Card Security Code

	Credit Card Security Code

What is a CSC?	Major credit card organizations (Visa, American Express, Mastercard, Discover) have added a three- or four-digit number to your card. Mastercard, Discover, and Visa all print the three-digit number they use on the back of the card.
	The name of these numbers varies according to the issuer of the credit card -- the generic name is "card security code," or CSC. The picture at right shows the location of such a number.
What are these numbers used for?	In "card-not-present" sales, like those on the web, customers are asked to provide these numbers to prove they possess the card they are using. After a customer has entered those numbers in an online sale, the card organization compares the CSC numbers to the CSC numbers assigned to the customer's account. If there's a match, the sale is judged to be acceptable and the customer receives the merchandise. If there isn't a match, the sale is refused -- temporarily or permanently depending on how the merchant and the bank have set up approval criteria.
Why do you want my CSC number?	Requesting your CSC number greatly helps us reduce fraudulent sales. And that means we don't have to pass along increased business costs to customers -- we can continue to keep our prices low.
What do you do with my CSC number?	Our card processor requires that we encrypt and transmit your CSC number in order to verify that your purchase is legitimate. We do not store customers' CSC numbers -- we simply pass them to the card-issuing organization (Visa, Mastercard, etc.). Since card numbers and CSC numbers are encrypted for transmission, Fatcat Press staff can't see what the CSC numbers are (nor should we).

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Credit Card Security Code