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}}

An '''address verification service''' ('''AVS''') is a service provided by major credit card processors to enable merchants to [[Credit card hijacking|authenticate ownership of a credit or debit card]] used by a customer.<ref name=":0"AVS />is Thedone systemas checkspart of the billingmerchant's addressrequest providedfor byauthorization thein customera againstnon-face-to-face thecredit billingcard addresstransaction. on file at theThe credit card company or issuing bank. AVSautomatically canchecks bethe usedbilling inaddress additionprovided toby otherthe securitycustomer featuresto ofthe amerchant credit card, such asagainst the [[Cardbilling Securityaddress Code|CVV2]]in number.its AVSrecords, isand notreports availableback byto allthe creditmerchant cardwho providers,has andthe notultimate inresponsibility allto countries.determine Itwhether is generallyor not availableto forgo foreignahead creditwith cards;a thattransaction. is,AVS cardscan issuedbe used in aaddition countryto other thansecurity wherefeatures itof isa beingcredit used. Some countriescard, such as the [[DenmarkCard Security Code|CVV2]], do not permit banks to verify customer datanumber.

In countries where AVS is not available -by namelyall thecredit Unitedcard States, Canadaproviders, and the United Kingdom - a merchantnot in aall non-face-to-facecountries. transactionIt canis verifygenerally anot customer’savailable ''bonafor fide''foreign bycredit confirmingcards; theirthat billingis, addresscards against dataissued in thea creditcountry cardother provider’sthan records.<refwhere name=":0">{{citeit webis |title=Addressbeing Verificationused. System (AVS) |url=http://virtualtrak.blogspot.com/2007/03/address-verification-system-avs.htmlis |publisher=VirtualTrakavailable technologies|accessdate=Septemberin 7,a 2011}}</ref>number Thisof iscountries, done as part ofincluding the merchant'sUnited requestStates, forCanada, authorization ofand the creditUnited card transactionKingdom. AVS verifies thatThough the billingchecks addresscan ofvary the credit or [[debitbetween card]] matches the address that was given by the customer. Howevercompanies, AVS onlytypically verifies only the numeric portionportions of thea 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.{{cncitation 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.

Though the checks can vary between card companies, AVS typically verifies only 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. Credit card AVS does not determine deliverability of an address.

==AVS support==

AVS is a service to combat fraudulent activity for noncard-face-tonot-facepresent transactions by cross-referencing the address provided by a cardholder to a merchant with the card issuer's records.<ref>{{cite web|title=Glossary A, AVS|url=http://www.elect-mer.com/glossary-a.html|publisher=Electronic Merchant Systems|accessdate=April 27, 2011}}</ref> AVS is offered by [[Visa Inc.|Visa]], [[MasterCard]], [[Discover Card|Discover]] and [[American Express]] in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. It is also offered by [[Discover Card|Discover]].

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

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==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 thea credit card transaction.

{| class="wikitable sortable"

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|Street address matches, ZIP does not

|Street address matches, ZIP does not

|Street address matches, ZIP does not

|Address only Matches

|Street address matches, ZIP does not

|Address and ZIP match

|-

| B

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|5-Digit ZIP matches, street address does not

|}

<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|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 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:Credit card terminology]]

[[Category:Electronic funds transfer]]

{{Bank-stub}}

[[Category:Credit card terminology]]

[[Category:Electronic funds transfer]]