What Do You Need To Know About Address Verification Service?

May 6, 2016

What Do You Need To Know About Address Verification Service

Address Verification Service, also known as AVS, is a security measure that is used to prevent fraudulent transactions on any debit or credit card.

As the name suggests, Address Verification Service is based on the verification of the address of the card holder. This is especially important for online transactions, the chances of there being a fraudulent transaction are reduced massively as a card that is protected by AVS will confirm the billing address of the card holder.

How Does Address Verification Service Work?

Address Verification Service is usually performed by the banks during the time of card authorization. It can be done through the telephone when the card holder is not present or through a POS terminal. The billing address on the card is corroborated with the address on the bank’s files and if the address matches, the transaction is carried out. It is possible that even after the billing address was correct, the transaction is declined. There can be a number of reasons for that, the misspelling of the address, or outdated information, etc., can also cause decline of a transaction.

Response Codes and Verification

The bank card payment processor is the one responsible for performing the address verification. The bank receives the information or form through the merchant. The verification includes checking the address on the form and checking if it matches the information present on the bank files. The check may also include checking if the zip code is correct or not.

After the bank card payment processor has checked the information, he then responds to the merchant. The response is based on six codes, the codes are: full match, no match, partial match-zip code, partial match-address, unavailable and international.

A payment can still be processed, even if there is some discrepancy in the information submitted online and the information that is available with the bank. These transactions are often very risky because in case the transaction was fraudulent, the merchant will be bound to carry the damages as the merchants are held liable if anything was sold to a stolen card.

Stolen Cards

It should be noted that the Address Verification Service is merely a security measure that is supposed to reduce the chances of a fraudulent transaction on a debit or credit cards. It is possible that a transaction was carried out through a stolen card and it will be processed because AVS is only responsible for verifying the billing address on the card. Because the address on the card matched that with the bank’s documents, the transaction will not be declined. In that case, there is no payment guarantee.

Availability of Service

The service is very popular in countries like the United Kingdom, Canada, United States of America, but it is not yet available in other countries of the world. This service is supported by all major card services like Master Card, Visa and American Express, etc.

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