Glossary

Batch Header Ticket

The Batch Header Ticket is a special form used for reconciliation of financial transactions. Many banks will use a combination of electronic and paper means for credit card processing data entry. The Batch Header Ticket is a way to properly file, organize and manage credit card records.

What Is the Batch Header Ticket?

Basically, a “batch” is a set of documents that have one common characteristic for data entry purposes (i.e. credit card issuing bank, business or date). The batch is like a “title” for the data coding allowing users to link everything to one specific identification number. Many batch headers will include a space for the date to make them one-of-a-kind.

A merchant account holder will issue a paper receipt to his customer after selling him a good or service. He also might make a digital record of the credit card processing transaction. Business owners will use a Batch Header Ticket for either paper or electronic reconciliation.

Who Uses the Batch Header Ticket?

Credit card processing can involve numerous entities for each transaction: credit card holding consumer, merchant account owner, credit card issuing banks and acquirer bank. Every day, the balances of each of these parties must be reconciled. The Batch Header Ticket could identify the credit card name, account number, date, time and amount of a transaction.

While each business might have its own internal process for handling these batches, submissions to external organizations must follow a standardized format to avoid confusion. Most businesses will complete daily or weekly batches to document their financial transactions.

Types of Batch Flows

Generally, the Federal Reserve System (Fed) oversees the globe’s banking system and requires documentation of all transactions. Thus, a credit card processing transaction at a store, might require a credit card bank and acquirer bank to create a Batch Header Ticket for a clearinghouse. The clearinghouse will verify, tally and report the results to the issuing bank, acquirer and Fed.

Many acquiring banks will send a monthly report to a business listing all of their credit card transactions in great detail. If there are any discrepancies, then the businesses can check the original Batch Header Ticket to verify the information. The Batch Header Ticket is an efficient way to organize the raw data from a merchant account.