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Account Updater

Updated

Table of Contents

  1. What is Account Updater?
  2. How does my merchant qualify to use Account Updater?
  3. How does Account Updater work?
  4. What card types are support?
  5. Which processors and acquiring banks support this service?
  6. How does billing work with Account Updater?
  7. How can I enable this service for my merchant?
  8. How to edit settings from the Merchant Control Panel.

 

What is Account Updater?

Account Updater is a service to automatically update the card holder’s information whenever it changes, such as account numbers and expiration dates.

How does my merchant qualify to use Account Updater?

From the gateway’s side, the most important criteria to consider before enrolling the merchant in Account Updater are:

  1. The merchant MUST be storing card information in the Customer Vault.
  2. The merchant NEEDS to be on a supported processor.
  3. The acquiring bank MUST be enrolled/participating as well.
  4. It works with Recurring Billing.

We do not have a lot of details on the merchant’s requirements or the cost from the processor or the acquirer’s end. This information can be found by directly reaching out to the processor and the merchant’s acquirer. Once the merchant is enrolled with their acquirer, there will be information provided to enter in on the Gateway side.

How does Account Updater work?

The Account Updater process is as follows:

  1. NMI submits information for verification
  2. The processor forwards information to the network (Visa, MasterCard)
  3. Over several days, the network sends available information back to Processor - Processor collects information for each MID
  4. The processor creates a response file or files with all the complete information and posts to a secure location
  5. NMI picks up the file(s) and updates the information in the Customer Vault
  6. NMI sends an email to the merchant

NOTE:

  • Files can take as long as five days to be returned by the network and processed by NMI.
  • NMI returns one email per MID with updated account information.

What card types are support?

The currently supported card types include:

  1. Visa
  2. Mastercard
  3. Discover

American Express is NOT a support card type.

Which processors and acquiring banks support this service?

The Account Updater service is NOT supported by all processors and acquiring banks.

The gateway is now certified for Account Updater Service for any merchants boarded through:

  • Chase Paymentech Salem (Acquirer: Chase)
  • First Data Nashville North (Acquirer: Wells Fargo)
  • First Data Nashville North v2 (Acquirer: Wells Fargo)
  • Vantiv Now Worldpay eCommerce - Host Capture (Includes both Vantiv Now Worldpay eCommerce - Host Capture (Litle & Co) , Vantiv Now Worldpay eCommerce - Terminal Capture (Litlev2), and FACe - Vantiv Processors) (Acquirer: Fifth Third Bank or Vantiv)
  • TSYS (Vital) - (Also Called EnsureBill) (Acquirer: Clearent)

For merchants using the First Data, our understanding is that the MID must settle to the North or South backend in order for Account Updater to work, and the Acquirer must specifically support it.

For all other processors and acquirers please reach out to them to see if they support this service.

How does billing work with Account Updater?

The two fees associated with this service are:

  1. Account Updater Monthly Fee
  2. Service Per Transaction Fee

The Transaction Fee is charged only to the cards that are ACTUALLY updated. If there are multiple customer vault records that share the same card number, for each update there is a fee. However – there is also a charge for Customer Vault Action Fee (since the Customer Vault is updated) with any card information.

For example,

  • 100 accounts are submitted, only 40 are updated.
  • Merchant will be charged 40 Account Updater Transaction Fees.
  • Merchant will also be charged 40 Vault transaction Fees.

How can I enable this service for my merchant?

Once the merchant is boarded with the proper processor and acquirer, the partner can add this service under ‘Processing Services’. Please follow the steps listed below.

Log into your partner portal >> Click ‘List Accounts’ >> Click on the merchant account >> Scroll down to ‘Processing Services’ >> Across from ‘Service’ there is an ‘Add +’ option and click on that >> Under ‘Third Party Processor’ you will see the ‘Account Updater’ options and checkmark the box next to it >> Click on ‘Next’ and continue following the steps.

For example set up is as following ..This information comes from the processor.

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Once you have added this service and are back on the merchant’s home screen, under ‘Processing Services’ it will say ‘Pending’. Scroll all the way to the bottom of the page and you should see a message that says, ‘Activate Pending Services Immediately’. Once you accept this the Account Updater service will be active.

 

 

How to edit settings from the Merchant Control Panel.

Account updater settings can be found in the merchant’s control panel by clicking options >> click settings >> under ‘Transaction Options’ you will see the ‘Account Updater’ options.

The two settings are:

  • Frequency (how often Account Updater is ran):
    • 1st of the Month
    • 1st of the Quarter
    • 1st of the year
  • Active Records (# of days since activity)
    • This number represents the span of time a card is regarded as 'active'.
    • Example: if 90 is entered, then cards not used in 90 days will be regarded as 'inactive'. If it is used within 90 days it will be regarded as 'active'.
    • Setting to "0" will make all records active as long as they've processed a transaction using the Customer Vault ID.

***PLEASE NOTE: By default, Account Updater runs monthly (Frequency - 1st of the month) and checks for updates to all Vault Records (Active Records - 0). These settings can be changed in the Merchant Control Panel under Settings.