Visa Accounts Receivable Manager (Visa AR Manager)

Visa Accounts Receivable (AR) Manager is a virtual card automation solution that reduces the manual steps required for merchants to accept virtual card payments.

Visa AR Manager streamlines the virtual card acceptance process by retrieving virtual card account details from a merchant's customers, relaying them to the acquirer's designated payment gateway, acquirer, acquirer processor or VisaNet, and providing meaningful and timely reconciliation data.

Visa AR Manager automates the virtual card processing workflow for merchants through three key steps:

1. Capture – Automatically retrieves virtual card details from a merchant's customer and identifies the intended Visa-accepting merchant (also known as a "supplier")
2. Transmit – Sends virtual card details to the acquirer's designated payment gateway, acquirer, acquirer processor or VisaNet who can initiate processing the virtual card transactions from merchant's customers on the merchant's behalf
3. Reconcile – Delivers payment and invoice details to support reconciliation processes

The Visa AR Manager solution offers a related service to issuers and fintechs. Issuers and fintechs can integrate with Visa through APIs to automate the virtual card processing workflow.

These APIs are related to the Visa AR Manager service for fintechs and issuers:

• Payment API – Transmit virtual card transaction details using the /varm/v1/payment endpoint.

  This API handles individual virtual card transactions and comprehensive invoice related details. This API requires customer, payment and invoice information to transmit virtual card details securely.

• Status Inquiry Workflow API – Monitor and retrieve payment transaction status using the /varm/v1/paymentinfo endpoint.

  This API provides visibility into payment status and supports comprehensive status reporting with pagination for large result sets. This API is essential for monitoring virtual card transactions and handling asynchronous processing scenarios.

Visa AR Manager APIs are currently available in North America (U.S. only). For details on implementation and regional availability, contact your Visa representative.

Before integrating with Visa AR Manager APIs, ensure all prerequisites are in place.

• Participation Agreement – You must have signed and fully executed a Visa AR Manager Participation Agreement. This is required for any issuer or fintech participating in the program.
• Onboarding in Visa AR Manager – You must have a valid Business ID (BID) that will be used to onboard you in the Visa AR Manager system before you integrate with the AR Manager APIs.
• Visa Developer Center (VDC) Account – You must have a valid VDC account with an external application ID. This identifier links your application to Visa's payment infrastructure.
• Client Credentials – Obtain the Client ID (clientId), which is a unique identifier for your client organization. This credential is required for transmitting a payment and status inquiry operations.
• Technical Understanding – Ensure your development team has knowledge of:
  • RESTful API integration patterns
  • JSON data format handling
  • HTTPS and secure communication protocols
  • Payment workflows and data models
• Compliance Requirements – Your application must comply with:
  • Visa security standards and data handling requirements
  • Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliance standards
  • Applicable data protection and privacy regulations
• Development Environment – Set up your development environment with:
  • HTTPS-capable HTTP client for API testing
  • JSON parsing and generation capabilities
  • Secure credential storage and management
  • Logging and monitoring capabilities for debugging
  • Certificate management capabilities for secure communication

After meeting the prerequisites and requirements, you can now set up authentication and start making Visa AR Manager API calls.

Visa AR Manager APIs use a multi-layered authentication approach with varying requirements across endpoints. Proper configuration of these methods is essential for successful integration.

Before setting up authentication, ensure you have obtained the necessary credentials as described in the Prerequisites section.

1. Configure the client credential header for the /varm/v1/payment and /varm/v1/paymentinfo endpoints by setting the clientId header to your unique client identifier.

   This header is required for all payment and status inquiry operations.

2. Store your authentication credentials securely using:
   • Environment variables for development and testing.
   • Secure credential management systems for production.
   • Encrypted configuration files with restricted access.

   Never hardcode credentials directly in your application source code.

3. Verify your authentication setup by making a test call to the appropriate endpoint:
   • Payment – Test with /varm/v1/payment using your client credentials.
   • Status Inquiry – Test with /varm/v1/paymentinfo using your client credentials and a valid request ID.

After completing these steps, your application will be properly configured to authenticate with the Visa AR Manager API endpoints. You can now proceed to make API calls for payment and status inquiry operations.

Monitor your authentication usage and ensure credentials are rotated according to your organization's security policies. Implement proper error handling for authentication failures and credential expiration scenarios.

Visa AR Manager APIs provide a dedicated certification environment for testing and integration purposes. This environment allows you to safely test your integration without affecting production systems or real payment transactions.

• Certification Environment Details – The certification environment is available at:
  • Base URL – VDP Sandbox base URL will be published once it's live
  • Protocol – HTTPS only
  • Environment Type – Non-production development and testing
• Environment Capabilities – The certification environment supports all API endpoints and functionality:
  • Payment – Test payment workflows with /varm/v1/payment
  • Status Inquiry – Test status retrieval with /varm/v1/paymentinfo
• Authentication Requirements – The certification environment uses the same authentication mechanisms as production:
  • Visa Developer Center (VDC) external application ID for provisioning operations
  • Client credentials (client ID) for payment operations

  Ensure your development credentials are properly configured for the certification environment.

• Testing Considerations – When using the certification environment:
  • Use test data and avoid real payment information
  • Implement proper error handling and logging for debugging
  • Test all authentication scenarios and error conditions
  • Validate response handling for both success and failure cases
• Data and Security – The certification environment maintains security standards:
  • All communications use HTTPS encryption
  • Authentication credentials are validated
  • Test data must follow data protection guidelines
  • No real payment processing occurs in this environment

Use the certification environment to thoroughly test your integration before moving to production. This includes testing normal workflows, error scenarios, and edge cases to ensure your application handles all API responses appropriately.