Payments to Card Collection Accounts

This document is a technical introduction to the DataCash Credit Card Account Payment Service. Further detailed information to assist integration with the Bank Card Service is available in the Developers Guide.

The Credit Card Account Payment Service enables payments to be made to the collection account of any UK issued Visa or Mastercard branded credit card. This type of payment is generally used when funds cannot be returned to a credit card account using the Credit and Debit Card Service.

There are two parts to this Service: validation and settlement

Validating the Transaction

Once the details of the transaction have been sent to the DGP, a BACS approved database is used to determine whether the card Issuing Bank allows Direct Credit to be performed using the card. If the Issuing Bank does allow Direct Credits, the database is then used to obtain the collection account details for the card. This database is regularly updated to ensure the latest details are always available.

Settling the Transaction

To transfer the money between you and your customer, the validated transaction needs to be settled by your Sponsoring Bank.

Direct Credits are batched by the DPG each working day and are submitted to BACS for processing. BACS then pass the details to your Sponsoring Bank. This process takes three working days.

Requirements

Before you can go live with this service, you will need the following:
  • an account with DataCash configured for the Direct Credit Card Collection Account Service
  • your OIN to be configured at your Sponsoring Bank for Direct Credit
  • the ability to send XML transactions to our servers

Transaction Processing Models

DataCash provide two transactions types with which to access the Service:

Transaction Type Effect Uses
cardaccountpayment Credits the customer Returns funds to the card collection account for the card holder
cancel Prevents settlement of a transaction Prevents an unsettled dcardaccountpayment from being submitted for settlement

Performing Transactions

Both transaction types require specific information to be provided. In addition to those listed, each requires a client and password - these are security details which identify your account.

Performing a Card Payment via Direct Credit

To perform a payment to a card collection account, the following information about the card can be collected

  • the customers card number
  • card expiry date - this is optional
  • the name of the account holder - this is optional

In addition to the card information collected from the customer, these details about the transaction are also required:

  • the value you wish to be refunded
  • the transaction type - cardaccountpayment
  • a unique reference number generated by your system - to allow the transactions to be distinguished from each other

Cancelling a refund

To cancel a cardaccountpayment prior to settlement, the following information is required:

  • the datacash reference for the cardaccountpayment
  • the transaction type - cancel

Response Codes

There are two basic Response types for all transactions.

  • Accepted
  • Errors

Accepted

A successful response indicates that the card collection account details have been validated and the cardaccountpayment will be sent to BACS for settlement, unless it is cancelled.

Errors

A complete list of Response Codes for this service is available here. The Support Centre also contains extensive examples for most error codes. Illustrations are given to demonstrate how they would appear in both Reporting and an XML Response. Suggestions are also given to help you prevent them from occurring.

Reporting

The cardaccountpayment transactions are detailed in the Direct Credit section of the DataCash Reporting system. There are three main pages:

  • Summary - gives a summary of the transactions
  • List - shows specific details of the transactions
  • Details - shows full details of each transaction

The Support Centre contains full hints and tips to help you get the most out of Reporting.