General Acceptance Requirements for Cardholder-Activated Terminal (CAT)

The following general card acceptance requirements apply to cardholder-activated terminals:

• All card-not-present transactions initiated by the cardholder where the card number is either captured as a result of reading the card electronically or by using an electronic device (such as a transponder, PC, or mobile phone) must include the proper cardholder-activated terminal (CAT) level indicator in both the authorization message and clearing records. Depending on the CAT level indicator, other specific data is required for authorization and clearing.
  
  • The Authorization Request / 0100 message must include a valid merchant category code, POS country code, POS postal code, and CAT level indicator (Level 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, or 7).
  • Messages used at the CAT must communicate to the cardholder, at a minimum, the following:
    
    • Invalid transaction.
    • Unable to route.
    • Invalid PIN—re-enter (Level 1 only).
    • Capture card (subject to the terminal's ability to retain cards).
  • The merchant identification number and the CAT level indicator must be present in the First Presentment / 1240, First Chargeback / 1442, Second Presentment / 1240, and Arbitration Chargeback / 1442 messages.
• The acquiring bank must ensure that the description of goods or services on the CAT TID is clearly recognizable to the cardholder.
• The acquiring bank is responsible for providing requested transaction information documents.
• No cardholder-activated terminal may accept a card for the purchase of scrip.
• Acquiring banks must ensure that transaction receipts provided to cardholders reflect only the last four digits of the primary account number, and that all preceding digits are truncated. The truncated digits must be replaced with fill characters such as "X," "*," or "#" and not with blank spaces or numeric characters.