds from a one-time or scheduled withdrawal of the FBO account.

Disbursements

A disbursement is when Payrix sends an ACH transfer to an entity’s (Merchant or Referrer) bank account. A disbursement happens when an entity schedules a withdrawal (payout) from its Payrix Available Balance.  

Disbursement Entries

Breakdown of the line items within a disbursement to understand what made up the disbursement total based on income and expenses. 

Division

Represents the portfolio associated with a Referrer. Every Merchant will be associated with the Referrer Division. This is where workflows are set up to automatically add Merchants to groups when created, and also where the white label is configured. 

Embedded Finance

This refers to the Worldpay Capital integration allowing Facilitators and Referrers on the Payrix platform the ability to offer pre-approved funding capital loans to Merchants using the Payrix Portal, allowing them to invest in their business needs.

Entity

This refers to any Merchant or referrer account operating on the Payrix Platform. In API terms, an entity represents the top-level resource for any Merchant or referrer account. 

Entry

Record of the movement of funds for an entity, including transactions and fees. 

Facilitator

An entity registered with the WorldPay processor as a payment facilitator, assuming risk and liability for their portfolio. The facilitator usually provides the infrastructure necessary for their Merchants to begin accepting credit card payments. They underwrite and onboard the Referrers and Merchants and provide them with the products and services required to process electronic payments.

FBO Account

The Payrix platform-hosted intermediary bank account where all settled transaction amounts are first deposited. This bank account is also used as the account where refunds and chargebacks are deducted (assuming a sufficient funds balance). A one-time withdrawal or recurring Withdrawal Schedule (Payout) is required to deposit these funds into your registered deposit account. This is also sometimes known as your "platform account" and is reflected in the Available Balance.

Funding

The process of a captured Merchant transaction being settled and the amount of the settled transaction being deposited into the Merchant's FBO account (minus Fees & Profit Shares).

Funding Parameters

A configuration of settings allowing modifications to be made to the Merchant funding process. Including funding delays or transaction settlement batch close-time customization.

Group (Org)

A collection of entities where you can configure fees, decisions, and parameters that apply to all entities in the group. 

Host

A configuration of whitelabel branding configurations for each entity-hosted Portal and platform-wide settings that can be applied at a Partition (Facilitator) or Division (Referrer) level to maintain a consistent Merchant experience.

Interchange Data (Level 2 & Level 3 Data)

Interchange (Level 2 & Level 3) data refers to specific transaction info submitted by Merchants during transaction processing, aiding credit card companies in categorizing payment processors for various interchange rates. This data submission provides interchange incentives by offering more detailed transaction information, qualifying Merchants for lower interchange rates, and leading to cost savings. The additional details enhance the overall transaction transparency resulting in reduced interchange fees and increased efficiency.

Interchange Fee

Fees paid by the payments platform (acquiring bank) to the cardholder's bank (issuing bank) whenever a credit or debit card transaction is processed. These fees are set by the card networks (Visa, Mastercard, etc.) and vary based on the type of card used (debit or credit), the transaction amount, and the risk involved.

Merchant

An entity that can process transactions has been onboarded through a Payrix-boarded Referrer or another Payment Facilitator under Payrix using Worldpay for processing. 

Merchant Category Code (MCC)

Classification based on the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes for different types of businesses, and used by card brand networks to identify a Merchant's business type and nature of operations at a high-level.

Modifier

Represents the login ID of the user that last modified the resource object. 

Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)

A required security setting that utilizes SMS/text or an Authenticator App to receive an authentication code from the Payrix platform provides an additional security layer for users logging in to the Portal or authenticating certain API calls.

Operating Account

The linked or manually added bank account used to charge expenses when debited or when the FBO Account balance has become negative due to refunds, chargebacks, or other similar cost deduction events.

Partition

Represents the portfolio associated with a Facilitator. Every Referrer will be associated with a Partition. This is where white-label host settings are configured as well as other platform-wide settings that affect the Referrer's offering to their Merchants.

Payment Processors

Along with the acquiring bank, a relationship with a processor is necessary to operate as a payment facilitator. The processor is responsible for processing and settling the transactions that are initiated by the payment Facilitator’s Merchants.

PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard)

A set of security standards designed to ensure the secure handling of cardholder information during payment transactions.

Policies

A comprehensive risk management system designed to automate and streamline risk decision-making processes for entire portfolios or individual entities. Similar to Decisions, Policies utilize a Rule and Action logic, however, the risk review capabilities within Policies also include third-party risk service integrations for more comprehensive, such as GIACT, LexisNexis, and Equifax. (Note: Policies contain a component called “Decisions”, this is different than Group risk decisions set from the Group profile.)

Portal

The web portal offered by Payrix to accomplish tasks for their business utilizing a web UI, rather than the API. Contains general settings, payment processing options, reporting, fee settings, group assignments, user management, and much more!

Processor

A business that enables financial transactions with customers from various channels such as credit cards and debit cards or bank accounts. WorldPay is the primary processor of our platform, and we offer limited omnichannel integration options for compatibility with third-party processors TSYS, Chase Payment Tech, Fiserv, & Global Payments.

Processor Fees

Fees charged by the processor (i.e. WorldPay, TSYS, Chase Payment Tech, Fiserv, & Global Payments.) for facilitating the transaction. They can be a flat fee per transaction or a percentage of the transaction amount.

Profit Share

A configuration between entities that allows a percentage of income (credits), expenses (debits), or both to be split between the entities in the specified percentage.

Referrer (Vendor)

A partner entity in our system that receives fees collected from Merchants. 

Revenue Share

A configuration between Facilitators and Referrers allows Facilitators to receive a percentage of the revenue generated from a Merchant fee setup from which the associated Referrer normally collects 100% of the fee amount.

Risk Management

The process of assessing and mitigating potential risk associated with transactions and Merchant boarding/activity, including fraud prevention, anti-money laundering compliance, and monitoring chargeback rates.

Settlement

The final stage of batch processing, where transaction funds are successfully processed and deposited from the acquiring bank and its processor to the Merchant's FBO account (Payrix Available Balance) for withdrawal to their bank account.

Team

A unique configuration allowing user role resources to be set and applied to multiple users at once for access to and capabilities on different Merchant accounts that can be saved to apply to future users.

Tokenization

The process of replacing sensitive payment method information, such as card numbers and checking account numbers, with a unique Payrix-platform token to enhance security for transactions and streamline future customer purchases or recurring payments.

Transaction

The movement of funds between a customer (cardholder or eCheck account holder) and a Merchant to purchase a good or service. 

User (Login)

The login of a user accessing the Payrix system or associated with an API KEY for requests sent to our API. 

User Roles

Individual resources for default Portal access capabilities and customizable access to specific Portal capabilities, such as the ability to add (create) a new bank account, or the ability to view the preset withdrawal schedule information.

Withdrawal (Payout)

The process of creating a disbursement of FBO account funds to an entity's registered deposit account. This process is also known as a “payout”.

Withdrawal Schedule (Payout Flow)

The configuration determines when balances from any entity's FBO account (Available Balance) will be withdrawn to their registered deposit or operating account and how much. It can be either one-time or recurring.

Workflow (Org Flow)

Automation on a division, team, or user that seamlessly adds or removes an entity from specific groups when it is created by a login, added to a division, or added to a team.

Workflow Action (Org Flow Action)

A setting determining whether an entity is added or removed from the Group specified in its associated Workflow.

Value-Added Services

Integrated services from Worldpay enabled on a Merchant level for OmniToken, Network Payment Tokens, SaferPayments, and ValuTec services.

3-Domain Secure (3DS) Authentication

An additional security layer for online credit and debit card transactions used by card brand networks to verify incoming transaction data against data provided by the Merchant from the cardholder.