---
title: You Verified the Person. Now Verify the Card.
description: Card Verification is a processor-agnostic API that runs checks on a vaulted card with Address Verification Service (AVS) and Account Name Inquiry (ANI).
image: https://blog.basistheory.com/hubfs/ANI%20AVS.webp
---

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 November 4, 2026

![Picture of Basis Theory](https://blog.basistheory.com/hs-fs/hubfs/bt-favicon-new.png?width=50&name=bt-favicon-new.png) [Basis Theory](https://blog.basistheory.com/author/basis-theory-team) ·

[Engineering](https://blog.basistheory.com/tag/engineering) [Product](https://blog.basistheory.com/tag/product)

# You Verified the Person. Now Verify the Card.

![Card Verification AVS/ANI](https://blog.basistheory.com/hubfs/ANI%20AVS.webp)

## Table of Contents

- [Why run card verification at the vault level?](https://blog.basistheory.com/card-verification-avs-ani#Level)
- [How does card verification work?](https://blog.basistheory.com/card-verification-avs-ani#Work)
- [What should you do with the result?](https://blog.basistheory.com/card-verification-avs-ani#Result)
- [Which industries and use cases benefit from card verification?](https://blog.basistheory.com/card-verification-avs-ani#Industry)

Every fintech, wallet, and regulated platform have already solved the problem of knowing who their user is. Document checks, database verification, and Customer Identification Program (CIP) checks can confirm the person at signup.

Far fewer have solved the problem that comes when the verified user links a card.

Whose card is it?

KYC (Know Your Customer) tells you who your user is. It says nothing about whose card they just added. That gap is where account takeovers, stolen-card funding, and money-mule operations live. The fraudster passes the onboarding with a card that did not belong to them.

And nothing in the flow asked.

That's the problem Basis Theory [Card Verification](https://basistheory.com/platform/ani-avs) solves.

Card Verification is a processor-agnostic API from Basis Theory that runs two issuer-backed checks on a vaulted card:

Account Name Inquiry ([ANI](https://basistheory.com/platform/ani-avs)) compares the name you provide against the name on file with the issuer. It returns a match indicator (match, partial match, no match, or not supported) for the full name and, where the network supports it, for first, middle, and last name individually. It never returns the actual cardholder name.

Address Verification Service ([AVS](https://basistheory.com/platform/ani-avs)) compares the billing address or postal code you provide against issuer records, returning both a normalized result and the raw network AVS code your fraud rules already understand.

Both checks run together as a single zero-dollar account verification request. No money moves, no funds are held, and no 3DS challenge is required, so verification typically happens in the background, invisible to the cardholder, while your onboarding flow continues.

## Why run card verification at the vault level?

The checks themselves aren't new. What is new is where they run and who they work for.

Today, teams can get AVS as a by-product of a $0 auth through whichever processor they happen to be using. That means the result only exists where that processor does and the format changes from one PSP to the next. Teams that have already verified the person are left choosing between processor-specific workarounds, manual review, or card-photo OCR to confirm the instrument.

Card Verification runs at the vault layer instead. We ask the card networks whether the name and address on file with the issuer match the person you verified, and hand you back a standardized answer you can act on.

Because Basis Theory already holds the card, the check occurs before a transaction is ever routed, and the result is the same regardless of which processor you use afterward.

One endpoint, every processor.

[Return to Top](https://blog.basistheory.com/card-verification-avs-ani#TOC)

## How does card verification work?

[Card Verification is a single API call](https://developers.basistheory.com/docs/api/enrichments/cards) against a card you are about to tokenize or you've already tokenized with Basis Theory.

You send the token ID or card data along with what you want checked: the customer's name for ANI, the billing address or postal code for AVS, or both. The fields you provide are the declaration of intent, so it's impossible to request a check without the required data.

Basis Theory decrypts the card server-side, runs the inquiry with the network, and returns a normalized result object.

That response is network-agnostic. A Visa match and a Mastercard match look the same to your code. Raw network codes are preserved alongside the normalized values, so you can feed either into the fraud or decisioning tools you already run.

The response also includes the card's Payment Account Reference ([PAR](https://blog.basistheory.com/centralized-hub-payment-account-reference)), which ties every token and PAN ([Primary Account Number](https://blog.basistheory.com/doing-more-with-personal-account-numbers)) derived from the same underlying account together for downstream analytics.

Because the check is decoupled from tokenization, it fits wherever the question comes up:

1. At card-link. Verify the card the moment a [KYC'd](https://blog.basistheory.com/meeting-kyc-requirements-without-pci-scope) user adds it to their account, before the first top-up or transfer.
2. Before a first transaction. Build a richer pre-auth risk payload for your fraud provider without touching the processor.
3. On re-verification. Re-run the check after a name or address change, or when an existing card-on-file starts behaving differently.

The card never leaves the vault. Your systems never touch the PAN. Your PCI scope doesn't change.

[Return to Top](https://blog.basistheory.com/card-verification-avs-ani#TOC)

## What should you do with the result?

A match is not proof of identity, and a mismatch is not proof of fraud. Card Verification is a signal, and it's most valuable when it's treated like one.

Legitimate mismatches can happen with a spouse's card, a nickname, a stale billing address after a move, or an issuer with incomplete data. That's why every result maps to a suggested action rather than an automatic decline:

- Match: proceed. The card is bound to the person you verified. Approve faster and skip the manual review queue.
- Partial or no match: step up. Trigger 3DS, request an alternative form of validation, or route to review.
- Not supported or unavailable: fall back to your secondary verification path.

The two checks also complement each other. People move and forget to update their bank address far more often than they change their name, so a common pattern is to lean on ANI when AVS comes back as a partial match.

The outcomes are real. Network data covering tens of millions of name inquiries shows that transactions with a matched name are roughly 3x less likely to result in reported fraud, and platforms that adopted name verification saw reported fraud fall by around two-thirds and chargebacks by more than half.

[Return to Top](https://blog.basistheory.com/card-verification-avs-ani#TOC)

## Which industries and use cases benefit from card verification?

Card Verification is most valuable where a verified identity and a linked card meet, and where getting it wrong is expensive.

Fintechs, neobanks, and wallets that let verified users add cards for account funding, transfers, or payouts. ANI binds the instrument to the identity at the exact moment a stolen card would otherwise enter the account.

Regulated operators with a card-ownership obligation. Real-money gaming, lending, and money-movement platforms are increasingly required to confirm that a deposit card belongs to the account holder. Card Verification meets the requirement without adding a step to onboarding.

Marketplaces and platforms that onboard many end users or sellers and need safer payment initiation without building per-processor verification logic.

Multi-processor merchants who want a consistent verification result independent of any single PSP's API.

The question for these teams isn't whether to verify the card. Most already do, expensively and inconsistently.

The question is whether verification can live in the same place as the card, run on every processor, and stay invisible to the customer.

Card Verification with Basis Theory takes that position:

- Close the KYC gap. Card Verification binds the payment instrument to that verified person as the last step of onboarding rather than a fraud tool bolted onto checkout.
- One endpoint, every processor. The check runs at the vault layer, so the result is consistent across any downstream processor you route to.
- Passive by design. Non-monetary, no charge to the cardholder, no challenge, no friction.
- Layer, don't replace. Card Verification enriches your fraud model, feeds your 3DS step-up logic, and supports your compliance program. This doesn't replace any of them.
- Broad coverage where it matters. Name inquiry is available for Visa and Mastercard cards in the U.S. and Canada, with Discover support where issuers participate.

You verified the person. Now verify the card. Get started with the [Card Verification API docs](https://developers.basistheory.com/docs/api/enrichments/cards) to see the request and response fields, and run your first check against a test card.

[Return to Top](https://blog.basistheory.com/card-verification-avs-ani#TOC)

[![View an Interactive Demo   See how the Basis Theory platform secures payment data and significantly reduces PCI compliance burden from day 1.  ](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/22332934/interactive-171495116167.png)](https://blog.basistheory.com/hs/cta/wi/redirect?encryptedPayload=AVxigLJsMYfHcEnB4ZgtLfSKJzmOBfdgfe54in%2FKWwDAyQ5y4HuTGzjk24BMe%2FQe6xVusWEzEynnJVGtrp5xyA0xZFOs97%2BhkNJuKc%2FqIhMRPSII81Tc9SYztf%2Fl4aM0fgLYlPunwQvO5fBBXAJvQ49njzf2trejDh3uCYIgF19tBGQg1GTP6%2BGTNi65rfw7FWsCBtfZYY4UEbf8arINKEgSlJ4NxFP8AaGDOKP9kLpsiDGLioIZxSPW5Q%3D%3D&webInteractiveContentId=171495116167&portalId=22332934)

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