Third Party Processor

There is a lot of misleading representations of the term "third-party processors". The accurate definition and description of a third-party processor is:

An institution acting under contract to/with credit card issuers or acquirers that processes payment cards, and other electronic transactions.

Third-party processors are commonly caller credit card processors.

These institutions are called third-party processors because of the function that they serve in tracking and completing ACH transactions. A third-party processor works with, for, or on behalf of an acquiring or issuing bank to verify, process, and settle payment card transactions via the automated clearing house (ACH) system. They are essentially the "third-party" in the credit card processing equation, and are therefore referred to as "third-party processors".

Examples of third-party processors are:

NOVA
Global Payments
Vital
National Processing Company
First Data Corporation
Card Service International (A First Data Company)