Statement descriptor

A statement descriptor is the text that appears for each transaction listed on the monthly statement sent to your customer. The statement descriptor gives the cardholder information to identify each transaction.

You can configure the text of a statement descriptor for your organization.

Statement descriptions are important because:

• Bank customers need an easy way to identify the charges that appear on their bank statements.

• Banks and card networks need information to help end-customers understand their bank statements.

• Chargeback and return-risk increases if end-customers don’t recognize a transaction by its description.

Cross River supports 2 kinds of statement descriptors: static and dynamic (soft).

When you onboard to CR you supply your merchant name and abbreviated name. Tell your payments implementation manager whether you prefer a static or dynamic descriptor. If you're configured for dynamic descriptors you enter your additional text as part of the API request for each transaction.

Static descriptor format

This text is always the same and also appears as part of the dynamic descriptor. Tell your implementation manager which types of static descriptor you prefer:

• Merchant name

• Abbreviated name and merchant name

For example, if the merchant name is Cross River and the abbreviated name is CRBT, the descriptor could appear in these ways:

• CrossRiver*

• CRBT*CrossRiver

Some processors append city and state to the descriptor:

• CrossRiver* Newark, NJ

• CRBT*CrossRiver Newark, NJ
  

Dynamic (soft) descriptor format

If you're configured for dynamic statement descriptors, you first choose whether to include the abbreviated name or not. Like with static descriptors, this text always appears for every transaction and does not change. In effect, the dynamic descriptor is in addition to the static descriptor.

You add additional text using a specific field in the transaction API POST request. The descriptor will look like this:

• MerchantName*AdditionalText

• AbbreviatedName*MerchantName*AdditionalText

To configure the dynamic field:

• Send funds to payee (push)

  Use sourceSenderName in the POST /api/Transaction call.

• Request funds from payer (pull)

  Use requesterName) in the POST /api/pullTransaction call.

For example, if the merchant name is Cross River, the abbreviated name is CRBT, and your additional text is ExpressPayment, the descriptor would look like one of these:

• CrossRiver*ExpressPayment

• CRBT*CrossRiver ExpressPayment

Some processors append city and state to the descriptor:

• CrossRiver*ExpressPayment NewJersey, NJ

• CRBT*CrossRiver ExpressPayment NewJersey, NJ