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Payments

Card on file

A stored payment credential used for future charges, subject to specific network rules and consent requirements.

Card on file means a stored credential you can charge again without the cardholder present.

Card networks treat these transactions differently from one-off purchases and require them to be flagged correctly. Recurring, unscheduled and customer-initiated stored-credential transactions each have their own indicators, and getting them wrong raises decline rates and undermines SCA exemptions.

The credential itself should be a token held by the processor, not a card number held by you. Consent to store, and the terms of future charges, must be captured at the point the card is first taken.

Related terms

  • Tokenization Replacing card details with a meaningless reference, so the sensitive number never reaches your systems.
  • SCA and 3-D Secure Strong Customer Authentication, the European requirement for two-factor verification on many card payments, implemented through 3-D Secure.
  • Account updater A card network service that supplies updated card details when a stored card is reissued, expired or replaced.
  • Authorization and capture Authorization reserves funds; capture takes them. The gap between the two is where a lot of billing logic lives.