Visa recently published a reminder on the stored credential framework. Introduced in 2017, Visa designed the framework in response to the growing number of merchants and digital wallets storing cardholders’ payment credentials and using these for future purchases.

What is a stored credential?

Stored credentials are information stored by merchants or other parties to process future cardholder purchases, such as when a cardholder provides their payment details to a hotel to cover future reservations, or to a retailer to instantly check out the next time they shop.

What does the stored credential framework require merchants to do?

The stored credential framework requires you to take certain actions whenever you store a cardholder’s details for future use:

• Follow the card schemes’ disclosure requirements for subscription and unscheduled transactions. Note that in the European Union, there are additional requirements you must follow to comply with EU regulations on consumer requirements and complaints
• Perform an authorization by making a payment with store_for_future_use set to true or set up an unscheduled payment agreement at the same time as you store the cardholder’s details. This will ensure that the stored information is valid
• For recurring payments, you do not need to explicitly provide the store_for_future_use flag in the request – we’ll manage this on your behalf as these payments will always require you to store the cardholder’s details
• If the first authorization with the stored details is declined, do not use those credentials for any subsequent transactions until you’ve successfully authorized them
• Ensure that you are submitting the correct fields in subsequent payment requests with a customer’s stored card details. This includes the payment id returned in the response following the first payment or authorization that stored the cardholder’s details

The benefits for you

As well as helping your business comply with scheme rules, issuers are more likely to authorize stored card payments that follow the framework.

If you need advice or support with updating your integration, please don’t hesitate to contact your Checkout.com representative and we’ll be happy to help.

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