This week, New York’s new surcharging law went into effect, replacing the prior surcharge ban which had been attacked at the U.S. Supreme Court (as discussed here). The old law was simply a wholesale ban on credit card surcharges, although since being reinterpreted by the New York Court of Appeals in 2018, it has
Latest from Paytech & Payment Systems Insights
Payment Processing Contracts and COVID-19
The commercial slowdown wrought by the global pandemic COVID-19 has left many in the payments industry wondering how the virus will affect their existing processing agreements. Depending on which side of an agreement you are on, you may be worried about breaching your contractual obligations or about the other party not being able to perform
Card Brand Guidance for Managing COVID-19 Related Chargebacks
In light of the significant increase in chargebacks resulting from COVID-19, Visa, Mastercard and American Express recently issued guidance to assist acquirers, issuers, and merchants in navigating the dispute process. Below is a summary of that guidance. Visa On March 27, 2020, Visa released a bulletin titled “Managing Disputes Through COVID-19: Programs, Best Practices and
Legal Impacts of COVID-19 on the Payments Industry
The Taft Paytech & Payment Systems team has prepared the following tips for ISOs, processors, payment facilitators, ISVs, money services businesses, and banks in light of COVID-19 developments.
- Review Termination Rights and Implications. Contracts often include a force majeure clause that excuses nonperformance when it is caused by unforeseen events beyond the control of the
California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) Goes into Effect
As of January 1, 2020, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) is now in effect. As we explained here, the CCPA imposes requirements on merchants and payment processors to protect personal information of California residents.
Enforcement of the law does not begin until July 1, 2020, which is good because the regulations interpreting the
AML Program Tips
Developing an anti-money laundering program (AML) can prove challenging for card processing companies. While not an exhaustive list, here are 9 areas that an AML program should be sure to include:
The Surcharge Muddle: NY Ban Law Survives Lawsuit
The legality of surcharging keeps getting more confusing. Recent reports seem to indicate that New York’s law prohibiting surcharging was overturned. Unfortunately, that overstatement confuses the actual status of the statute.
As you may recall, the card brand rules allow merchants to add a fee on top of the regular price for goods and services,
The California Consumer Privacy Act
Following closely on the heels of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), California recently enacted its own consumer privacy law called the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA).
The law, which requires protection of personal information of California residents, was passed in June and then amended in late September. Merchants and payment processors
Texas Latest State to have Surcharge Ban Declared Unenforceable by Federal Courts
In March 2017, the United States Supreme Court issued its opinion in Expressions Hair Design v. Schneiderman, on a challenge to New York’s law prohibiting credit card surcharges. The Supreme Court held that the law restricts merchants’ speech by banning surcharges while allowing cash discounts—two similar business models that differ only by how a merchant’s pricing
Surcharges, Convenience Fees, & Cash Discounts
It’s hard to be a cash-only business, especially when businesses are expected as a matter of course to accept credit and debit cards. But processing fees can make merchants hesitant to sign up for transaction processing services, and many payment processors want to offer merchants the ability to pass processing costs through to the customer.