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MasterCard Automatic Billing Updater (ABU)

In an effort to alleviate merchants’ effort in obtaining account information updates for recurring and card on file transactions, MasterCard introduced Automatic Billing Updater (ABU). ABU supports account updates for online, offline and recurring payments.

The updates include:

  1. Brand conversion
  2. Expiry date changes
  3. Card Upgrades
  4. Re-issued cards due to fraud or new programs
  5. Lost or stolen cards

The ABU offers merchants a secure mechanism to exchange and to update cardholder account information. Using ABU, issuers can communicate changes to cardholder account information to Moneris and the participating merchants. Merchants can then quickly and easily update their billing records and significantly reduce the number of authorization request declines.

Things to consider:

  • Responses/updates are dependent on issuer participation.
  • If using a Moneris card on file program such as the Managed Recurring Billing or Vault products, an alternative option exists whereby Moneris can auto send the cards on file to ABU and update the recurring or vault record accordingly.
  • There is a daily cutoff time for ABU submissions. To increase your chances of receiving the response file within the next day you must submit your request files to Moneris as follows:
    • submit the request file between 1:00AM and 11:00AM EST
    • the output file will be available for pick up by 9AM EST the following day
  • In the event that not all of the data in the request file completes processing before cutoff, the response data will be returned back in multiple response files starting the following day, the day after, etc

North America Code Sample

//Request Format:

merchant_trans_id, old_pan, old_exp_date

//Sample Request:

0030211111111, 5454545454545454, 2201

//Response Format:

merchant_trans_id, old_pan, new_pan, old_exp_date, new_exp_date, mc_reason_id

//Sample Response:

0030211111111, 5454545454545454, 5111111111111111, 2201, 2501, UPDATE

ABU Mandatory Values

Value Type Limits Variable Description
Transaction Order ID String 20 – character alphanumeric merchant_trans_id Merchant defined unique request identifier - must be unique for every request.
Old Credit Card Number String 20-character numeric old_pan Current Credit Card Number - no spaces or dashes. Most credit card numbers today are 16 digits in length but some 13 digits are still accepted by some issuers. This field has been intentionally expanded to 20 digits in consideration for future expansion and/or potential support of private label card ranges.
Old Expiry Date String 4-character numeric old_exp_date Expiry Date - format YYMM no spaces or slashes. PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS REVERSED FROM THE DATE DISPLAYED ON THE PHYSICAL CARD WHICH IS MMYY

ABU Response Fields

Value Limits Variable Description
Transaction / Order ID 20-character alphanumeric merchant_trans_id Returns the Transaction / Order ID indicated in the request.
Old Credit Card Number 20-character numeric old_pan Returns the Old Credit Card Number indicated in the request.
New Credit Card Number 20-character numeric new_pan This field contains one of the following:
  • The account number when new information is available
  • All spaces for messages that indicate one of the following conditions:
    • Closed Account
    • Participating BIN, No Match
    • Contact Cardholder
    • Non-participating BIN, No Match
  • 0 padded field
Old Expiry Date 4-character numeric old_exp_date Returns the Old Expiry Date indicated in the request.
New Expiry Date 4-character numeric new_exp_date This field contains one of the following:
  • The expiration date when new information is available (YYMM format)
  • Spaces for messages that indicate one of the following conditions:
    • Closed Account
    • Participating BIN, No Match
    • Contact Cardholder
    • Non-participating BIN, No Match
  • 0 padded field
MC Reason ID / Code 6 – character alphanumeric mc_reason_id This response is returned by MasterCard.
Valid values are:
  • UPDATE - Update was made, updated data is returned
  • EXPIRY - Expiry date changed on the card
  • NOMATH - No match was found in MasterCard's system
  • CONTACT - Account closed, contact card holder for updated information
  • 000101 - (ERROR) Non-numeric Account Number
  • 000102 - (ERROR) Bad Check Digit for Account
  • 000103 - (ERROR) Invalid Expiration Date
  • 000104 - (ERROR) Merchant Not Registered

Visa Account Updater (VAU)

In an effort to alleviate merchants’ effort in obtaining account information updates for recurring and card on file transactions, Visa introduced Visa Account Updater (VAU). VAU supports account updates for online, offline and recurring payments.

The updates include:

  1. Brand conversion
  2. Expiry date changes
  3. Card Upgrades
  4. Re-issued cards due to fraud or new programs
  5. Lost or stolen cards

The VAU offers merchants a secure mechanism to exchange and to update cardholder account information. Using VAU, issuers can communicate changes to cardholder account information to Moneris and the participating merchants. Merchants can then quickly and easily update their billing records and significantly reduce the number of authorization request declines.

Things to consider:

  • Responses/updates are dependent on issuer participation.
  • If using a Moneris card on file program such as the Managed Recurring Billing or Vault products, an alternative option exists whereby Moneris can auto send the cards on file to VAU and update the recurring or vault record accordingly.
  • There is a daily cutoff time for VAU submissions. To increase your chances of receiving the response file within the next day you must submit your request files to Moneris as follows:
    • submit the request file between 1:00AM and 6:00AM EST
    • the output file will be available for pick up by 9AM EST the following day
  • In the event that not all of the data in the request file completes processing before cutoff, the response data will be returned back in multiple response files starting the following day, the day after, etc

North America Code Sample

//Request Format:

merchant_trans_id, old_pan, old_exp_date

//Sample Request:

295111111111, 4242424242424242, 2201

//Response Format:

merchant_trans_id, old_pan, new_pan, old_exp_date, new_exp_date, service_id, prev_sent

//Sample Response:

295111111111, 4242424242424242, 4111111111111111, 2201, 2501, A, N

VAU Mandatory Values

Value Type Limits Variable Description
Transaction Order ID String 20 – character alphanumeric merchant_trans_id Merchant defined unique request identifier - must be unique for every request.
Old Credit Card Number String 20-character numeric old_pan Current Credit Card Number - no spaces or dashes. Most credit card numbers today are 16 digits in length but some 13 digits are still accepted by some issuers. This field has been intentionally expanded to 20 digits in consideration for future expansion and/or potential support of private label card ranges.
Old Expiry Date String 4-character numeric old_exp_date Expiry Date - format YYMM no spaces or slashes. PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS REVERSED FROM THE DATE DISPLAYED ON THE PHYSICAL CARD WHICH IS MMYY

ABU Response Fields

Value Limits Variable Description
Transaction / Order ID 20-character alphanumeric merchant_trans_id Returns the Transaction / Order ID indicated in the request.
Old Credit Card Number 20-character numeric old_pan Returns the Old Credit Card Number indicated in the request.
New Credit Card Number 20-character numeric new_pan This field contains one of the following:
  • The account number when new information is available
  • All spaces for messages that indicate one of the following conditions:
    • Closed Account
    • Participating BIN, No Match
    • Contact Cardholder
    • Non-participating BIN, No Match
  • 0 padded field
Old Expiry Date 4-character numeric old_exp_date Returns the Old Expiry Date indicated in the request.
New Expiry Date 4-character numeric new_exp_date This field contains one of the following:
  • The expiration date when new information is available (YYMM format)
  • Spaces for messages that indicate one of the following conditions:
    • Closed Account
    • Participating BIN, No Match
    • Contact Cardholder
    • Non-participating BIN, No Match
  • 0 padded field
Visa Service ID / Code 1 – character alphabetic service_id This response is returned by Visa.
Valid values are:
  • A - Account number change message
  • C - Closed account advice
  • E - Expiration date change message
  • N - Non-participating BIN
  • Q - Contact cardholder advice
  • P - Participating BIN, no match
  • V - Match made, account number and expiration date unchanged
  • Z - No match found in the system
Previously Sent Y/N prev_sent This field will return a value of “Y” which indicates that exactly the same account information was requested during the previous 40 days (the retention period), excluding the current day.