- Introduction to Payments
- Standard Payment Processing
- Card Present Connect | Retail Processing
- Authorization with Contact EMV and Online PIN
- Authorization with Contact EMV and Offline PIN
- Card Present Connect | Mass Transit Processing
- American Express Delayed Online Authorization with EMV Data
- Tap-Initiated Authorization for Debt Recovery with EMV Data
- Debit and Prepaid Card Processing
- Processing Debit and Prepaid Authorizations
- Airline Data Processing
- Japanese Payment Options Processing
- Processing Payments Using Credentials
- Customer-Initiated Transactions with Credentials on File
- Delayed Transaction
- Incremental Transaction
- Merchant-Initiated Incremental Transaction with PAN
- No-Show Transactions
- Reauthorization Transaction
- Merchant-Initiated Reauthorization Transactions with PAN
- Resubmission Transaction
- Merchant-Initiated Resubmission Transaction with PAN
- Installment Payments
- Merchant-Initiated Installment Payments with PAN
- Recurring Payments
- Merchant-Initiated Recurring Payments with PAN
- Unscheduled COF Payments
- Token Management Service Processing
On This Page
Authorizations with Card Verification Numbers
Card verification numbers (CVNs) are a required feature for the authorization
service.
The CVN is printed on a payment card, and only the cardholder can access it. The CVN is
used in card-not-present transactions as a verification feature. Using the CVN helps
reduce the risk of fraud.
CVNs are not included in payment card track data and cannot be obtained from a card
swipe, tap, or dip.
CVNs must not be stored after authorization.
IMPORTANT
In Europe, Visa mandates that you not include a CVN for
mail-order transactions and not record a CVN on any physical format such as a
mail-order form.
CVN Locations and Terminology
For Visa, Mastercard, Discover, Diners Club, UnionPay, and JCB, the CVN is a three-digit
number printed on the back of the card, to the right of the signature field. For
American Express, the CVN is a four-digit number printed on the front of the card, above
and to the right of the card number.

Each payment card company has its own name for this value:
- American Express and Discover call it the Card Identification Number (CID).
- JCB calls it the Card Authentication Value (CAV2).
- Mastercard calls it the Card Validation Code (CVC2).
- UnionPay calls it the Card Validation Number (CVN2).
- Visa calls it the Card Verification Value (CVV2).