Verify a card

Last updated: October 22, 2025

You can perform a card verification to verify a cardholder's payment details without charging them.

For example, you can use this type of authorization request if you offer a free trial period for a product or service.

For example, you can collect card details during registration, and then offer a free 30-day trial period before charging the card. The cardholder's details are saved to their account, which you can charge when necessary.

To verify a card, call the Request a payment or payout endpoint.

In the request body, set the amount field to 0, or omit it.

post

https://api.checkout.com/payments


1{
2  "source": {
3    "type": "token",
4    "token": "tok_yo2zfqgdnn4u7gswjbjmqt5mza"
5  },
6  "currency": "USD"
7}


1{
2  "id": "pay_aqwuar5sjb5upkupgywyzapfii",
3  "action_id": "act_aqwuar5sjb5upkupgywyzapfii",
4  "amount": 0,
5  "currency": "USD",
6  "approved": true,
7  "status": "Card Verified",
8  "auth_code": "085143",
9  "eci": "05",
10  "scheme_id": "638284745624527",
11  "response_code": "10000",
12  "response_summary": "Approved",
13  "risk": {
14    "flagged": false
15  },
16  "source": {
17    "id": "src_o67xgoxulgnuhgeaxsdk4cbvgq",
18    "type": "card",
19    "expiry_month": 9,
20    "expiry_year": 2022,
21    "scheme": "Visa",
22    "last4": "4242",
23    "fingerprint": "F31828E2BDABAE63EB694903825CDD36041CC6ED461440B81415895855502832",
24    "bin": "424242",
25    "card_type": "CREDIT",
26    "card_category": "CONSUMER",
27    "issuer": "Test Bank",
28    "issuer_country": "US",
29    "product_id": "A",
30    "product_type": "Visa Traditional",
31    "avs_check": "S",
32    "cvv_check": ""
33  },
34  "customer": {
35    "id": "cus_vrdaroxvawlevmxxvhi66thpum"
36  },
37  "processed_on": "2024-01-17T17:41:52Z",
38  "_links": {
39    "self": {
40      "href": "https://api.sandbox.checkout.com/payments/pay_aqwuar5sjb5upkupgywyzapfii"
41    },
42    "actions": {
43      "href": "https://api.sandbox.checkout.com/payments/pay_aqwuar5sjb5upkupgywyzapfii/actions"
44    }
45  }
46}

If the card verification is successful, the response returns:

"approved": true
"status": "Card Verified"

If you receive a 202 response, a redirect is required. For example, for 3D Secure (3DS) authentication.

You can also view the results in the Card verified webhook.

For more information on the value returned in the source.cvv_check field, see CVV response codes.

If the verification fails, it may be for the following reasons:

The card may be invalid, expired, or have insufficient funds.
The issuer may not support card verification. They may reject the charge request even if the card details are valid.
The issuer may not support zero-amount authorizations.

If the issuer does not support zero-amount authorizations, try the following:

Manually retry the verification with the amount field set to a low nominal value, and then void the payment.
Enable Intelligent Acceptance to automatically retry these payments through any other possible methods. Intelligent Acceptance does not retry non-zero amounts.

To test your card verification integration, see Simulate card verification outcomes.

To reduce fraud risk, you can validate a cardholder's name against the name held by their issuing bank using an Account Name Inquiry (ANI). ANI is a card verification service that works independently of the financial transaction.

When you request an ANI check, the system can return the following:

A match result for each name you provided
An overall match result for the whole name

ANI checks are available for:

Visa in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States
Mastercard globally, subject to issuer acceptance – For more information, contact your account manager or request support.

To request an ANI, call the Request a payment or payout endpoint.

Set the amount field to 0.

In the account_holder object, provide the following:

type – Set to one of individual, corporate, or government.
first_name, middle_name, and last_name – Provide if the account holder is an individual.
company_name – Provide if the account holder is a corporate or government entity.
account_name_inquiry – Set to true.

post

https://api.checkout.com/payments


1{
2  "source": {
3    "type": "token",
4    "token": "tok_yo2zfqgdnn4u7gswjbjmqt5mza",
5    "account_holder": {
6      "type": "individual",
7      "first_name": "John",
8      "middle_name": "Joe",      
9      "last_name": "Doe",
10      "account_name_inquiry": true
11    }
12  },
13  "amount": 0,
14  "currency": "USD"
15}


1{
2  "id": "pay_aqwuar5sjb5upkupgywyzapfii",
3  "action_id": "act_aqwuar5sjb5upkupgywyzapfii",
4  "amount": 0,
5  "currency": "USD",
6  "approved": true,
7  "status": "Card Verified",
8  "auth_code": "085143",
9  "eci": "05",
10  "scheme_id": "638284745624527",
11  "response_code": "10000",
12  "response_summary": "Approved",
13  "risk": {
14    "flagged": false
15  },
16  "source": {
17    "id": "src_o67xgoxulgnuhgeaxsdk4cbvgq",
18    "type": "card",
19    "expiry_month": 9,
20    "expiry_year": 2022,
21    "scheme": "Visa",
22    "last4": "4242",
23    "fingerprint": "F31828E2BDABAE63EB694903825CDD36041CC6ED461440B81415895855502832",
24    "bin": "424242",
25    "account_holder": {
26      "account_name_inquiry": "full_match",
27      "account_name_inquiry_details": {
28        "first_name": "full_match",
29        "middle_name": "full_match",
30        "last_name": "full_match"
31      }
32    },
33    "card_type": "CREDIT",
34    "card_category": "CONSUMER",
35    "issuer": "Test Bank",
36    "issuer_country": "US",
37    "product_id": "A",
38    "product_type": "Visa Traditional",
39    "avs_check": "S",
40    "cvv_check": ""
41  },
42  "customer": {
43    "id": "cus_vrdaroxvawlevmxxvhi66thpum"
44  },
45  "processed_on": "2024-01-17T17:41:52Z",
46  "_links": {
47    "self": {
48      "href": "https://api.sandbox.checkout.com/payments/pay_aqwuar5sjb5upkupgywyzapfii"
49    },
50    "actions": {
51      "href": "https://api.sandbox.checkout.com/payments/pay_aqwuar5sjb5upkupgywyzapfii/actions"
52    }
53  }
54}

The response returns the result of the ANI check as an ANI code in the account_holder.account_name_inquiry field.

If you request an ANI check from Visa, you can inspect the account_name_inquiry_details object for a more detailed breakdown of the matches. For example, you can get an account_name_inquiry": "partial_match" result, if:

account_name_inquiry_details.first_name and account_name_inquiry_details.last_name result in a full_match but account_name_inquiry_details.middle_name is no_match

You can use this detailed information to better determine whether you verify the transaction or not.

To simulate different outcomes, see ANI check testing.

Verify a card

Request a card verification

Request example

Response example

Failed verifications

Test card verifications

Request an Account Name Inquiry

Request example

Response example

Test Account Name Inquiries