Introduction to Processing Card Payments

About 6 months back I started to work in Payments Engineering. Coming from Developer Experience and Low Code platform development background transition to Payments came with multiple challenges both technical and domain-wise.

Soon into the industry, I realized before writing a single line of code it’s crucial to understand the payment domain, complex regulatory landscape, and compliance requirements associated with handling financial transactions.

This will be the first of the article series covering the card payment processing domain that I have learned through this period.

What is Credit Card Processing

Payment processing is the set of actions that happens when you swipe your credit card in the local store (merchant) and where merchants get paid in the end. This scenario involves multiple stages, including authorization, authentication, clearing, settlement, and reconciliation. Payment processing acts as a bridge between financial institutions, payment networks, and merchants, ensuring fund transfer from buyer to seller happens securely and efficiently.

To read more about Different Stakeholders involved in Payment Processing and Payment workflow, please visit this medium article.