The Card Validation Value 2 (CVV2) service provides a critical security layer in card payments. Cross River provides CVV2 validation to ensure safer credit and debit card transactions. CVV2 is a unique 3-digit (or in the case of Amex 4-digit) code printed on the back of all cards. During online transactions where the card isn’t physically present, CVV2 helps authenticate the cardholder. It does this by making sure the cardholder has the card with them at the time they are initiating the transaction. This deters fraud. It also increases cardholder confidence when consumers make online purchases or card payments.

CVV2 confirms that the person using a card physically has the card. The CVV2 appears only on the back of the actual card and in the issuing bank’s files. It doesn’t exist anywhere else. This way, requiring the CVV2 code adds an extra level of protection against unauthorized transactions initiated from stolen card credentials.

When a consumer makes an online or phone transaction, the merchant requires them to provide the CVV2 code. The merchant provides this code as part of the transaction data sent to Cross River. The card issuing bank, in turn, checks that the CVV2 code the consumer enters matches the code on-record. Then, the issuing bank returns a match or mismatch response. Finally, Cross River provides this matching response to the merchant.

Note that card issuers may still approve transactions with mismatched CVV2 codes. It is the merchant’s responsibility to consider the matching data when deciding if to proceed with the transaction.