The Payments Experts Podcast

Expert Payments Attorneys of Global Legal Law Firm
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Expert payments attorneys discuss the electronic payments industry from a legal perspective.  

  1. 1D AGO

    The Illinois Swipe Fee Shockwave: Who Really Pays? | Illinois Bans Interchange on Sales Tax | PEP100

    Card fees on sales tax? Illinois just lit a fuse. We unpack who really pays, how ISOs get squeezed, and why “compliance” might mean three prices at checkout.  When lawmakers target “junk fees,” the payments engine doesn’t stop—it reroutes. We dive into Illinois’ push to exclude sales tax from the interchange base and trace how that single change ripples through card networks, processors, ISOs, ISVs, and ultimately the merchants serving customers at the counter and online. From geolocation puzzles to settlement rails, we unpack why a tidy policy headline can turn into a systems overhaul with real costs. We mark our 100th episode hosted by James Huber and Christopher Dryden, managing partners of Global Legal Law Firm, by unpacking Illinois’ move to bar interchange on sales tax and the cascade of costs, risks, and confusion it creates across networks, processors, ISOs, and merchants. Along the way, we tackle broken surcharging myths, multi state carve outs, and a jaw dropping processor clawback story. • Illinois ruling removing sales tax from the interchange base • Geolocation and where online transactions “occur” • Who bears costs when networks retool pricing and rails • Visa and MasterCard rules versus state law limits • Dual pricing and three price confusion at checkout • Wisconsin’s “swipe fee” approach to surcharges on tax • Contract clauses shifting programming liability to ISOs • Enforcement leverage by AGs and regulators • Data opacity, dispute windows, and clawbacks • Practical protections for merchants and ISOs We share concrete scenarios that expose the friction: ecommerce orders where the buyer, website registration, and settlement all live in different states; dual pricing menus that could morph into three prices to stay compliant; and Wisconsin’s “swipe fee” twist that blocks surcharges on tax and forces software to re sequence calculations. We also challenge common myths around surcharging caps, explain how network rules differ from laws, and show why bundled software vendors often limit configuration in ways that quietly shift costs back to merchants. Beneath the policy debate sits a harder truth about liability and transparency. Contracts are moving risk downstream, pinning programming and compliance errors on ISOs while processors hold the data and the levers. We walk through a live case where a routine underpayment inquiry ballooned into a multi million dollar clawback, highlighting how short dispute windows and opaque reporting can silence smaller players. Still, the legal standard recognizes that you can’t waive claims you couldn’t discover, which makes better disclosures, audit rights, and data access non negotiable. If you work anywhere in the payments stack—merchant, ISO, ISV, or counsel—this conversation offers practical guardrails: tighten contract language around discovery and fee transparency, cap programming indemnities to vendor specs, demand auditable location logic, and push for coordinated state rules to avoid patchwork chaos. Subscribe, share this with a colleague who handles fees or pricing, and leave a review with your take: does state by state policymaking fix the problem or just raise the bill? Think you know surcharging rules? Visa caps, state carve outs, and web geo gotcha’s say otherwise. We break down the Illinois ruling and the hidden costs merchants will eat. **Matters discussed are all opinions and do not constitute legal advice.  All events or likeness to real people and events is a coincidence.** PEP Links: https://www.globallegallawfirm.com/podcasts/ https://www.buzzsprout.com/2176695 A payments podcast of Global Legal Law Firm

    18 min

  2. 6D AGO

    Honor All Cards Explained: Visa & Mastercard Settlement Breakdown for Payment Professionals | PEP099

    Merchants are told they have “choices.” But do they? We unpack the Visa–Mastercard settlement, the honor all cards rule, and why surcharging still trips up pros. Listen now and tell us: does this help small businesses or not? What happens when the rules that govern card acceptance start shifting under your feet? In this episode, we break down one of the most misunderstood and potentially far-reaching developments in payments: the evolving “Honor All Cards” framework and the broader interchange settlement proposals that could reshape how merchants accept, price, and manage card transactions. Hosts Christopher Dryden and Jeremy Stock sit down with associate attorney Jessica Walsh to unpack the real mechanics behind the two-sided card network system, where incentives are constantly balanced between cardholders and merchants. They explore why the proposed rule changes may sound like merchant empowerment on paper, but in practice could introduce new layers of complexity, technology hurdles, and operational risks. We unpack Visa and Mastercard’s proposed settlement, from “honor all cards” tweaks to surcharging changes, and ask whether merchants truly gain leverage or just new complexity. We share why education may be the only useful concession and where real savings could appear. • how two-sided card networks shape incentives • honor all cards rule history and limits • proposed card category carve-outs and labeling • feasibility for POS systems and staff training • interchange reductions and tiered pricing effects • the Amex-linked surcharge constraint and removal • real-world compliance hurdles and fines risk • why merchant education could drive practical gains The conversation dives into the realities merchants face every day: distinguishing between card products, navigating interchange tiers, managing surcharging compliance, and understanding why “freedom of choice” in card acceptance often collides with business reality. Along the way, the team examines whether the proposed settlement truly delivers meaningful cost relief or functions more as strategic window dressing designed to maintain the status quo. You’ll also hear practical insights into how data flows through the payments ecosystem, why POS systems may struggle to keep up with rule changes, and how merchant education could ultimately be the most valuable piece of the entire proposal. If you work in merchant services, fintech, underwriting, compliance, or payments law, this episode gives you a clear lens into where network rules are headed and what it could mean for your clients, your portfolio, and the future of card acceptance. **Matters discussed are all opinions and do not constitute legal advice.  All events or likeness to real people and events is a coincidence.** PEP Links: https://www.globallegallawfirm.com/podcasts/ https://www.buzzsprout.com/2176695 A payments podcast of Global Legal Law Firm

    38 min

  3. FEB 9

    Tokenized Deposits vs Stablecoins: The Real Payments War | Stablecoins Become Payment Rails | PEP098

    Stablecoins aren’t a side conversation anymore — they’re knocking on the front door of the payments ecosystem. In this episode of the Payments Experts Podcast, we sit down with Adam T. Hark, managing member of Wellesley Hills Financial (https://www.wellesleyhillsfinancial.com/), for a wide-ranging, candid discussion on how stablecoins, tokenized deposits, and wallet-based payments could fundamentally reshape merchant acceptance, interchange economics, and the role of card networks. We explore a provocative question most of the industry is quietly wrestling with: Are companies like Coinbase and Circle actually payments companies — and if so, what happens next? From Walmart-scale economics and closed-loop possibilities to the realities of consumer incentives, education gaps, and merchant readiness, this conversation cuts past headlines and into operational truth. Adam breaks down where stablecoins realistically fit today (ACH, debit, and cash replacement), where they don’t (credit and rewards), and why JPMorgan’s tokenized deposit strategy may be the most underestimated development in modern payments. We also examine who bears responsibility for educating merchants, how ISOs and processors may be bypassed entirely in some models, and why free-market dynamics — not regulation alone — will determine winners and losers. This episode is not about hype. It’s about what changes first, what breaks second, and what payments professionals need to understand now to stay relevant as rails, wallets, and value transfer evolve in real time. If you work anywhere near payments strategy, merchant services, fintech infrastructure, or financial services M&A, this is a conversation you’ll want to hear. **Matters discussed are all opinions and do not constitute legal advice.  All events or likeness to real people and events is a coincidence.** PEP Links: https://www.globallegallawfirm.com/podcasts/ A payments podcast of Global Legal Law Firm

    26 min

  4. FEB 2

    Residuals Rate Hikes & Reality: Inside ISO Economics | Payments Due Diligence Hack That Saves Money

    Ever wondered why that “free” POS hardware ends up costing so much later? Christopher Dryden, Esq., sits down with Magnolia Ventures’ Jessica Casto to pull back the curtain on modern payments strategy: how software-led distribution reshaped acquiring, why processor-agnostic design protects leverage, and where the fine print quietly shifts risk to the least prepared party. We move from the realities of US card economics—reward-heavy credit that pushes up costs—into the trenches of cash discounting and surcharging, where debit rules, tax exclusions, and state-by-state quirks can break a great pricing story if your product can’t adapt. We talk through the rise of SaaS add-ons as vendors chase lost processing revenue, and we map the contract terms that matter most for ISVs, ISOs, and resellers: Schedule A transparency, onboarding responsibility, chargeback support, and residual ownership. Jessica shares a practical playbook for tech companies entering the US market—collect multiple processor proposals, compare effective margins not just splits, and engineer optionality so you can route, renegotiate, or switch without rewriting your stack. If you’re subsidizing hardware, pressure-test your payback periods against debit-heavy mixes and capped surcharges before you scale. Education is a recurring theme. Too many operators and even CFOs don’t read merchant statements, miss pass-through fees, and get blindsided by portfolio-wide basis-point hikes. We make the case for productizing compliance: build configurable pricing engines that exclude tax, respect card-network caps, and flex with state regulations—and notify partners before merchants feel the change. If you sell software, payments isn’t an add-on; it’s a strategic capability. Tune in to learn how to negotiate liability, design durable revenue, and plan your exit on day one. Enjoyed the conversation? Follow the show, share this episode with a teammate, and leave a quick review so more builders and operators can find it. **Matters discussed are all opinions and do not constitute legal advice.  All events or likeness to real people and events is a coincidence.** PEP Links: https://www.globallegallawfirm.com/podcasts/ https://www.buzzsprout.com/2176695 A payments podcast of Global Legal Law Firm

    29 min

  5. JAN 20

    Data Is King: Building Real AI Guardrails in Payments: The AI Readiness Checklist For 2026 | PEP096

    AI is no longer a chatbot. It is an agent that can move data and make decisions.  In this in-studio conversation, Leo Arzumanyan, Matthew Luciani, and Jeremy Stock cut through the hype and get practical about using AI in payments. We start where risk lives: privacy, closed versus open loops, and how to keep sensitive underwriting logic and merchant data inside your walls. Then we map the real use cases operators are deploying now: CRM ingestion, sales intelligence, document checks, and dispute workflows that turn noisy inputs into usable signals. You will hear a clear-eyed view of model choice and control. Free models are fine for quick searches. Paid models and tuned agents belong in underwriting, portfolio analytics, and customer operations. The team explains how to set boundaries, why hallucinations happen, and how to keep an agent from freelancing outside your rules. We also tackle the organizational impact: which entry-level tasks will change, why experts must stay in the loop, and how to write ethical and operational guidelines that keep you compliant while you scale. What you will take back to your team •A simple governance plan: closed data loop, role-based access, red-team tests, and an incident path when an agent is wrong •A deployment map: CRM ingestion, underwriting triage, post-payment risk checks, and dispute assembly with human review •A safety checklist: consent and privacy prompts, model provenance, logging and evidence retention for audits and insurers •A portfolio lens: use AI to raise approval rates, shorten dispute cycles, and find at-risk MIDs before attrition hits Bottom line: adopt with intent. Train models on your domain, keep experts in the loop, and instrument every step so AI reduces risk instead of adding it. Wondering where AI truly helps—and where it quietly raises the stakes? We dig into the real-world shift from chatbots to agentic AI and map the line between useful automation and unacceptable risk across payments, legal, and healthcare. From CRM workflows and underwriting logic to privileged communications and HIPAA concerns, we share practical guardrails to protect client data, trade secrets, and your competitive edge without slowing down innovation. We compare leading models—GPT, Gemini, Claude, and Grok—through the lens of enterprise needs: reasoning quality, context windows, customization, and the difference between free tiers and paid, closed-loop deployments. We unpack why “paid is safer” isn’t just about accuracy; it’s about governance, logging, and the ability to constrain learning on sensitive inputs. You’ll hear concrete examples of how poorly scoped prompts and thin domain knowledge can produce confident, wrong outputs, including a contract that looked fine until expert review revealed major gaps. The conversation also tackles a hard question: who should set the limits? We weigh user-driven controls against platform-imposed restrictions on legal and medical advice, arguing for transparent refusal reasons and identity-based access where appropriate. Ethics are lagging the tech, so we outline a practical playbook: define your AI usage policy, set role-based permissions, preflight prompts with boundaries, label unverified outputs, and route high-impact decisions to human experts. The near-term future of work will favor professionals who pair deep subject knowledge with strong model orchestration skills. **Matters discussed are all opinions and do not constitute legal advice.  All events or likeness to real people and events is a coincidence.** PEP Links: https://www.globallegallawfirm.com/podcasts/ https://www.buzzsprout.com/2176695 A payments podcast of Global Legal Law Firm

    40 min

  6. JAN 15

    Peptides, MATCH, and VAMP: Surviving the Crackdown & High-Risk in 2026 with Soar Payments | PEP095

    Banks don’t close accounts for sport; they close accounts when risk stories don’t add up.  James Huber, managing partner of Global Legal Law Firm, sits down with Adam Carlson from SOAR Payments (https://na2.hubs.ly/H033tL00) to unpack what “high risk” really means in 2026, why peptides became the latest MATCH magnet, and how card‑brand programs like VAMP are changing sponsor bank behavior. If you’ve ever dealt with a surprise PayFac shutdown, frozen funds, or a sudden document request, this conversation gives you the playbook to steady the ship and scale with confidence. We examine how high-risk really works today, from peptide crackdowns and MATCH removals to VAMP’s tighter bank thresholds. Adam shares SOAR’s white‑glove approach, stronger underwriting, and the role of relationships and transparency in keeping merchants processing.    • redefining high risk and why more online merchants qualify  • peptide merchants as current MATCH targets and why  • pitfalls of instant approvals and PayFac shutdowns  • how white‑glove underwriting prevents fires  • using tech to spot altered bank statements  • VAMP thresholds, fines and stricter diligence  • portfolio balance, consolidation and agent economics  • mapping flow of funds and who holds fraud risk  • practical steps to keep accounts open long term  • book preview: High Risk Merchant Accounts 101  • relationships, knowledge and transparency as core edges  • how to contact SOAR Payments    We trace Adam’s path from online lead generation to building a boutique ISO that thrives on white‑glove underwriting and clear communication. He explains how SOAR vets applications, uses tech to catch altered bank statements, and positions complex merchants with acquiring banks that actually understand their model. We get candid about agent games, portfolio balancing, and the uncomfortable truth that acquiring is effectively an unsecured line of credit—so when chargebacks spike, scrutiny follows. You’ll learn why low‑risk volume is gold, how consolidation may accelerate, and which signals risk teams watch when they decide to ask questions or pull the plug.    Most importantly, we lay out practical steps to keep your account open: align your website and product catalog with your application, document fulfillment and refunds, clean up descriptors and customer service lines, and call your partner before adding sensitive SKUs. For peptide sellers and other regulated‑ish niches, context and transparency can be the difference between a compliant path and a permanent shutdown. Adam also previews his upcoming book, High Risk Merchant Accounts 101, aimed at helping founders navigate approvals, enhanced underwriting, and long‑term stability.    If payments feel like a black box, consider this your field guide. Subscribe for more expert conversations, share this episode with a founder who needs a steadier setup, and leave a review to tell us which risk topic you want us to tackle next.   **Matters discussed are all opinions and do not constitute legal advice.  All events or likeness to real people and events is a coincidence.**   PEP Links: https://www.globallegallawfirm.com/podcasts/ https://www.buzzsprout.com/2176695 A payments podcast of Global Legal Law Firm

    30 min

  7. JAN 13

    How AI Compliance Controls & A Unified Portal Cut Lending Time In Half with DealHub 360 | PEP094

    Visit our guests DealHub 360 here: https://na2.hubs.ly/H030plB0 Tired of chasing documents and updates across spreadsheets, inboxes, and shared drives? We bring together the creators of DealHub 360, Deepika Shahani and Paul Manley, to show how a centralized loan origination portal helps ISOs, lenders, and equipment vendors move faster, stay compliant, and reduce risk without adding headcount. Paul Manley shares two decades of payments and architecture experience—from ACH roots to international builds—while Topeka Shahani connects the dots from equipment finance to a platform purpose-built for modern lending.   We introduce DealHub 360, an AI-powered loan origination portal built to replace spreadsheets and scattered emails with a single workflow for ISOs, lenders, and equipment suppliers. We talk risk, compliance, and how a pilot client helped cut processing time by 50% while setting the roadmap for CRM, servicing, and payments.    • origins in payments, ACH, and equipment finance  • why spreadsheets break at scale for lenders and ISOs  • pilot-driven design with Brad and measurable time savings  • financing beyond equipment: rentals, subscriptions, MCA, SBA  • risk tiers, automation for small tickets, human review for larger  • state-level compliance controls and configurable notices  • AI screening, data gathering, and future RAG agents  • out-of-the-box features, no lock-in, easy onboarding  • security model with roles, encryption, and audit readiness  • roadmap to CRM, collections, and payments under one roof   We dig into the real bottlenecks: fragmented data, slow underwriting handoffs, and state-by-state rules that derail momentum. You’ll hear how a meticulous pilot client helped shape features that matter in the field, from eSign and credit pulls to notifications that keep agents and merchants on track. The result is a measurable impact: application processing time cut by half and a cleaner path to scale. We also unpack the shift from traditional leasing to rentals, subscriptions, SBA, and MCA, and why small-ticket automation paired with human review for mid-range deals strikes the right balance between speed and safety.    AI plays a targeted role here. Today, the platform screens businesses and personal guarantors, pulling from public sources and surfacing insights an underwriter can act on. Tomorrow, retrieval-augmented search and action-oriented agents will help teams find similar cases, summarize financials, and propose next steps—always with a human in the loop. Security and governance stay front and center: role-based access, field-level permissions, encryption, audit readiness, and a roadmap that adds CRM, collections, ACH, and payments for a true one-stop shop.    If you’re ready to replace manual chaos with a system that adapts to your programs and compliance rules, this conversation shows what’s working now and what’s next. Subscribe, share with a teammate who lives in spreadsheets, and leave a review with the one feature you wish your lending workflow had.   **Matters discussed are all opinions and do not constitute legal advice.  All events or likeness to real people and events is a coincidence.**   PEP Links: https://www.globallegallawfirm.com/podcasts/ https://www.buzzsprout.com/2176695 A payments podcast of Global Legal Law Firm

    44 min

  8. JAN 9

    Real-Time Rules That Keep Merchants Live: VAMP Portfolio Risk And Transparency | Qredible | PEP093

    Payments leaders love to say risk is everywhere, but most teams still chase it with spreadsheets, screenshots, and crossed fingers. Our conversation with Noah Fitzgerald of Qredible (visit Qredible: https://na2.hubs.ly/H02-3Md0) cuts through the haze. Our guest traces a path from pre-internet POS software to big-processor leadership and into startups that zero in on the same unsolved pain: compliance takes too long, costs too much, and fails too often at scale.  The core idea is simple but often ignored—high-risk is usually operational risk, not product risk. When merchants change products weekly and rules shift daily, human checks can’t keep pace. That’s why continuous audits, product-level validation, and transparent data sharing between merchants, processors, and banks now matter as much as good underwriting. The CBD and hemp space highlights the problem. Onboarding a merchant with dozens of SKUs and lab reports used to mean manual COA review, endless back-and-forth, and slow time to revenue. With OCR and structured data extraction, those COAs become searchable fields. Processors can instantly locate banned cannabinoids, confirm potency claims, and flag mismatches against rule sets dictated by their bank or card brands. The win is not just catching risk; it’s enabling compliant businesses to stay live without disruption. Instead of black-box decisions that punish merchants after the fact, a shared layer of visibility gives them alerts before they trip wires. That turns compliance from a source of fear into a daily habit. This shift extends far beyond cannabis. Any enhanced due diligence sector—gaming, adult, firearms, online alcohol and tobacco, nutraceuticals, functional mushrooms, cosmetics, and online lending—faces similar pressures. Municipal rules stack on state and federal mandates. Card brands push VAMP and portfolio scrutiny. Without a living map of requirements tied to real merchant behavior, providers rely on hope. Worse, merchants bear the brunt: reserves, MATCH listings, and sudden shutdowns. When a platform continually crawls product pages, pulls certificates, and matches claims to approved lists and rule sets, it empowers both sides. Banks get traceable evidence. Merchants get early warnings and clear steps to fix issues. Portfolio risk drops while revenue stays predictable. Pricing opacity is the other quiet drain. Interchange shifts, processor markups, and “notice” of price changes buried inside statements leave busy operators flying blind. Two restaurants using the same processor can pay wildly different rates simply because one negotiated and the other didn’t. Statement analysis as a service fills that gap, translating six-hundred-line statements into actionable decisions. The takeaway is blunt: every company needs a payments brain—whether a chief payments officer or a trusted advisor. The goal isn’t to chase rock-bottom rates; it’s to align pricing with risk, ensure rules are followed in real time, and stop leaks before they become losses. AI is not a courtroom litigator or a replacement for paralegals. Here, it’s a quiet, relentless assistant that reads faster than teams can and never gets tired of forms. Use it to extract, normalize, and monitor. Keep humans for judgment. Marry those strengths and you change the game: faster onboarding, fewer fines, fewer surprises, and a portfolio that grows because risk is managed in daylight. When compliance becomes a product feature—not a punishment—good actors thrive, bad actors stand out, and the entire ecosystem gets stronger. **Matters discussed are all opinions and do not constitute legal advice.  All events or likeness to real people and events is a coincidence.** PEP Links: https://www.globallegallawfirm.com/podcasts/ https://www.buzzsprout.com/2176695 A payments podcast of Global Legal Law Firm

    35 min
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About

Expert payments attorneys discuss the electronic payments industry from a legal perspective.  

Information

  • Creator
    Expert Payments Attorneys of Global Legal Law Firm
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    99
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 The Payments Experts Podcast
  • Show Website
    The Payments Experts Podcast