Card scheme

Card schemes are payment networks linked to payment cards, such as debit or credit cards, of which a bank or any other eligible financial institution can become a member. By becoming a member of the scheme, the member then gets the possibility to issue or acquire cards operating on the network of that card scheme.

Different types of schemes

The card schemes come in two main varieties - a three-party scheme (or closed scheme) or a four-party scheme (or open scheme).

Three-party scheme

A three-party scheme consists of three main parties as described in the diagram on the right.

In this model, the issuer (having the relationship with the cardholder) and the acquirer (having the relationship with the Merchant) is the same entity. This means that there is no need for any charges between the issuer and the acquirer. Since it is a franchise setup, there is only one franchisee in each market, which is the incentive in this model. There is no competition within the brand; rather you compete with other brands.

Examples of this setup are Diners Club, Discover Card, American Express, although in recent times these schemes have also partnered with other issuers and acquirers in order to boost their circulation and acceptance.

Four-party scheme

In a four-party scheme, the issuer and acquirer are different entities, and this type of scheme is open for other institutions to join and issue their own cards. This signifies card schemes such as Visa, MasterCard, Verve Card UnionPay and RuPay. There is no limitations as to who may join the scheme, as long as the requirements of the scheme are met.

Credit, charge, stored-value, and debit cards

Major cards	American Express Diners Club MasterCard Debit MasterCard Maestro Visa Visa Debit Visa Electron

Regional and specialty cards	Bancomat BC Card BCA Card Carte Bleue China UnionPay Dankort Discover EFTPOS Electronic Payment Services (EPS) Girocard Interac JCB NETS RuPay UATP V PAY MEPS

Stored-value cards	Touch 'n Go EasyCard Octopus card EZ-Link Shanghai Public Transport Card Yikatong Shenzhen Tong Suzhoutong Yang Cheng Tong Presto card

Defunct cards	Access Bankcard Carte Blanche Choice enRoute Eurocard Everything Laser Rail Travel Card Revolution Card Solo Switch

Accounts	Payment card number Card enclosure Credit card balance transfer Credit limit Revolving account Deposit account Current/checking account Savings account

Debt	Cash advance Charge-off Maxed out

Interest	Grace period Introductory rate Universal default

Payment	Card not present transaction Chargeback Controlled payment number Dispute

Interchange fee	Interchange fee Surcharge

Security	Card security code Chargeback fraud Credit card fraud Credit card hijacking Enculturation

Technology	Cash machine Chip and PIN Contactless payment Credit card terminal EMV Interbank network Magnetic stripe card Smart card

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 8/23/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.