Credit Card Voice Authorization

On rare occasions, MyFBO subscribers who process credit cards online through MyFBO and AHT Gateway may need to obtain approval for a credit card transaction by phone from the card issuer (Visa/MasterCard, American Express, Discover, MultiService, etc.).  This phone approval could occur in the following circumstances:

• Card has been declined online and customer requests that you attempt approval by phone 
• Internet connection problems

Be prepared for this situation in advance with a clipboard of all the tools needed to obtain and process a voice authorization:

1. Print your list of contact phone numbers and merchant IDs. This is available in your MyFBO system from the Reference Tab / Voice Authorization menu. 
2. It is important before calling for voice authorization to have the information needed for approval, and it is equally important to obtain all the customer information for input into your MyFBO system. Print our "clipboard" form to help with this process : Credit Card Voice (Phone) Authorization Form
3. Print a copy of this help document for detailed instructions.

Obtaining Approval

Obtaining voice authorization is an automated process and the steps may vary depending on the credit card type and authorization number called. As an example, outlined below is the process we used for obtaining voice authorization for a Visa transaction. 

Visa/MasterCard Approval

1. Called the contact number.
2. Selected language.
3. Entered Merchant ID.
4. Entered our zip code.
5. Selected # for Options.
6. Selected 1 for Sales.
7. Entered card information and amount of transaction as requested (100=$1.00, 199=$1.99).
8. Wrote down the approval code given.

After Approval

Once an approval code has been obtained by phone, the transaction MUST be processed correctly through your MyFBO system in order for the charge to be settled and paid. Simply getting an approval by phone does NOT get you the money. The payment on the receipt in MyFBO is completed as follows:

1. In Step 3 of the receipt process, select New credit card / swipe as the payment type and Record Payment.

Enter Payment Type


2. On the next screen, either swipe or key enter the credit card number.

Enter Card Number


3. On the next screen, enter customer and card information. While not all these fields are required, they are essential in obtaining the best processing rate, and they are also required if the transaction is ever disputed by the customer.  
4. On the same screen, click the check box for Pre-Approved By Voice. Doing so will expose a data entry field for the Approval Code obtained by phone.  Enter the Approval Code and Continue.

Enter Card Info & Approval Code


5. Follow through the rest of the receipt steps and close out the receipt. 

Note: Leaving a receipt open / unfinished does not stop an approved credit card transaction on the receipt  from processing. If the charge is on the receipt and approved, the charge processes when the credit card transactions are next batched (typically overnight). The customer's credit card is charged whether the receipt is open or finished.

6. Once the transaction has completed successfully and the receipt has been closed, it is essential that any notation made of the credit card number outside of your MyFBO system is destroyed or deleted.  Written papers containing the customer's full credit card number should be shredded or incinerated, whether you used the Credit Card Voice Authorization Form or simply made notes on scratch paper.  If you made notes of the credit card number on your computer, those files must be deleted.  Failure to do so is a violation of PCI (Payment Card Industry) regulations.

01/27/11 cli