The Green Sheet Online Edition
August 11, 2025 • 25:08:01
The decline of card numbers and rise of name validation
In 1900, suggesting transatlantic air travel would have earned you a chuckle. By 1950, autonomous cars sounded like science fiction. Today, AI may be automating jobs, but no one misses manually lighting street lamps. In time, we'll look back at embossed card numbers with the same amused nostalgia.
Originally, card numbers were embossed on the front, with precise placement, size and spacing dictated by card network rules. These ensured a clean imprint for physical verification. Today, card numbers are on the back of the card, and, in some cases, like with the Apple card, not listed at all. Instead, the card information is accessed through the issuers' mobile app, and the card information is tokenized for use. Mastercard will eliminate card numbers from debit and credit cards by 2030. With tokenization, PCI DSS compliance requirements will evolve. Tokens are essentially valueless, so traditional non-compliance fees may disappear. Acquirers and processors may introduce alternate compliance fees ... a discussion for another time.
The transition to tokens will increase security but will require loyalty companies to utilize the payment account reference number (PAR) to recognize the cardholder. Services like Visa's Account Name Inquiry and Mastercard's Account Validation will gain traction. These solutions allow merchants to validate the name of the cardholder via an API call. Visa also has an ISO messaging format available.
These APIs enable merchants to verify a customer's name against issuer records and independent of a transaction. This can support card validation, client onboarding and KYC compliance, or it can be paired with a transaction for fraud prevention. Push-to-debit providers and wallet apps can leverage it to confirm name alignment before transferring funds or pairing cards. Validation does require the cardholder to disclose their legal name (or name provided to their issuer).
Visa's Account Name Inquiry checks the first, middle and surname of the name the issuer has on file. Visa provides three responses for each name: full, partial or no match, as well as an overall match result. This service is available now but relies on issuers for support. North America and the UK are the first areas to enable it. Mastercard's solution became available in North America starting in June of this year.
While helpful, name validation is not infallible. Names can change due to marriage or personal choice, and some card types, particularly government or anonymous prepaid cards, may lack name data entirely.
Merchants and providers may develop rules, based on the response, as to whether follow up identity verification is necessary. The service is not a replacement for AVS but can be used in conjunction with AVS to further authenticate a cardholder.
I once knew my card number by heart. Now, I have to check my wallet just to remember whether it's a Visa or Mastercard. Maybe that says something about my memory—or perhaps it's progress. The optimist in me says my brain is free to pursue more noble pursuits. The pessimist says ... (you probably don't want to know what those pursuits are). 
As founder of Humboldt Merchant Services, co-founder of Eureka Payments, and a former executive for such payments innovators as WePay, a division of JPMorgan Chase, Ken Musante has experience in all aspects of successful ISO building. He currently provides consulting services and expert witness testimony as founder of Napa Payments and Consulting, www.napapaymentsandconsulting.com. Contact him at kenm@napapaymentsandconsulting.com, 707-601-7656 or www.linkedin.com/in/ken-musante-us.
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