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Continuous Authority

Continuous authority via TransactDirect is a method of re-charging a cardholder without recourse to the original card details.

  • The CAType field should be used to indicate the intent of the continuous authority arrangement. See Cardholder Agreement Types in the Checkout Page or Payments API specifications.

  • Continuous authority is for regular (daily, weekly or monthly) charging of a card. The cardholder gives permission (authority) to the merchant to charge the card without the merchant needing to contact the cardholder on each occasion.

  • Continuous Authority is not supported by Maestro or its associated card schemes.

  • A merchant must have prior arrangement from their acquiring bank before they can begin to process continuous authority transactions.

  • The merchant will need to request a Validity ID in order to process continuous authority and re-authorisation transactions via TransactDirect.

  • Only those merchants who are registered with Monek to conduct rebilling will be allowed to submit transactions of this type.

Continuous Authority by Cross Reference​

The recommended procedure for carrying out the above is as follows:

  1. Merchant's system submits a normal transaction. This transaction should correctly reflect the capture method (e.g. ESALE_KEYED for eCommerce) and be supplied complete with all relevant security details. This will authorise and settle the first transaction.

  2. Assuming that the transaction in step 1 is authorised, the merchant's system should store the Monek CrossReference that is returned as part of the transaction response.

  3. When the second transaction is ready to be processed, the merchant's system submits a transaction again with a MessageType field of SALE_CA. The CrossReference stored in step 2, however, is used in lieu of the card details fields.

  4. Assuming that the transaction in step 3 is authorised, the merchant's system should store the new CrossReference that is returned as part of the transaction response.

  5. When the subsequent transactions are ready to be processed, the merchant's system submits a transaction again with a MessageType field of SALE_CA. The CrossReference from the most recent successful authorisation should be used in lieu of the card details.

Continuous Authority by Card Token​

warning

This functionality is deprecated and should always be implemented using the Cross Reference approach detailed above.

Alternatives​

Credentials on File (COF) provides a more modern and descriptive alternative to Continuous Authority and can be implemented by utilising standard transaction type in conjunction with a CrossReference and the CAType TransactDirect parameter.

Credentials on File can be used in 2 forms:

Merchant Initiated Transactions​

A Merchant Initiated Transaction (MIT) is performed directly with the Payments API using a previously stored CrossReference where consent was obtained to store the card details for future use.

The CAType parameter is used to indicate the reason for the merchant to initiate the transaction in the cardholders absence.

Cardholder Initiated Transactions​

A Cardholder Initiated Transaction (CIT) is performed using a previously stored CrossReference and should be submitted through the Payments API from the merchants web site with 3-D Secure in order to satisfy Secure Cardholder Authentication (SCA) security requirements.