AVS Failure Filter

What does the filter do?

Address Verification Service (AVS), compares the street number and the ZIP code submitted by the customer against the data on file with the issuer.

The AVS response is composed of a Y, N, or X value for the customer’s street address and a Y, N, or X value for the ZIP code. For example, the response for a correct street number and an incorrect ZIP code is YN.

If AVS information is not submitted with transaction, then the response is NN.

Result	Meaning
Y	The submitted information matches information on file with account holder's bank.
N	The submitted information does not match information on file with the account holder's bank.
X	Account holder's bank does not support AVS checking for this information.
(null)	In some cases banks return no value at all.

AVS checks only for a street number match, not a street name match, so 123 Main Street returns the same response as 123 Elm Street. The USPS Address Validation Failure Filter validates the address information.

The specified action is taken whenever the AVS response does not meet the criterion that you specified.

Specify the level of AVS checking

Specify one of the following settings:

Full. Take action if any value other than YY is returned (Y for street address and Y for ZIP code).
Medium. Take action if any N value is returned. (XN or NX)
Light. Take action only if NN is returned.

The following table summarizes the allowed responses for AVS settings:

AVS Setting	Allowed Responses
Full	(Y,Y)
Medium	(Y, Y), (Y, X), (X, Y)
Light	(Y, Y), (Y, N), (Y, X), (N, Y), (X, Y), (N, X), (X, N)

Once you switch to Live mode, the AVS and Card Security Code checks that you may have previously set on the configuration page are replaced by the AVS and Card Security Code filter settings. In Observe mode, no action is taken on AVS and Card Security Code. To take action if you are confident of your filter settings, deploy to Active mode.

How does the filter protect me?

Buyers who can provide the street number and ZIP code on file with the issuing bank are more likely to be the actual account holder.

AVS matches, however, are not a guarantee. Use Card Security Code (Card Security Code) and Buyer Authentication in addition to AVS to increase your certainty.