Wal-Mart filed a similar suit against Visa in May. The Security Problem According to Home Depot Home Depot accuses Visa and Mastercard of being more concerned with protecting their “inflated profits and dominant market positions” than in the security of payment cards used by consumers and “the health of the United States economy.” It allege...

Update - in November 2017, Walmart and Visa announced that they are settling the lawsuits. Details of the settlement have not been made public, though Visa made a public announcement that they're pleased with the settlement decision. We're leaving the rest of this article for historical purposes.  Setting the Stage: PIN vs. Signature The la...

The law (SB0316) requires that merchant service providers not owned by a bank calculate and list the effective rate for credit card processing on each monthly statement. What does this mean for Tennessee businesses and are businesses in other states affected? Information provided in this article is for reference only. If you need legal advice rega...

In this article, attorney Nate Baber from Aeton Law Partners, LLP explains exactly what to look for in your merchant contract and what to know before you cancel. Pull out your contract and take a look for these important pieces. The biggest concern most small businesses have with Merchant Processing Contracts (MPCs) is how to avoid the indus...

Note: In 2022,the defendent in the lawsuit pled guilty. We're leaving this article as-is for historical purposes, but will no longer be updating it unless there is another lawsuit or important information related to CardReady's situation. The newest lawsuit is against payment processor CardReady, and comes from the Federal Trade Commission and t...

The company’s culture is defined by a well-documented history of rampant scams, fraud, lawsuits, and even being sued in federal court for racketeering. Here’s a piece of advice if you’re thinking of leasing a credit card machine from Northern Leasing – don’t. Update: Subsequent to the June 2020 proceeding, the Office of the Attorney General broug...

If that sounds familiar, it’s because it’s the same thing that Mercury was sued for by Heartland Payment Systems in 2014. Note: Also in 2014, Mercury Payments was acquired by Vantiv, which has itself since been acquired by Worldpay. The practices that Mercury was allegedly engaged in and sued for may not be the same practices that are currently ...

The suit, which dates back to 2005, accuses the card networks and banks of conspiring to fix interchange fees that businesses pay to process credit and debit cards. The settlement is seen as a victory by many fighting for interchange reform, but at least three plaintiffs in the case feel it doesn't go far enough. Update: December 13, 2013 -- Acco...

This decision overturns a 1992 ruling in Quill Corp. v. North Dakota in which the Supreme Court ruled that a business must have a physical presence in a state for that state to require it to collect sales taxes. That means that any online business did not have to pay sales tax in states where it did not have nexus. However, the topic of online s...

A contract is a good thing because it provides protections for businesses and processors by clearly outlining the responsibilities of each party under a merchant processing agreement. A contract term is also a good thing. Without a term, a processor would not be obligated to provide processing services for any length of time. Most businesses wou...