Top 5 Payments Acronyms You Should Know
If you’ve ever been in a meeting where someone said:
“Your ISV strategy depends on PF economics, but we need to see your GPV forecast and your CP vs CNP mix because of”…
…and you smiled politely while your brain quietly screamed…
Welcome. You’re one of us.
The payments world is full of acronyms. The good news: you don’t need a payments degree. At Revolv, we’ve spent years helping founders, boards, and revenue teams navigate this ecosystem—and one of the first steps is speaking the language.
Here are five most common acronyms we think every SaaS or vertical software company should translate—plus why they actually matter.
1. ISV – Independent Software Vendor
Translation:
You. (Yes, you.)
In payments-land, an ISV is simply a software company that can serve as a distribution partner for payments at scale, generating extra revenue by embedded it into their core platform.
Why it matters:
Software companies (ISVs) have leverage. You are valuable, entire channels and teams are built around you, don’t let anyone act like you should be grateful for a 50% revenue share.
Revolv example:
You sell software to HVAC companies. If your customers collect payments when they provide their service, you’re now “a payments channel.” Congrats - you just became everyone’s favorite meeting invite.
2. ISO v PF v PFaaS – Merchant Identification Number
What it means:
How payments companies structure your relationship (and who holds the bag).
ISO – Independent Sales Organization
Why it matters:
ISOs in their simplest definition sell processing for banks/processors. The “OG” payments model.
Revolv Example: Your customer signs directly with the ISO, not on your paper. You earn referral/residuals. Low effort, often low economics.
PF – Payment Facilitator
Why it matters:
A P (PayFac) lets many of your customers run under one master account, yours. You own the paper, the experience, the higher monetization, and also the risk.
Revolv Example: Your software platform onboards 1,000 plumbers and you control the sign up, the checkout and the flow of the full payments experience. Your best in class UX, higher revenue, more compliance + operational responsibility.
PFaaS – PayFac-as-a-Service
Why it matters:
You get closer to PF economics without building the entire experience and stack yourself. Sometimes even share the risk.
Revolv Example: Your launch payments like a PayFac, but your provider handles a range of what could be considered the “messy” stuff. This is the fork in the road for your payments strategy: control vs complexity vs margin.
3. GPV – Gross Payments Volume
What it means:
How much money (or potential money) from payments flow through the customers using your platform. It’s the total dollar value of transactions processed in a period - a huge indicator of your ability to generate payments revenue (and what partners will pick up the phone when you call about it).
Revolv Example:
Your software supports hair salon and spas, the customers onboarded process $100M/year in customer payments, your GPV potential is $100M. If someone tells you you’ll do it all in year 1, we’d like to gently suggest you push back. This is a fundamental source of friction between software and payments companies (enter Revolv).
Revolv tip:
Make sure you are conservative and accurate in your projections. GPV drives everything with payments partners: pricing rev share, underwriting intensity, partner interest and your negotiating power.
4. CP v CNP – Card Present v Card Not Present
Translation:
Where the card is when the customer pays, that’s it. Oh, and inherently how risky/expensive that payment is.
CP - Card Present
What it means:
Card is tapped, swiped, inserted, dipped (physically present). This would be on a physical device like a terminal or even cell phone. Generally lower fraud risk = lower cost (interchange).
CNP - Card Not Present
What it means:
Card paid online, keyed-in, invoice links or via phone. Higher fraud risk = higher cost (interchange).
Why it matters:
Your CP/CNP mix changes your approval rates, fraud tooling needs, pricing strategy and ultimately what margin is realistic.
5. IC v IC+ – Interchange v Interchange Plus Pricing
Translation:
The “base cost” of chard payments - and the part no one explains (or possibly understands) in the model until you’re actually live.
IC - Interchange (Fee)
What it means:
Fee paid from the merchant’s (customer’s) bank to the issuing bank per transaction. Set by the networks.
IC+ / IC++ - Interchange Plus (Pricing)
What it means:
Merchant pays the actual interchange + a processor markup (and sometimes additional passthrough of fees). This is considered one of the most transparent pricing models, just don’t be fooled that transparency = simplicity or predictability.
Why it matters:
If you don’t understand IC/IC++, you can’t predict your margin - and you can’t defend your go to market pricing when a customer asks why it is what it is.
At the end of the day, understanding the language of payments isn’t just about sounding fluent—it’s about making smarter decisions for your business. These acronyms represent real mechanics that shape your economics, your risk profile, and your growth potential. The more you understand them, the better positioned you are to design a payments strategy that actually works for you. At Revolv, we bring clarity to complexity—so you can stop translating and start scaling.
Want a full translation guide? We built and A-Z glossary of over 140+ payments terms specifically designed to bridge software + payments language.
