The Lemon Fool

My creditcard expired at the end of last year. They sent a replacement in good time, with the same number but new expiry date and CVC code.

The card had a couple of payment mandates on it, for services I use. Just small amounts: one monthly, one ad-hoc (infrequently). The folks with the ad-hoc payment emailed me around the new year advising me I needed to update payment details, which I duly did.

I recently received my invoice from the monthly payment, so I went to their site to make a similar change, only to find my payments fully up to date, and the expiry date of my new card showing. Checking my statement, the correct January and February payments have indeed gone out. Evidently the payee had transitioned to the new card without reference to me. That they have my number is of course to be expected, but how do they know the new expiry date? I didn't know it myself when I last interacted with them!

Why the difference? If one vendor can transition seamlessly to the new card, why can't the other?

The most obvious difference is that one is a US company billing in dollars, while the other is the UK office of a German company, now billing in Sterling. That means they're taking payment through two different banking systems: UK and US. Does that alone make all the difference between needing or not needing to hold a CVC number on file (which I thought kind-of defeats the purpose of having such a number)?

UncleEbenezer wrote:My creditcard expired at the end of last year. They sent a replacement in good time, with the same number but new expiry date and CVC code.
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I recently received my invoice from the monthly payment, so I went to their site to make a similar change, only to find my payments fully up to date, and the expiry date of my new card showing. Checking my statement, the correct January and February payments have indeed gone out. Evidently the payee had transitioned to the new card without reference to me. That they have my number is of course to be expected, but how do they know the new expiry date? I didn't know it myself when I last interacted with them!

Why the difference? If one vendor can transition seamlessly to the new card, why can't the other?

The most obvious difference is that one is a US company billing in dollars, while the other is the UK office of a German company, now billing in Sterling. That means they're taking payment through two different banking systems: UK and US.
Does that alone make all the difference between needing or not needing to hold a CVC number on file (which I thought kind-of defeats the purpose of having such a number)?

Some will have access to this:-
https://www.visadps.com/our-solutions/t ... pdater.jsp
VISA ACCOUNT UPDATER
Maintain Continuity in the Payment Relationship Even When Account Information Changes
Visa Account Updater (VAU) enables the electronic exchange of updated account information among participating merchants, acquirers and Visa card issuers.
Serving as an automated, dedicated and secure clearinghouse, VAU delivers updated cardholder account information in a timely, efficient and cost-effective manner, benefiting acquirers, merchants, issuers and cardholders.

supremetwo wrote:]
I doubt the USA provider will have access to this:-
https://www.visadps.com/our-solutions/t ... pdater.jsp
VISA ACCOUNT UPDATER.

Thanks. That looks like a likely explanation for how they got the new expiry date.

But it was the US provider which did that!

Merely to add, I don’t think merchants are permitted to retain CVV/CVC numbers for any length of time, so the change in that number at least would not be relevant.