There are times, however, when the process hits a snag and human beings have to get involved. Although it is 100% computerized, the Visa/MasterCard network is programmed with many “triggers” that will route the transaction to a human being for closer scrutiny when one of those triggers are pulled.

The most common triggers are:
- Unusual spending patterns that do not match the Cardholder’s normal purchases.
- Purchases of products or services that are considered to be in a “high fraud” category.
- Purchases made outside of the country where the cardholder lives. In fact, some Card Issuers require their Cardholder’s to notify them when they will be traveling outside of their home country.

What’s really amazing is not that the entire processing cycle is flawlessly repeated millions of times per hour, but that it all happens in just seconds!