A stored credential is any primary account number (PAN) or payment token a customer elects to save in a merchant's vault for ease of use in future or recurring transactions. When you accept a transaction, your payment processor includes a Stored Credential field with that transaction, the value of which identifies the type of transaction in relation to the use (if any) of stored credentials. As such, you can use the Stored Credential field to segment your transactional data and hone in on trends in your payment processing, broken down by transaction type.

Possible Stored Credential Values

When you connect your payment processors to Pagos and send us your payments data, we receive one of seven values in the Stored Credential field for each individual transaction:

• card-on-file
• card-on-file-repeat
• card-on-file-vault
• installment
• moto
• one-time
• pos
• recurring
• recurring-first
• unknown

These values indicate the type of stored credential transaction you processed. Each value falls into one of three categories: Merchant-Initiated Transactions (MIT), Cardholder-Initiated Transactions (CIT), and uncategorized transactions.

Merchant-Initiated Transactions

An MIT is a transaction that occurs without the cardholder’s active participation. For a merchant to initiate this sort of transaction, the cardholder must agree to the merchant vaulting their card details and using their payment method on their behalf. The following stored credential transaction types are MITs:

• Recurring – A transaction in a series of transactions made on a fixed, regular interval, as agreed upon by the merchant and cardholder. A subscription service consists of recurring payments.
• Installment – A single purchase of goods or services that is billed in payment installments, as agreed upon by the merchant and cardholder. For example, Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) purchases are paid in installments.
• Card-on-file-repeat – This is a dynamic, standing instruction—agreed upon between the merchant and cardholder—to charge a customer's card for a set amount whenever their account balance drops below a certain dollar amount.

Cardholder-Initiated Transactions

A CIT is a transaction in which the cardholder actively participates. For example, when a cardholder allows a merchant to store their payment credentials and then uses them to make purchases at undetermined intervals. There are a few types of CITs:

• One-time – A transaction where the merchant doesn’t store the customer’s payment information on file.
• Recurring-first – The first transaction in a recurring series. Merchants use this to help them identify their new customers.
• Card-on-file-vault – A transaction initiated by a customer, using stored card credentials they previously saved in your vault.

Uncategorized Transactions

An uncategorized transaction is one that doesn't include the identification of CIT or MIT. Examples include:

• Card-on-file - A transaction completed using credentials stored in the merchant's vault.
• Moto - A transaction initiated via a mail order or telephone order.
• Pos - A transaction conducted using a point of sale.
• Unknown - A value automatically assigned to any transactions the processor didn’t provide Stored Credential data for.