SpectrumPayment Solutions
All terms
Approvals & Underwriting

Payment Gateway

The technology that securely captures payment details at checkout and passes them to the processor for authorization. The gateway is what your customer interacts with online — it encrypts card data and returns an approved or declined response.

A gateway sits between your website or app and the processor. Good gateways add fraud tools, tokenization, and recurring-billing support on top of basic transaction routing.

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Related terms

Approvals & Underwriting

Payment Processor

The company that moves a transaction between the customer's bank, the card networks, and the merchant's acquirer — handling authorization, clearing, and settlement. The processor is the engine that turns a card swipe or checkout into deposited funds.

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Security & Compliance

Tokenization

Replacing sensitive card data with a non-sensitive token that can be stored and reused safely. Tokenization lets merchants support recurring billing and one-click checkout without holding raw card numbers, reducing both risk and compliance scope.

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Payment Methods

Card-Not-Present

A transaction where the card is not physically presented — online, over the phone, or in-app. CNP sales carry higher fraud and chargeback risk than in-person sales, which is why they rely on fraud tools like CVV, AVS, and 3-D Secure.

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Security & Compliance

3-D Secure

An authentication layer that asks the cardholder to verify identity with their bank during checkout, shifting liability for certain fraud away from the merchant. It can reduce fraud and chargebacks when applied where it makes sense.

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