MasterCard Visa Card Verification for Card Not Present Sales CVV-2 CVC-2

Review the US MasterCard and Visa CVV overview. Then, call us at 800-503-1972 to discuss your business requirements!

In a traditional retail (card present) transaction, the magnetic stripe is read by a point-of-sale (POS) terminal. Visa's Card Verification Value (CVV) or MasterCard's Card Validation Code (CVC) is encoded within that stripe and can be verified by the card issuer during the authorization.

However, when the card is not present the CVV or CVC cannot be validated. To help reduce fraud in the card-not-present environment, acquirers, merchants, and issuers use the CVV-2 or CVC-2 program.

What is CVV2 or CVC2?
The CVV2 / CVC2 is a three-digit security code that is printed on the back of cards. The number appears in reverse italic at the top of the signature panel at the end (see sample). This program helps validate that a genuine card is being used during a transaction. All MasterCard cards, both credit and debit, were required to contain CVC2 by January 1, 1997; all Visa cards by January 1, 2001.

How does CVV2 or CVC2 Work?
Card-not-present merchants are being directed to ask cardholders for CVV-2 / CVC-2 when cardholders place orders. Merchants ask the cardholder to read this code from the card. The merchant then asks for CVV2/CVC2 verification during the authorization process. The issuer (or processor) validates the CVV2/CVC2 and relays the decline/approve results during the authorization process. Merchants, by using the CVV2/CVC2 results along with the Address Verification Service (AVS) and authorization responses, can then make more informed decisions about whether to accept transactions. In addition, merchants using CVV2/CVC2 can expect to reduce their chargebacks by as much as 26 percent.

Changes to signature panel?
Previously the three-digit CVV2 or CVC2 number followed the 16-digit account number printed on the card's signature panel. The 16-digit account number is now truncated to four digits on the signature panel. This change makes it easier for cardholders to sign their cards. It also makes it easier for merchants to compare the signature on the card to the one on the sales draft; no longer will those 19 digits (16 + 3) get in the way of verifying a signature!

Data Security

Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS) prohibit the storage of the CVV2 data.

However, for recurring, installment or split transactions, merchants may be exempted from having to submit the CVV values with subsequent transactions. Ask us about the Merchant Vault ; an approved and certified service wherein the CVV codes are encrypted and secured for future transactions.

What are CVV2 Result Codes?

Result Code	Definition

M	CVV 2 matched - Generally speaking, you will want to proceed with transactions for which you received an authorization approval, a CVV 2 match and an address verification match If requested).

N	CVV 2 did not match - You may want to follow up with the cardholder before completing the transaction, even if you received an authorization approval. If you got an authorization approval but you think an incorrect CVV 2 value might have been sent initially, you can resend the CVV 2 - but be sure to use a zero dollar amount for the transaction so the customer's credit line won't be affected by the second CVV 2 request.

P	CVV 2 request not processed - Either (1) the expiration date was not provided, or (2) the card does not have a CVV 2 value. If the expiration date was left blank, resubmit as a zero dollar amount for the transaction so the customer's credit line won't be affected by the second CVV 2 request.

S	CVV 2 should be on the card but merchant sent a code indicating there was no CVV 2. You may want to follow up with the customer to re-verify that the customer checked the correct location for the CVV 2

U	Issuer is not certified and does not support CVV 2

MasterCard Visa Card Verification for Card Not Present Sales CVV-2 CVC-2

Copyright © 2009 Commercial Funding Network, Inc.

P.O. Box 9584, Niskayuna, New York 12309-0584

Telephone: 518-346-2115 Fax: 212-658-9003

Revised: November 21, 2009