Address verification service: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|Security measure in credit card processing}}

{{for|verification of postal addresses see|Postal Address Verification}}

{{RefimproveMore citations needed|date=December 2009}}

TheAn '''Addressaddress Verificationverification Systemservice''' ('''AVS''') is a systemservice usedprovided toby verifymajor thecredit addresscard ofprocessors ato personenable claimingmerchants to own a [[Credit card hijacking|authenticate ownership of a credit or debit card]].<ref name=":0"used />by Thea systemcustomer. willAVS checkis thedone billingas addresspart of the merchant's request for authorization in a non-face-to-face credit card transaction. The credit card company or issuing bank automatically checks the billing address provided by the usercustomer withto the merchant against the billing address onin fileits atrecords, and reports back to the creditmerchant cardwho companyhas the ultimate responsibility to determine whether or not to go ahead with a transaction. TheAVS can be used in addition to other security features forof thea credit card, includesuch as the [[Card Security Code|CVV2]] number.

AVS is not available by all credit card providers, and not in all countries. It is generally not available for foreign credit cards; that is, cards issued in a country other than where it is being used. AVS is available in a number of countries, including the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Though the checks can vary between card companies, AVS typically verifies only the numeric portions of a cardholder's billing address, resulting in certain anomalies like apartment numbers, which can cause false declines. However, this is reported to be a rare occurrence.{{citation needed|date=September 2020}} For example, if the address is 101 Main Street, Highland, CA 92346, in the United States, AVS will check ''101'' and ''92346''. Cardholders may receive false negatives, or partial declines for AVS from [[Electronic commerce|e-commerce]] verification systems, which may require manual overrides, voice authorization, or reprogramming of the AVS entries by the card issuing bank. Credit card AVS does not determine deliverability of an address.

AVS is used when the merchant verifies credit card data, such as billing [[Amex zip code finder|address]] and ZIP code, against the [[Visa Inc.|Visa]]/[[MasterCard]] billing information of the cardholder.<ref name=":0">{{cite web|title=Address Verification System (AVS)|url=http://virtualtrak.blogspot.com/2007/03/address-verification-system-avs.html|publisher=VirtualTrak technologies|accessdate=September 7, 2011}}</ref> AVS verifies that the billing address of the credit or [[debit card]] matches the address that was given by the customer. Because AVS only verifies the numeric portion of the address, certain anomalies like apartment numbers can cause false declines; however, it is reported to be a rare occurrence.

AVS verifies the numeric portions of a cardholder's billing address. For example, if the address is 101 Main Street, Highland, CA 92346, in the United States, AVS will check ''101'' and ''92346''. Cardholders may receive false negatives, or partial declines for AVS from [[Electronic commerce|e-commerce]] verification systems, which may require manual overrides, voice authorization, or reprogramming of the AVS entries by the card issuing bank.

==AVS support==

AVS is a service to combat fraudulent activity for noncard-face-tonot-facepresent transactions by cross-referencing the cardholder’s address informationprovided withby thea cardcardholder issuer’sto records.<ref>{{citea web|title=Glossarymerchant A,with AVS|url=http://www.elect-mer.com/glossary-a.html|publisher=Electronicthe Merchantcard Systems|accessdate=Aprilissuer's 27, 2011}}</ref>records. AVS is widely supportedoffered by [[Visa Inc.|Visa]], [[MasterCard]], [[Discover Card|Discover]] and [[American Express]] in the USAUnited States, Canada and the United Kingdom.

Cardholders with a bank that does not support AVS may receive an error from Internetonline stores due to the lack of dataverification.

Besides the automated verification, some banks do provide merchants with a manual verification system. Usually this is done for foreign credit card accounts as the AVS only works in the same country. This facility helps the merchants to prevent fraud arising from other countries. The merchant's bank calls the customer's banksbank (or sendsends a [[fax]] for banks that request them). Some countries like [[Denmark]] however prevent banks from verifying customer data.

==AVS response codes==

Following a request from a merchant for an address verification, the credit card processor sends an AVS response code back to the merchant indicating the degree of address matching. The meaning of the codes vary between credit card processors. Merchants can use the AVS code to determine whether to accept or reject a credit card transaction.

==Address Verification Service (AVS) codes<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.chasepaymentech.com/address_verification_service.html|title=Address Verification Service (AVS) Response Codes {{!}} Chase Merchant Services|website=www.chasepaymentech.com|language=en|access-date=2017-08-17}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://developer.paypal.com/docs/classic/api/AVSResponseCodes/|title=AVS, CVV2, and payment advice response codes - PayPal Developer|website=developer.paypal.com|language=en|access-date=2017-08-17}}</ref>==

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==Address Verification Service (AVS) codes<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.chasepaymentech.com/address_verification_service.html|title=Address Verification Service (AVS) Response Codes {{!}} Chase Merchant Services|website=www.chasepaymentech.com|language=en|access-date=2017-08-17}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://developer.paypal.com/docs/classic/api/AVSResponseCodes/|title=AVS, CVV2, and payment advice response codes - PayPal Developer|website=developer.paypal.com|language=en|access-date=2017-08-17}}</ref>==

<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://developer.paypal.com/docs/classic/api/AVSResponseCodes/|title=AVS, CVV2, and payment advice response codes - PayPal Developer|website=developer.paypal.com|language=en|access-date=2017-08-17|archive-date=2017-08-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170818090444/https://developer.paypal.com/docs/classic/api/AVSResponseCodes/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://developer.cybersource.com/library/documentation/dev_guides/Secure_Acceptance_Hosted_Checkout/html/Topics/AVS_Codes.htm|title=AVS Codes|website=developer.cybersource.com|language=en|access-date=2021-06-07|archive-date=2021-06-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210607212929/https://developer.cybersource.com/library/documentation/dev_guides/Secure_Acceptance_Hosted_Checkout/html/Topics/AVS_Codes.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Declines due to Address Verification System===

"Declined due to AVS mismatch", the authorization code, along with the hold on the authorized funds, will remain on the customer's card until the merchant account reverses the authorization or the issuing bank havehas it expire (typically 7 daydays for all business types except hotels and car rentals that can have up to 30 days). As a result, the held funds may be subtracted from the customer's available balance, and an online statement may reflect the authorization request which might be mistaken for an actual charge. Most card issuing banks will remove authorizations within 1–25–7 days if they are not claimed for settlement.{{Citation needed|reason=Says who?|date=January 2017}}

== References ==

{{Reflist}}

[[Category:E-commerceCredit card terminology]]

[[Category:Electronic funds transfer]]