However, the concept of a floor limit may still come into play in certain cases.

A floor limit is the amount of money above which credit card transactions must be authorised.

Floor limits have become less significant as credit cards started being processed electronically and all transactions are typically authorized.

Payment is guaranteed for all sales above a mutually agreed floor limit, providing authorisation is gained.

Check that the total amount of the bill does not exceed the 'floor limit', which is the maximum amount of credit allowed without getting special authorisation.

Ceiling and floor limits apply to each trading board utilizing the AOM system, with the exception of the foreign board.

The floor limit was imposed by Silverstein, who expressed concern that higher floors would be a liability in the event of a future terrorist attack or other incident.

Major benefits include simplified sales procedures - every retailer is provided with a single floor limit and authorisation number - and improved banking and reconciliation arrangements.

The second digit indicates if the transaction must be sent online for authorization always or if transactions that are below floor limit can take place without authorization.

Because the floor limit is set to zero, the transaction should always go online and all other values in TAC-Online or IAC-Online are irrelevant.

Additionally, if the merchant or merchant's bank has trouble contacting the customer's bank due to computer network issues, transactions under a certain floor limit will still be approved electronically immediately.

"If the merchant has a fully electronic system or the amount charged is over the floor limit, the merchant will get a message telling him to deny credit," Ms. Rush of Mastercard said.

When an online-only device performs IAC-Online and TAC-Online processing the only relevant TVR bit is "Transaction value exceeds the floor limit".

The term floor limit comes from the days when it was the maximum amount which could be approved on the floor (of the retailer), beyond which the cash register operator would have to call for approval.

Floor limits do not apply to certain types of debit card (such as Visa Electron and Solo), as these cards require authorisation for every transaction to prevent the cardholder becoming overdrawn.

Floor limits were of more significance when most credit card merchants processed transactions by taking a physical imprint of the card rather than electronically swiping the magnetic strip, and obtaining an authorization required time consuming human intervention.