Visa · Controlled Vocabulary
Visa Vocabulary
Domain vocabulary for Visa's global payment network APIs, covering payment processing, money movement, fraud prevention, account management, merchant data, and digital commerce concepts.
22 Terms
13 With Aliases
Updated
Visa Vocabulary is a controlled vocabulary published by Visa on the APIs.io network, defining 22 terms.
Defined terms include VisaNet, Primary Account Number, Bank Identification Number, Systems Trace Audit Number, and Retrieval Reference Number.
13 terms carry alternate labels, so a consumer can resolve the synonyms Visa accepts to the canonical term.
A controlled vocabulary pins the words an API’s schemas, parameters and documentation use to one agreed definition each — the shared language a human or an agent needs to read the API the same way its authors do.
Terms
VisaNet
Visa's global payment processing network that facilitates authorization, clearing, and settlement of electronic payments between issuers, acquirers, and merchants in over 200 countries and territories.
Primary Account Number
The unique identifier embossed or encoded on a payment card, typically 13-19 digits. Used to identify the card account in transaction processing.
PANCard Number
Bank Identification Number
The first 6-9 digits of a PAN identifying the issuing bank and card type. Used by acquirers to route authorization requests to the correct issuer.
BINIIN
Systems Trace Audit Number
A 6-digit number assigned by the merchant system to uniquely identify each transaction within a business day. Used for transaction matching and reconciliation.
STAN
Retrieval Reference Number
A 12-character alphanumeric reference number that uniquely identifies a transaction. Used for retrievals, chargebacks, and transaction research.
RRN
Visa Direct
Visa's push payment platform enabling real-time or near-real-time fund transfers to Visa accounts worldwide, supporting P2P, B2C disbursements, payroll, and government benefits.
Push Funds Transaction
A Visa Direct operation that delivers funds to a recipient's Visa account. The originator of a push payment is typically a financial institution or payment service provider.
Pull Funds Transaction
A Visa Direct operation that debits funds from a sender's Visa account. Typically used in the first step of a two-step transfer (pull then push).
Business Application ID
A two-character code identifying the business use case for a Visa Direct transaction (e.g., PP=person-to-person, AA=account-to-account, CI=credit card bill payment).
BAID
Merchant Category Code
A 4-digit code (ISO 18245) classifying a merchant's business type. Used for transaction routing, fraud detection, and spending controls.
MCC
Visa Merchant ID
A unique identifier assigned by Visa to each merchant accepting Visa payments. Used in the Visa Merchant Search API for merchant lookup and enrichment.
VMID
Transaction Enrichment
The process of augmenting raw transaction data with enhanced merchant information such as business name, logo, street address, and website to improve cardholder statement clarity.
Card Verification Value
A 3 or 4 digit security code printed on payment cards used to verify that the cardholder possesses the physical card during card-not-present transactions.
CVVCVV2CVN
Address Verification Service
A fraud prevention service that verifies the billing address provided by a cardholder during a transaction against the address on file with the issuing bank.
AVS
Account Name Inquiry
A Payment Account Validation method that verifies the name associated with a Visa account, helping prevent misdirected payments.
ANI
Action Code
A two-digit code returned by the issuer in the authorization response indicating the outcome (e.g., 00=Approved, 05=Do Not Honor, 51=Insufficient Funds).
Approval Code
An alphanumeric code returned when a transaction is approved. Used for transaction verification, chargeback defense, and reconciliation.
Transaction Controls
Cardholder-defined rules that restrict or alert on card usage, such as spending limits, merchant category blocks, geographic restrictions, and transaction type controls.
Visa Token Service
A tokenization service that replaces sensitive PAN data with a payment token, enabling secure digital wallet and card-on-file transactions without exposing the actual card number.
VTS
Foreign Exchange Rate
Visa's currency conversion rate for a given pair of currencies, used when processing cross-border transactions. Available as indicative daily rates or real-time rates depending on the payment instrument.
FX Rate
Acquiring BIN
The Bank Identification Number of the acquiring bank processing the transaction on behalf of the merchant. Used in transaction routing and settlement.
Mutual TLS
The authentication mechanism used for Visa Developer APIs requiring both client and server to present valid certificates for two-way identity verification.
mTLS