Visa Direct Name Field Requirements

June 16th, 2025

Hello,

As part of upcoming Visa Direct compliance changes, please review the following data requirements that apply to your use of TabaPay for Original Credit Transactions (OCTs) and Account Funding Transactions (AFTs). Proper population of name fields is critical to avoid processing errors, downstream declines, and potential compliance violations.

Data Integrity Rules for All Name Fields

Minimum 3 non-space characters in combined first and last name fields
Must not contain:
- Special characters, including but not limited to: ?, #, =, $, !, &, :, ~, |, _, +, comma (,), /
- Only digits (cannot be entirely numeric)
- Only spaces

As of October 25, 2025, Visa will decline transactions that do not meet the data integrity and validation criteria specified for the in-scope fields and transaction types, with response code 64 (Transaction does not fulfill AML requirement).

Conditions That May Lead to Declines

Incomplete names (missing first name or last name)
Submitting invalid name formats (too short, too long, or disallowed characters)
Populating with a phone number, email address or alias (including usernames or nicknames)
Populating non-English language characters in the name field (including characters from non-Latin alphabets or characters with umlauts, accents, and other diacritical marks)
Populating with non-informative or placeholder data (e.g. 123456, TEST, ---)

Examples of Invalid Data That Will Result in Declines

Special Considerations

These updates are global; merchants sending transactions to any market must comply.
While some validations are deferred for certain fields (Recipient Name rules fully enforced April 2026), we strongly recommend adopting full compliance by October 2025 to avoid disruptions.

Why This Matters

Networks are increasing enforcement of name integrity checks to ensure compliance with regulatory standards for AML, sanctions screening, and transparency. Invalid or missing data may result in issuer declines or network rejections.

Below are some helpful links from our developers site:

If you have any questions about these changes or need assistance reviewing your current integration, please reach out to [email protected].

Thank you,

The TabaPay Team