Ever had a $100 ticket morph into $260 at checkout and wondered who’s skimming the difference? We use that universal frustration to open a candid tour through payments in 2026—where junk fees, policy experiments, and AI-driven fraud collide with the daily realities of underwriting and merchant risk. Joining Global Legal Law Firm’s managing partner, James Huber, is Allen Kopelman of Nationwide Payment Systems (https://nationwidepaymentsystems.com/) and the B2B Vault podcast, bringing two decades of payments operator perspective and fresh stories from the field.

AI just forged near-perfect merchant docs—and AI caught them. We unpack the new fraud war, rising scrutiny for high risk verticals, and why BNPL may cost merchants more than cards. Curious how this hits your business?

We break down how fees, caps, and competition myths collide with real underwriting, rising AI fraud, and shifting risk in high risk verticals. Allen Kopelman joins us to unpack BNPL creep, CBD and peptides scrutiny, cannabis processing hurdles, and what 2026 may actually bring.

• why junk fees persist and where choice breaks down
• policy outlook on card caps and routing mandates
• how BNPL fills gaps and raises merchant costs
• AI-forged documents versus AI-driven detection
• manual underwriting returning for risk control
• stricter reviews for CBD, COAs, and labels
• peptide merchants, LegitScript, and MATCH exits
• cannabis and pay by bank under OCC pressure
• hemp and CBD in mainstream retail and risk
• practical takeaways for acquirers and merchants

We explore why capping credit card fees rarely delivers what it promises. Drawing on lessons from Europe and Australia, we show how tight caps can shrink access to credit, gut rewards, and turbocharge buy now pay later at the point of sale—often at a higher cost to merchants. Then we tackle the Credit Card Competition Act: the theory of more routing vs. the reality of building Visa/Mastercard-scale security. If a third network can’t match fraud prevention, risk gets offloaded to acquirers, ISOs, and merchants who can least afford it.

AI is the new protagonist and antagonist. Alan shares how synthetic merchant applications—complete with hijacked business profiles, fake IDs, and polished websites—slipped past first-line checks, and how AI tools helped catch them. We explain why fully automated boarding is dangerous in a world of generative forgery and why intelligent blends of machine detection and human review are becoming table stakes. From there we dive into high risk verticals: CBD and hemp tangled in COAs and label verification, peptides navigating certification via LegitScript, and the grind of MATCH remediation when merchants want a clean slate. Cannabis remains a patchwork: pay by bank experiments, wary consumers, and federal regulators who can shutter programs in a heartbeat.

If you sell regulated or gray-area products, or you underwrite them, this conversation maps the terrain you’re walking into: tougher documentation standards, more manual checks, and a premium on source authentication. For everyone else, you’ll come away with a clearer view of why fees look the way they do, what “competition” really means in card networks, and how to harden your operations against AI-native fraud. Enjoy the ride—and if this helped you see the payments world more clearly, follow, share, and leave a quick review so others can find it too.

**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

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

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