Account Updater

Overview

Account Updater service allows your business to keep card details up to date automatically using Visa Account Updater (VAU) and MasterCard Automatic Billing Updater (ABU). This helps reduce failed transactions caused by expired, lost, or stolen cards by updating stored card data without requiring customer intervention.

When triggered, Acquired will send a request to the relevant card scheme. If new card details are available, the stored token (card_id) will be updated in our system. This ensures that future payment attempts can proceed smoothly without requiring the merchant to manually update the card.

Automatic Update Scenarios

• Lost or Stolen Card: If an authorisation request returns a status:declined and reason:lost_or_stolen, we will trigger the Account Updater.
• Expired Card: If an authorisation request returns a status:declined and reason:expired_card, we will check for updated card details.
• Closed Account: If an authorisation request returns a status:declined and reason:closed_account, we will attempt an update.
• Card Expiring: On the 15th of each month, Acquired will automatically check for updated card details for all stored cards due to expire at the end of that month.

Integration Details

Account Updater is fully supported for REST API integrations with Acquired. As a merchant, no changes are required to your current integration. All updates are handled automatically by Acquired based on card status and expiry.

• Eligibility: Only card_ids without active network tokens are eligible for Account Updater.
• Triggering Events: The system monitors authorisation results and automatically initiates an update check if a card is reported as lost, stolen, expired, or closed.
• Batch Process: In addition to real-time triggers, a monthly batch run is executed on the 15th to check cards expiring that month.
• No Manual Submissions: You do not need to submit Account Updater requests directly. All requests are generated by Acquired’s platform.

Webhook Notifications

When updated details are available, we will notify using the card_update webhook.

{
  "webhook_type": "card_update",
  "webhook_id": "357b7dd8-b709-4c31-98e3-f3accbb9e72d",
  "timestamp": 1701053823,
  "webhook_body": {
    "card_id": "3fa85f64-5717-4562-b3fc-2c963f66afa6",
    "update_type": "account_updater",
    "update_detail": "card_updated",
    "card": {
      "holder_name": "J Smith",
      "scheme": "visa",
      "number": "1234",
      "expiry_month": 12,
      "expiry_year": 29
    }
  }
}

For more information on webhooks, including webhook structure, please view our guide here.