Card Verification Value (CVV2)

This section provides instructions on how to manage a card's Card Verification Value (CVV2). A card's CVV is the number printed on the back of the card, which is used to authorise online and Mail Order Telephone Order (MOTO) transactions between a merchant and cardholder. This provides an additional layer of security for online and MOTO transactions.

A card's CVV2 is randomly allocated as part of the Create Card API call. To find out more about creating cards, see Creating a Card.

After card creation, the Cards API enables you to:

  • Retrieve a card's CVV
  • Unblock a card's CVV when the maximum number of attempts have been exceeded
  • Get the card's CVV status

Retrieve a Card's CVV

Step 1: Identify the card's public token

Before retrieving a card's CVV, identify the corresponding public token relating to the card. This is returned in the response to creating a card within the publicToken object.

Step 2: Get the card's CVV

After identifying the card's public token, execute a GET call to the cards CVV endpoint. For example:

{{base-url}}/cards/{{publicToken}}/cvv

A successful response will return a 200 http code with the value of the card's CVV in the response body.

{
    "cvv": "955",
    "resultStatus": "Success"
}

👍

API Explorer

See the Retrieve card CVV endpoint for more information.

Unblock a Card's CVV

Step 1: Identify the card's public token

Before retrieving a card's CVV, identify the corresponding public token relating to the card. This is returned in the response to creating a card within the publicToken object.

Step 2: Update CVV status

After identifying the card's public token, execute a POST call to the cards CVV endpoint. For example:

{{base-url}}/cards/{{publicToken}}/cvv/status

The body should contain the status object set to 'Unblocked'.

{
  "status": "Unblocked"
}

A successful response will return a 204 HTTP code - success no response.

👍

API Explorer

See the Unblock card CVV endpoint for more information.

Get CVV Status

Use the Get CVV Status endpoint to retrieve the current status of the CVV of the card. A CVV can have have a status of:

  • Unblocked
  • Blocked

You can retrieve the CVV status of the card by making a GET request to the endpoint. For example:

{{base-url}}/cards/{{publicToken}}/cvv/status

A successful response will return a HTTP 200 response code and payload which includes the current status. For example:

{
    "status": "Unblocked"
}

👍

API Explorer

See the Get CVV Status endpoint for more information.