What is a “Third Party Processor?”

A Third Party Processor is an independent processor that is contracted with by a Acquiring Bank or Processor to conduct some part of the transaction processing process.
-Some of these Third Party Processors specialize in running and hosting networks of Point Of Sale (POS) terminals connected to their Host via dial out modem; they produce the [...]

What is a Credit Card “Processor?”

A Processor is the company that actually routes an Authorization Request from a Point of Sale device (such as a Verifone credit card terminal) to Visa or Master Card, and then arranges for Fund Settlement to the merchant. Such processors are traditionally accessed via direct dial out modems connecting to their system.
-Processors need to have [...]

What is a “Sponsoring Bank?”

A Sponsoring Bank is a Chartered Bank or Savings & Loan that has obtained membership in Visa or Master Card in order to allow a Processor access to the Visa and Master Card networks (in order to process these types of transactions).
-Since only a Bank may join Visa or Master Card, many Processors make deals [...]

Who is the “Issuing Bank?”

The Issuing Bank is the financial institution that extends credit to a card holder through credit card accounts. The financial institution issues a credit card and bills the card holder for purchases against the bankcard account.
Here is wikipedia’s defenition for Issuing Bank .

Who and What is the “Aquiring Bank?”

An acquiring bank (or acquirer ) is the bank or financial institution that accepts payments for the products or services on behalf of a merchant. The term acquirer indicates that the bank accepts or acquires transactions performed using a credit card issued by a bank other than itself.
The acquiring bank’s contract with the merchant is [...]