Account Updater Service
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The MerchantE (ME) Account Updater Service (AUS) helps merchants who do installment, recurring, or on-demand billing obtain updated credit card expiration dates and/or account numbers. AUS also identifies cards that have been closed with no new number assigned. By programmatically uploading a data file with account information to MerchantE through a simple API, an inquiry will be made to both Visa and MasterCard.
The account information will be updated if:
• The expiration date of the card has been changed.
• The card has been reissued with a new account number.
• The account has been closed.
The updated information will be made available in a response file that is also available through an API call.
In addition to the API method, files can also be uploaded, checked, and retrieved manually through a web-based interface. By obtaining these updates systematically, a merchant can avoid contacting their customers directly and prevent the need to manually handle rejected transactions. Merchants that use the ME Payment Gateway Store Card tokenization feature can also benefit from the use of AUS. Instead of sending full card numbers, such merchants would only need to send the stored token Card ID value in the AUS request file. ME will automatically pull the card data for the update check. Any updates are then automatically applied to the token value with no merchant involvement needed. The merchant can then continue to use the same token Card ID that will then represent the updated card data.
This document is intended to offer a basic understanding of the file format and transmission requirements for sending and receiving updater files. In this document, the term credit card associations are sometimes used to describe Visa, MasterCard, and Discover. These are the only associations participating in the AUS program. In addition, Visa, MasterCard, and Discover have their own brand names for these products. There may be some paperwork or collateral material where the association- specific product name is used. Keep in mind that the Visa Account Updater (VAU), MasterCard Automatic Billing Updater (ABU), and Discover Network Account Updater (DAU) all fall under the MerchantE Account Updater Service (AUS).