In an age where it seems more and more services are moving to a monthly payment model, many of us are all too familiar with the unpleasant realization that we forgot about that subscription or free trial we’d meant to cancel. Even more frustrating is seeing a charge on your statement for a subscription you could have sworn you had cancelled in the past.
Resolving these types of issues can be a headache for all parties involved. The cardholder may have to wait on hold at call centers or go through the process of filing a dispute. Meanwhile, the issuer must deal with high call volumes, investigate each dispute claim, and process refunds.
Visa Stop Payments Service (VSPS) includes six APIs that help create and manage stop payment instructions. They search for VSPS-eligible transactions, and can add, update, cancel, extend, and retrieve stop instructions. VisaNet looks at authorization and clearing messages to find matches. When a match is identified, VisaNet can decline an authorization request and notify the issuer via an authorization advice (0120/0220) message. The Acquirer is notified as well, via an authorization response (0110/0210) message from VisaNet, which should be passed through to the merchant to prevent reattempts.
By streamlining the process for stopping a payment, these capabilities benefit issuers, acquirers and cardholders. VSPS also unlocks a new world of possibilities: a future in which stop payment capabilities are built into mobile banking apps, allowing cardholders to be in control of their recurring payments, without the need for long phone calls or drawn-out manual processes. By eventually putting this technology into the hands of cardholders through banking apps, Visa Stop Payments has the potential to support, empower, and protect consumers worldwide.
