OCT (Original Credit Transaction) is a payment method enabling secure, convenient, and (really) fast direct funds transfers to credit or debit cards. You can benefit from payouts when using Visa Direct or Mastercard Moneysend services.
How do near real-time funds transfers to card-based accounts work exactly? Read on to learn more.
How Do OCT Payouts Work?
Making a credit of funds is as easy as putting in the card data, and the CVV — card data is all it takes to complete the money transfer.
To make it even more convenient, the customer can save their data once making the first payout to make the following automatically.
But how does it work from the technical point of view?
The whole transfer process can be described in three steps:
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Entering Card Data: The merchant puts in card data on the merchant’s website or app and sends a credit request to Shift4 (as they usually do with regular payment requests).
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Submitting Transaction Details: Shift4 instantly sends transaction details to the acquiring bank.
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Receiving Funds: Within 2 business days, money is on the customer’s credit or debit card.
In short, funds are “pushed” with Visa Direct OCT to a card-based account, thus resulting in a credit of funds to the cardholder’s account.
Seconds Instead of Two Business Days
As mentioned above, the standard time frame for receiving funds in the account extends to two business days. However, Visa Direct OCT payouts can be fast. Really fast.
By saying so, we actually mean near-real-time entry in the accounts.
At Shift4, we complete the Visa Direct fast transactions within 5 seconds. You count to 5, and the customer has just received their money.
Every time the merchant makes the payout, the system returns with the information, whether it was a fast or a regular one.
If the money transfer was marked as fast, the customer receives their money within 30 minutes or less.
What’s crucial, the card is automatically flagged as “supporting” instant payouts, which means that for every future OCT made, the funds will immediately be credited to the eligible card-based account.
Can I Check the Card Status Before Making a Payout?
Yes, you can. The verification is simple and effortless, and you get the answer on the spot.
How do you do it?
Whenever you need to be absolutely sure the money transfer will be immediate, you can check the specific card status in the customer dashboard — without needing to initiate the payout.
What you need to get prompt system feedback is card data. Once you put the card data in the system, you’ll get an automatic response clarifying if the card supports instant payouts or not.
If the feedback is positive, the payout can be settled in near real-time.
Knowing that you may either make an instant credit of funds with Visa Direct or choose any other payment method convenient to the end user.
OCT in a Nutshell
Beyond discussion, the most significant advantage of using OCT payments lies in reducing processing time. However, there are many more benefits to consider regarding fast payouts.
What you can expect when using Visa Direct payouts is:
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Near Real-Time Money Transfer Speed
Visa Direct fast transactions are very (I mean very) fast, so cardholders can receive funds almost instantly. That’s obviously up to whether the card supports instant payouts or not. For cards supporting instant payouts, payments are initiated, cleared, and settled within 30 minutes at the most (usually within seconds). Yet, it depends on the issuing banks if the funds are available near real-time or within 1-2 business days.
As the Visa website states: “Actual funds availability varies by the financial institution. Visa requires some issuers in some countries to make funds available to its cardholders within a maximum of 30 minutes of approving the transaction.”
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24/7/365 Availability
It doesn’t matter if it’s a weekend or a holiday; Visa Direct is on.
With push payment capabilities, frictionless OCT payouts provide convenience and a user-friendly system, thus improving customer experience.
Visa Direct payouts are an efficient and quick way of sending money directly to the customers’ cards at the speed they expect. 24/7/365 days a year.
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Cost-Effective Cross-Border Payments
Fast payouts enable sending money in multiple currencies to recipients in over 200 countries.
3 billion Visa cards, 2 billion bank accounts, and more than 16k financial institutions within the program speak for themselves.
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Simplicity
There’s no need to provide a bank account number — the card data is all it takes to complete the money transfer.
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Highest Security Standards
Money transfers are made directly by an acquiring bank to an eligible debit or credit card under PCI requirements. No IBAN or BIC numbers are necessary.
Multi-layer compliance, advanced risk control system, and rigorous assessment of business partners uphold the highest security standards.
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Full Control Over Payout Flow
It’s up to the merchants if they want to make payouts via the merchant’s website or the app. In addition, when choosing to send money via OCT, no intermediary bank charges occur.
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Easy Payment Integration
Shift4 will guide you through the integration process — hassle-free.
Accelerate Fund Transfers with Visa Direct
Speed them up to minutes or even seconds and lift your payment experience to a new level.
Offer fast, secure and more convenient settlements to your customers 24/7/365.
Have any questions regarding OCT in general or Visa Direct? The Shift4 support team is at your disposal.