Independent Sales Organization (ISO) - Merchant, Isos, Banks, Acquiring, Accounts, and Account. Since the overwhelming majority of e-commerce transactions involve credit cards, the ability to accept credit cards as a form of payment was essential for e-commerce proprietors (also known as merchants) in the early 2000s. In order to obtain this capability, merchants had to apply for special merchant accounts with acquiring banks. After such an account was established, acquiring banks accepted funds from card-holding consumers on behalf of the merchant. Although a number of different steps and variables were involved in this process, this essentially involved monies being transferred (from the bank that issued the credit card to the consumer) to the acquiring bank, and ultimately to the merchant.
For good reason, acquiring banks are selective about the businesses to which they provide merchant accounts. Credit Card Issuer Definition - What is a Credit Card Issuer. Independent Sales Organization (ISO) - Merchant, Isos, Banks, Acquiring, Accounts, and Account. Visa: List of ISO/MPS. World's Top 10 Credit Card Issuers. Since the first widely accepted plastic charge card was issued in 1958 by American Express, the use of credit cards has skyrocketed. In fact, at the end February, more than 576 million credit cards were in circulation in the United States alone, with US consumers' revolving debt rising to $864.4 billion (98 percent of which is made up of credit card debt) as of January. At these huge levels, it's no wonder credit card fraud is rampant and costs cardholders and issuers hundreds of millions of dollars each year. In fact, CNBC's American Greed investigates one credit card scam that took in $100 million alone.
So where does all this credit come from? Click ahead to see the world's top 10 credit card issuers. By: Constance PartenPosted: April 13, 2010Sources: CreditCards.com and Nilson Report, December 2009 (through year-end 2009 and ranked by total worldwide outstandings) Nilson Report, February 2010 Federal Reserve's G.19 report on consumer credit, March 2010.