Flexible transaction controls
The Pismo platform supports creation of different types and levels of flexible transaction controls (flex controls), which are rules that restrict your customers' financial operations, such as spending mode or maximum spending limit restrictions. Pismo Control Center allows you to manage program-level flex controls through a user interface. The flex controls API allows you to create and manage account-level, customer-level, and card-level flex controls.
You can define a flex control at each entity's respective level. For a program, define the flex control at the program level to affect all accounts or cards. To apply a flex control for a specific account, customer, or card, define the flex control at that level. After choosing the applicability level, define which conditions need to be considered at the time of evaluation.
Flex control types
A flex control can be of a cumulative or restriction type.
Cumulative controls (with type set to usage_limit, spending_limit, cumulative_limit) are used to restrict how many transactions a customer can perform or how much they can spend in a given time period. Cumulative spending controls calculate and maintain values of past transactions. These calculated values can either be a counter, such as the number of transactions, or the sum of the transactions.
Restriction controls (with type set to restriction) are used to restrict where, how, or when customers can perform financial operations. For example, restriction controls can deny purchases by merchant category code (MCC), by entry mode, or within a time window. The restriction control type defines the control condition(s) without any additional calculations.
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
usage_limit | Cumulative flex control that increases by one until max_limit |
spending_limit | Cumulative flex control that increases by the current transaction's amount until max_limit |
cumulative_limit | Cumulative flex control that increases by one transaction or by transaction amount until a condition is met, applies only to flex controls with associated card_ids, and requires a reset_strategy |
restriction | Restriction flex control that only validates specified conditions |
Flex controls limitThe Pismo platform limits the number of flex controls you can create:
- Up to 200 flex controls at the program level
- Up to 200 flex controls per account
- Up to 200 controls that apply to either a customer or a card (customer and card entities share the same underlying data structure)
After you create a control, the Pismo platform uses it to evaluate authorizations on your customers' accounts. Evaluations happen at the account or customer level, not at the program level. If the authorization characteristics match the conditions configured in the control, the Pismo platform might deny a transaction. During flex control operations, the platform generates flex control data events asynchronously.
Flex controls can be used to control Pix transactions, like the daily and nightly limits.
To use flex controls in card network transactions, you must enable the Send rules authorization program parameter.
When an account is created, the Pismo platform copies all flex controls from the program to the accounts and/or cards, so every account has a copy of the flex controls attached to that program.
When a program-level flex control is changed, the Pismo platform does not immediately update flex controls copied to accounts in the original program. The platform waits for a flex control evaluation during the authorization flow to detect the differences between the account and program flex controls, and then incrementally updates the flex controls. For this update to occur, the flex control of the account must not be customized.
To apply controls at the program level, you must use Pismo Control Center.
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Updated 15 days ago