1.) Merchant submits customer's credit card transaction through their credit card terminal, POS system, software package or payment gateway via a secure connection through a landline, wireless signal, or over the Internet to National Bankcard's Processor.

2.) National Bankcard's Processor submits the transaction to the Credit Card Interchange network (a network of financial entities that communicate to manage the processing, clearing, and settlement of credit card transactions).

3.) The Credit Card Interchange network routes the transaction to the customer's credit card issuing bank to see if the necessary funds are available on the card to complete the transaction.

4.) The credit card issuing bank approves or declines the transaction based on the customer's available funds and passes on the transaction results back through the Credit Card Interchange network.

5.) The Credit Card Interchange network relays the transaction results to National Bankcard's Processor.

6.) National Bankcard's Processor then sends either the confirming approval number back to the merchant's credit card processing equipment, if the funds are available, or a decline message, if the funds are not available. Steps 1 through 5 take approximately 5-7 seconds.

7.) The merchant then "batches out" or sends a record of all the transactions that took place within their credit card processing equipment at the end of the business day. (Most equipment is setup to batch out automatically at a specific time each day.) By sending the batch back to National Bankcard's Processor and the Credit Card Interchange network, the settlement process is initiated. Funds are then transferred from the customer's credit card issuing bank through the Federal Reserve System and are deposited into the merchant's checking account within approximately 48-72 business hours.