The Address Verification System (AVS) is a system used to verify the address of a person claiming to own a credit card. The system will check the billing address of the credit card provided by the user with the address on file at the credit card company.[1] The other security features for the credit card include the CVV2 number.
AVS is used when the merchant verifies credit card data, such as billing address and zip code, against the Visa/MasterCard billing information of the cardholder.[2] AVS verifies that the billing address of the credit or debit card matches the address that was given by the customer. Because AVS only verifies the numeric portion of the address, certain anomalies like apartment numbers can cause false declines; however, it is reported to be a rare occurrence.[1]
AVS verifies the numeric portions of a cardholder's billing address. For example, if the address is 101 Main Street, Highland, CA 92346, in the United States, AVS will check 101 and 92346. Sometimes AVS checks additional digits such as an apartment number, other times it does not. Cardholders may receive false negatives, or partial declines for AVS from e-commerce verification systems, which may require manual overrides, voice authorization, or reprogramming of the AVS entries by the card issuing bank.