ETA CPP REVIEW TIPS ANSWERS AND QUESTIONS
SET A+
✔✔Affinity Card - ✔✔A Visa, MasterCard, Discover or American Express card bearing
the trade name or mark of an affinity partner. These cards are issued through marketing
alliances, an organization, or a collective group (such as a professional association or
special interest group). The affinity partner's name and logo are shown on the card, and
the partner then solicits its membership or group for special rewards and promotions.
Popular with sporting teams and university alumni groups, affinity cards work like
regular credit/debit/prepaid cards and can be used anywhere that the brand is accepted.
The card issuer often pays the affinity organization a royalty on charge transactions.
✔✔Affinity Partner - ✔✔An entity that is not eligible for membership in either Visa or
MasterCard and has a relationship with an issuer for the issuance of affinity cards.
✔✔Agent - ✔✔Under the law of agency, a person authorized by another (known as the
"principal") to act for the principal. Agents can include processors, independent sales
organizations, third‐party servicers, independent contractors, and financial institutions
engaged by a bank card member to provide services or act on its behalf in connection
with payment services. For example, an independent sales organization may have a
contractual relationship with a bank card member to sell and service retail merchants,
thus becoming an agent of the member.
✔✔Agent Agreement - ✔✔A contract with an agent under which the agent and the
principal can be obligated. See Agent.
✔✔Agent Bank - ✔✔Issuing: Agent banks contract with larger issuing (or sponsoring)
banks to issue cards that are branded with the agent bank's name. Cardholders are
solicited through the agent. Shared revenue or fixed compensation may be negotiated,
but the liability rests with the sponsoring bank, not the agent. Acquiring: Similar
relationships exist in which the agent sells and services the merchants on behalf of the
principal bank.
✔✔Agent member - ✔✔A member of Visa or MasterCard that by agreement,
participates in another member's card program, usually by turning over its cardholder
,and merchant applications to the member administering the card program and by acting
as a depository for merchants.
✔✔Agent Reference File - ✔✔A file maintained by Visa U.S.A. containing information
about independent sales organizations, third‐party processors, third-party servicers, and
independent contractors.
✔✔Age Verification - ✔✔A security authentication, which can be POS terminal-based,
that is used by certain age‐sensitive market segments such as liquor and tobacco
outlets, bars, and casinos. The merchant can verify the consumer's age and deny
transactions to an underage consumer.
✔✔Aggregators - ✔✔A service bureau that provides bill presentment and/or payment
consolidation services. Issuing: Aggregators enable a bank to enroll and aggregate
information from multiple bank and brokerage accounts so that it can be presented in
one place to the consumer. Merchants: Merchants such as PayPal and Amazon—which
act as electronic Internet malls—can process under one merchant number but with
multiple sub‐merchant numbers for their individual accounts.
✔✔Aging - ✔✔The process by which account receivables are classified by the amount
of time that has passed since the date of the invoice. It is used for the purpose of
determining delinquency, ranging from current to charge‐off status.
✔✔Aid for Dependent Children (AFDC) - ✔✔A federally funded and usually state- or
county-administered public assistance program that provides supplemental financial aid
to qualifying households that include one or more minor children. An AFDC family may
receive benefits and services from other assistance programs, including food stamps,
Medicaid, and subsidized child care. Families receive food stamps via an EBT
(electronic benefits transfer) card, which works like a debit card. The EBT system
reduces fraud, theft, and abuse.
✔✔Alert - ✔✔1. Weekly notification to an acquirer when the acquirer's suspect
transaction or fraud activity level exceeds a specified risk identification service
parameter. 2. A notification to an acquirer when the acquirer's fraud activity‐to-sales
ratio exceeds a specified Acquirer Monitoring Program alert threshold.
✔✔Alert Merchants - ✔✔Those merchants that have more than 8 percent of their sales
dollars labeled as fraud transactions in two consecutive months. Acquirers must
terminate or assume chargeback liability on all fraud for one year.
✔✔Algorithm - ✔✔A step‐by‐step procedure for solving a problem or accomplishing an
end, especially by a computer.
✔✔Alphameric or Alphanumeric - ✔✔A set of letters and numbers. When used in
reference to computer input and output, the set usually is expanded to include the
,uppercase and lowercase alphabetic characters (A‐Z, a‐z), the numeric characters (0‐
9), and special characters (such as the symbols $, #, and @, mathematical symbols,
and punctuation marks).
✔✔Altered Card - ✔✔A card on which the original embossed or encoded information
has been altered for fraudulent purposes.
✔✔Alternate Payments - ✔✔A non‐traditional payment method such as instant
transactional credit and ACH debit systems such as PayPal or Amazon Payments.
✔✔American Bankers Association (ABA) - ✔✔A nonprofit organization, founded in
1875, that serves the banking industry. Its members include community, regional, and
money center banks and holding companies, as well as savings associations, trust
companies, and savings banks.
✔✔American Express (AMEX) - ✔✔A diversified worldwide travel, financial, and
network services company, founded in 1850. American Express issues credit, prepaid
and charge Cards that support a broad base of clients and needs for both consumers
and businesses. Along with its Card business, the company also provides business
credit lines and merchant establishment services. In 1958, it introduced the American
Express Card, a "charge card" with the entire bill paid in full each month. Because
American Express was both the only issuer and the direct acquirer, it could gather more
information on each transaction and was the first company to offer a detailed statement.
Still viewed as a prestige business travel and entertainment supplier, American Express
now offers an array of charge, prepaid and credit cards. It also has a reseller program,
the External Sales Agent (ESA) Program, that provides incentives to ISOs and
acquirers to market American Express cards to merchants. All American Express cards
begin with "3."
✔✔American National Standards Institute (ANSI) - ✔✔A private, nonprofit organization
that administers and coordinates the U.S. voluntary standardization and conformity
assessment system in many areas, including computers and communications. ANSI's
mission is to enhance both the global competitiveness of U.S. business and the nation's
quality of life by promoting and facilitating voluntary consensus standards and
conformity assessment systems and safeguarding their integrity.
✔✔American Public Transportation Association (APTA) - ✔✔A nonprofit international
association of more than 1,400 public and private member organizations, including
transit systems and commuter rail operators; planning, design, construction, and finance
firms; product and service providers; academic institutions; transit associations; and
state departments of transportation. APTA governs and oversees the public
transportation industry, which is involved in setting standards for micropayments and
smart card technology.
, ✔✔American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) - ✔✔The standard
code used for information interchange among data processing systems, data
communications systems, and associated equipment in the United States. ASCII code
is an alphabet used in computer machine languages and represents the standard PC
character set.
✔✔Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) - ✔✔The American with Disabilities Act of
1990 (effective July 26, 1992) prohibits private employers, state and local governments,
employment agencies, and labor unions from discriminating against qualified individuals
with disabilities in job application procedures, hiring, firing, advancement,
compensation, job training, and other terms, conditions, and privileges of employment.
The ADA mandates the accessible design of buildings, machines, and public vehicles.
The impact to automated teller machines was significant, as the law required
accessibility for the physically impaired as well as the sight‐ and hearing‐impaired.
✔✔AMEX - ✔✔See American Express.
✔✔AML Policy - ✔✔See Anti‐Money Laundering Policy
✔✔Analog - ✔✔Information presented in the form of a continuously varying signal.
✔✔Angel Investor - ✔✔A wealthy individual who invests his/her private money in what
he/she believes to be promising opportunities, such as startup companies. Sometimes
two or more "angels" will jointly invest in opportunities to spread the risk. (Source:
ventureline.com)
✔✔Anonymous Proxy Detection - ✔✔A fraud prevention and risk management tool
used in conjunction with Internet processing that rejects a transaction from known
anonymous proxies. Anonymous proxies are frequently used by hackers.
✔✔ANSI - ✔✔See American National Standards Institute.
✔✔ANSI X12 - ✔✔Standards that regulate electronic data interchange (EDI) as
governed by the American National Standards Institute Accelerated Standards
Committee.
✔✔ANSI X9.17 - ✔✔Standards for authentication and message encryption key
management. These standards are maintained by the American National Standards
Institute and can be found at the Computer Security Resource Center
(www.csrc.nist.gov).
✔✔ANSI X9.52 - ✔✔Standards for data encryption and decryption. These standards
are maintained by the American National Standards Institute and can be found at the
Computer Security Resource Center (www.csrc.nist.gov).
SET A+
✔✔Affinity Card - ✔✔A Visa, MasterCard, Discover or American Express card bearing
the trade name or mark of an affinity partner. These cards are issued through marketing
alliances, an organization, or a collective group (such as a professional association or
special interest group). The affinity partner's name and logo are shown on the card, and
the partner then solicits its membership or group for special rewards and promotions.
Popular with sporting teams and university alumni groups, affinity cards work like
regular credit/debit/prepaid cards and can be used anywhere that the brand is accepted.
The card issuer often pays the affinity organization a royalty on charge transactions.
✔✔Affinity Partner - ✔✔An entity that is not eligible for membership in either Visa or
MasterCard and has a relationship with an issuer for the issuance of affinity cards.
✔✔Agent - ✔✔Under the law of agency, a person authorized by another (known as the
"principal") to act for the principal. Agents can include processors, independent sales
organizations, third‐party servicers, independent contractors, and financial institutions
engaged by a bank card member to provide services or act on its behalf in connection
with payment services. For example, an independent sales organization may have a
contractual relationship with a bank card member to sell and service retail merchants,
thus becoming an agent of the member.
✔✔Agent Agreement - ✔✔A contract with an agent under which the agent and the
principal can be obligated. See Agent.
✔✔Agent Bank - ✔✔Issuing: Agent banks contract with larger issuing (or sponsoring)
banks to issue cards that are branded with the agent bank's name. Cardholders are
solicited through the agent. Shared revenue or fixed compensation may be negotiated,
but the liability rests with the sponsoring bank, not the agent. Acquiring: Similar
relationships exist in which the agent sells and services the merchants on behalf of the
principal bank.
✔✔Agent member - ✔✔A member of Visa or MasterCard that by agreement,
participates in another member's card program, usually by turning over its cardholder
,and merchant applications to the member administering the card program and by acting
as a depository for merchants.
✔✔Agent Reference File - ✔✔A file maintained by Visa U.S.A. containing information
about independent sales organizations, third‐party processors, third-party servicers, and
independent contractors.
✔✔Age Verification - ✔✔A security authentication, which can be POS terminal-based,
that is used by certain age‐sensitive market segments such as liquor and tobacco
outlets, bars, and casinos. The merchant can verify the consumer's age and deny
transactions to an underage consumer.
✔✔Aggregators - ✔✔A service bureau that provides bill presentment and/or payment
consolidation services. Issuing: Aggregators enable a bank to enroll and aggregate
information from multiple bank and brokerage accounts so that it can be presented in
one place to the consumer. Merchants: Merchants such as PayPal and Amazon—which
act as electronic Internet malls—can process under one merchant number but with
multiple sub‐merchant numbers for their individual accounts.
✔✔Aging - ✔✔The process by which account receivables are classified by the amount
of time that has passed since the date of the invoice. It is used for the purpose of
determining delinquency, ranging from current to charge‐off status.
✔✔Aid for Dependent Children (AFDC) - ✔✔A federally funded and usually state- or
county-administered public assistance program that provides supplemental financial aid
to qualifying households that include one or more minor children. An AFDC family may
receive benefits and services from other assistance programs, including food stamps,
Medicaid, and subsidized child care. Families receive food stamps via an EBT
(electronic benefits transfer) card, which works like a debit card. The EBT system
reduces fraud, theft, and abuse.
✔✔Alert - ✔✔1. Weekly notification to an acquirer when the acquirer's suspect
transaction or fraud activity level exceeds a specified risk identification service
parameter. 2. A notification to an acquirer when the acquirer's fraud activity‐to-sales
ratio exceeds a specified Acquirer Monitoring Program alert threshold.
✔✔Alert Merchants - ✔✔Those merchants that have more than 8 percent of their sales
dollars labeled as fraud transactions in two consecutive months. Acquirers must
terminate or assume chargeback liability on all fraud for one year.
✔✔Algorithm - ✔✔A step‐by‐step procedure for solving a problem or accomplishing an
end, especially by a computer.
✔✔Alphameric or Alphanumeric - ✔✔A set of letters and numbers. When used in
reference to computer input and output, the set usually is expanded to include the
,uppercase and lowercase alphabetic characters (A‐Z, a‐z), the numeric characters (0‐
9), and special characters (such as the symbols $, #, and @, mathematical symbols,
and punctuation marks).
✔✔Altered Card - ✔✔A card on which the original embossed or encoded information
has been altered for fraudulent purposes.
✔✔Alternate Payments - ✔✔A non‐traditional payment method such as instant
transactional credit and ACH debit systems such as PayPal or Amazon Payments.
✔✔American Bankers Association (ABA) - ✔✔A nonprofit organization, founded in
1875, that serves the banking industry. Its members include community, regional, and
money center banks and holding companies, as well as savings associations, trust
companies, and savings banks.
✔✔American Express (AMEX) - ✔✔A diversified worldwide travel, financial, and
network services company, founded in 1850. American Express issues credit, prepaid
and charge Cards that support a broad base of clients and needs for both consumers
and businesses. Along with its Card business, the company also provides business
credit lines and merchant establishment services. In 1958, it introduced the American
Express Card, a "charge card" with the entire bill paid in full each month. Because
American Express was both the only issuer and the direct acquirer, it could gather more
information on each transaction and was the first company to offer a detailed statement.
Still viewed as a prestige business travel and entertainment supplier, American Express
now offers an array of charge, prepaid and credit cards. It also has a reseller program,
the External Sales Agent (ESA) Program, that provides incentives to ISOs and
acquirers to market American Express cards to merchants. All American Express cards
begin with "3."
✔✔American National Standards Institute (ANSI) - ✔✔A private, nonprofit organization
that administers and coordinates the U.S. voluntary standardization and conformity
assessment system in many areas, including computers and communications. ANSI's
mission is to enhance both the global competitiveness of U.S. business and the nation's
quality of life by promoting and facilitating voluntary consensus standards and
conformity assessment systems and safeguarding their integrity.
✔✔American Public Transportation Association (APTA) - ✔✔A nonprofit international
association of more than 1,400 public and private member organizations, including
transit systems and commuter rail operators; planning, design, construction, and finance
firms; product and service providers; academic institutions; transit associations; and
state departments of transportation. APTA governs and oversees the public
transportation industry, which is involved in setting standards for micropayments and
smart card technology.
, ✔✔American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) - ✔✔The standard
code used for information interchange among data processing systems, data
communications systems, and associated equipment in the United States. ASCII code
is an alphabet used in computer machine languages and represents the standard PC
character set.
✔✔Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) - ✔✔The American with Disabilities Act of
1990 (effective July 26, 1992) prohibits private employers, state and local governments,
employment agencies, and labor unions from discriminating against qualified individuals
with disabilities in job application procedures, hiring, firing, advancement,
compensation, job training, and other terms, conditions, and privileges of employment.
The ADA mandates the accessible design of buildings, machines, and public vehicles.
The impact to automated teller machines was significant, as the law required
accessibility for the physically impaired as well as the sight‐ and hearing‐impaired.
✔✔AMEX - ✔✔See American Express.
✔✔AML Policy - ✔✔See Anti‐Money Laundering Policy
✔✔Analog - ✔✔Information presented in the form of a continuously varying signal.
✔✔Angel Investor - ✔✔A wealthy individual who invests his/her private money in what
he/she believes to be promising opportunities, such as startup companies. Sometimes
two or more "angels" will jointly invest in opportunities to spread the risk. (Source:
ventureline.com)
✔✔Anonymous Proxy Detection - ✔✔A fraud prevention and risk management tool
used in conjunction with Internet processing that rejects a transaction from known
anonymous proxies. Anonymous proxies are frequently used by hackers.
✔✔ANSI - ✔✔See American National Standards Institute.
✔✔ANSI X12 - ✔✔Standards that regulate electronic data interchange (EDI) as
governed by the American National Standards Institute Accelerated Standards
Committee.
✔✔ANSI X9.17 - ✔✔Standards for authentication and message encryption key
management. These standards are maintained by the American National Standards
Institute and can be found at the Computer Security Resource Center
(www.csrc.nist.gov).
✔✔ANSI X9.52 - ✔✔Standards for data encryption and decryption. These standards
are maintained by the American National Standards Institute and can be found at the
Computer Security Resource Center (www.csrc.nist.gov).
