Accept card payments

Link debit and credit cards to a Moov account and use the card of your choice as the source of a payment transfer.

Linking a card to a Moov account automatically verifies the card details with the card networks. This process verifies the existence of the card account and returns information about the Address Verification Service (AVS) and Card Verification Value (CVV) checks that occur.

Before a card can be linked, a Moov account must be created. Once the account is created, use the POST /accounts/{accountID}/cards endpoint to link a card to the Moov account representing the cardholder. All cards must be linked to a Moov account before they can be charged using a transfer.

If you set the optional X-Wait-For header to payment-method, the response will include any payment methods that were created for the newly linked card in the paymentMethods field.

The simplest way to securely collect sensitive card details is by using the card link Drop, a prebuilt UI component for embedding card-based payments. By using the card link Moov Drop, you’ll send card data directly to Moov’s PCI-compliant card vault, and the information will not touch your servers.

Card verification

When a card is linked, Moov performs a verification with the relevant card network to confirm that the card account is open and valid. Additionally, the verification checks if the CVV and address match the information on file with the card issuer.

The merchant acount ID (Moov account ID of a merchant on your platform) is used to pass merchant information during card verification. Although these verification transactions are rarely visible to cardholders, when they are, it’s crucial that cardholders recognize the merchant associated with the verification so they know it’s not fraudulent.

Although it’s a best practice to always include the merchant account ID during card verification, it is not mandatory. If you omit this field, the system defaults to your platform’s account ID.

It is possible the verification request will be declined by the card issuer. Decline information is provided in the response body of the 422 error. Errors could be validation errors, such as an invalid card number, or actual declines from the card issuer. Below is an example of a card issuer decline.

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{
  "error": "card verification failure: card-not-activated"
}

Save a card for future use

The link card POST endpoint allows you to save a card for future payments by setting cardOnFile to true. If nothing is passed to cardOnFile, or you set it to false, the payment method will not be used for future payments.

If you set the cardOnFile flag to true, the merchantAccountID provided should signify the merchant the cardholder has consented to save their information. You must set cardOnFile to true to use Moov’s card account updater service, as the account associated with the merchantAccountID will incur fees for successful card updates. Accounts must be approved for card account updater. Reach out to your relationship manager, or contact support and select submit a support ticket for payment acceptance issues to request access.

If you leave the merchantAccountID field blank while saving a card on file, the system will default to your platform’s account ID, indicating the cardholder’s relationship with your platform’s brand.

Best practices

Some card issuers display alerts or notifications about card verifications to cardholders. Being transparent and recognizable prevents accidental suspicion.

Include as much complete and accurate data as possible to comply with card brand rules and mandates, optimize card authorization rates, prevent interchange downgrades, and increase defensibility against chargebacks. Consider the following best practices:

  • Street address: Send the optional addressLine1 in billingAddress. For most situations, Moov recommends sending the address so that full address verification can take place. Not including addressLine1 may impact approval rates, cause interchange downgrades, and impact chargeback win rate.
  • Card verification: Always include merchantAccountID when performing a card verification. This provides context to the cardholder if the verification transaction becomes visible.
  • Save a card on file: If you’re saving a card for future use, specify merchantAccountID and set the cardOnFile flag to true. This indicates the cardholder’s relationship with the merchant, and their consent to save their card details for future transactions.

Reverify a card

Moov will only perform a new verification request if a new CVV is provided.

You can use the accounts PATCH endpoint to update and re-verify certain information about the card. The cardID is the ID of the card you want to update, and the accountID represents the Moov account that the card is linked to.

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{
  "cardCvv": "123"
}

Optional request data:

Field Type Description
expiration object The card’s expiration month and year
cardCvv string The card’s CVV number
billingAddress object The billing address associated with the card

Note that when performing a PATCH on an existing card, Moov will perform another CVV verification request to the card networks using the new information provided. If the new verification is declined by the card issuer, the previously linked card will not be affected. If the verification succeeds, the card record will be updated with the new information.

Refer to the cardVerification{} object in the response to see if the new CVV information is correct.

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{
  "cardVerification": {
    "cvv": "match",
    "addressLine1": "match",
    "postalCode": "match"
  }
}
Summary Beta