Taming Chargebacks With Real AI Agentics

Too many merchants breathe easy under legacy chargeback ratios, only to be blindsided when their PSP tightens the screws. We sit down with Ben Herut, co-founder at ChargeFlow, (https://www.chargeflow.io/) to unpack the shift toward post-payment risk and why Visa’s VAMP is forcing acquirers and processors to act earlier—and harder—on portfolio-level exposure. If you rely on card rails for growth, this conversation shows how to protect revenue without clobbering conversions.

We trace Ben Harut’s path from engineering to payments risk and dig into how ChargeFlow uses post-payment data, alerts, and AI-driven workflows to cut chargebacks and protect revenue. We also break down Visa’s VAMP, why PSP thresholds change the game, and how merchants should respond.

• career path from engineering to payments risk
• bank-side underwriting, KYC, fraud and chargebacks
• founding in high-risk and lessons learned
• what ChargeFlow does post-payment and pre-fulfillment
• risk scoring using cross-merchant and outcome data
• handling alerts including TC40 and RDR
• strategies to refund or fight disputes
• AI agents for representment and QA feedback loops
• what VAMP changes for acquirers and PSP thresholds
• portfolio-level risk, BIN pressure, and early enforcement
• why proactive prevention protects processing access

We start with Ben’s journey from electronics engineering to bank-side risk, through launching an EMI in the high-risk space. That experience shapes a practical view: fraud prevention cannot end at authorization. ChargeFlow focuses on the critical window after approval and before fulfillment, where merchants can use post-payment data, cross-merchant signals, and scheme alerts like TC40 and RDR to flag risky orders, request verification, or cancel before losses mount. For digital goods and financial products, we explore how delayed access flows and behavioral patterns unlock smarter decisions than blanket declines.

When disputes hit, evidence wins. Ben explains how AI agents compress months of training into days, assembling compliant, precise representments and feeding results back into models. The goal isn’t buzzword AI; it’s a genetic workflow with guardrails, explainability, and QA loops that cut manual work and raise win rates. We also compare refund-first versus fight-first strategies, and where high-value transactions justify the extra effort.

Then we tackle VAMP’s impact. Even “safe” merchants can trigger portfolio pressure at the BIN level, prompting PSPs to hold payouts, request mitigation plans, or offboard accounts. Understanding tighter PSP thresholds, modeling risk appetite, and staying current with card scheme changes are now core operating skills. Whether you sell physical products or digital access, the path forward is clear: centralize post-payment risk scoring, handle alerts with discipline, and standardize dispute workflows so your team can focus on growth.

If this episode helps clarify your approach to chargebacks, subscribe, share with your ops or finance team, and leave a quick review—what’s your stance today: refund or fight?

**Matters discussed are all opinions and do not constitute legal advice. All events or likeness to real people and events is a coincidence.**

Visit Global Legal Law Firm today:
https://www.globallegallawfirm.com/podcasts/

A payments podcast of Global Legal Law Firm

Surcharging, Dual Pricing, and Debit: The Compliance Traps No One Warns You About

Hidden fees, stacked fines, and a maze of rules—merchant pricing isn’t just a line on a receipt, it’s a legal and operational minefield. We dive into the real differences between dual pricing and cash discounting, why debit transactions should not be treated like credit, and how a simple surcharge can trigger state law violations, card brand penalties, and even deceptive practices claims. Along the way, we share field stories: demand letters over 45 cents, opaque reporting that invites abuse, and fines that stack across separate entities with common ownership.

Global Legal Law Firm team members Christopher Dryden, Leo Arzumanyan, and Jeremy Stock, unpack how dual pricing, cash discounting, and surcharging collide with card brand rules and state laws, and why debit often gets treated unfairly. We share real cases of opaque fines, stacked penalties, and deceptive practices demand letters, then lay out a practical playbook to get compliant and stay there.

• dual pricing versus cash discounting and consumer clarity
• state-by-state rules and conflicting caps
• debit costs and the “actual cost” requirement
• opaque enforcement and reporter abuse
• deceptive practices laws and demand letters
• small merchant burden and stacked fines
• technology limits in POS compliance
• a practical compliance playbook and documentation
• why proactive guidance reduces risk

We walk through a clear framework to cut through the confusion. First, understand what your state actually permits and where those permissions conflict with card brand caps. Second, build a pricing model that reflects “actual cost,” especially for debit, and make sure your disclosures are clear and conspicuous on menus, signs, and receipts. Third, pressure test your POS settings: can it identify card types and apply rules correctly, or will your “simple” setup create non-compliance at scale? Documentation, staff training, and routine audits matter as much as the pricing model itself.

Our goal is to replace guesswork with a practical playbook that reduces risk while maintaining customer trust. Whether you run a single restaurant or manage multiple entities, you’ll learn how to choose between dual pricing and cash discounting, align with the strictest overlapping standard, and prepare for scrutiny from card brands, regulators, and plaintiffs’ attorneys. If you have a story about unclear enforcement or surprising fines, share it with us—we’re collecting real-world cases to push for clarity. If this conversation helps, subscribe, leave a review, and pass it to someone who handles pricing or compliance on your team.

**Matters discussed are all opinions and do not constitute legal advice. All events or likeness to real people and events is a coincidence.**

Visit us today: https://www.globallegallawfirm.com/podcasts/

A payments podcast of Global Legal Law Firm

Candor Over Clever: How Honesty, Software, and Solid Contracts Build Real Payments Businesses

In a market where scripts and “solutions” blur together, candor is the unfair advantage. This episode features JJ Sedor of Paymint Solutions (https://www.paymintinc.com/)—a former construction-business owner turned ISO CEO—who wins by telling the truth, learning faster than rivals, and leading with software that actually fixes merchant problems. Join Christopher Dryden, and Jeremy Stock hosting JJ to break down how saying “I don’t know, but I’ll find out” disarms resistance, opens real discovery, and builds trust that survives pricing pressure. This is a field guide for agents, ISOs, PayFacs, and fintech operators who want durable growth, not churn.

From Job Sites to Merchant Counters: Transferable Skills That Win Deals

JJ maps the surprising overlap between running remodels and running payments projects: scoping, sequencing, clear milestones, and proactive communication. Door-knocking anxiety nearly derailed him; what saved him was acting before he felt “ready,” then operationalizing every lesson. Confidence followed competence—and competence came from doing installs, touching terminals, and walking the workflow with the merchant.

If You’re Not Selling Software, You’re Selling a Commodity

Modern acquiring is software-led. JJ shows how integrations with accounting, inventory, and POS unlock time savings merchants can feel: reconciliation, real reporting, faster cash, cleaner training. Lead with outcomes, not features. Translate “API” into “fewer clicks and fewer callbacks.” The result: stickier portfolios, lower support drag, and margins that survive rate-shopping.

Contracts Decide Tomorrow’s Revenue—Not Just Today’s Close

Newcomers miss the fine print. We unpack the traps that bury future earnings:

Residuals: Watch for clawbacks, one-sided true-up language, and vague net definitions.

Exclusivity and non-solicit: Keep them narrow, time-boxed, and tied to real consideration.

Reporting: Monthly, line-item detail that lets you verify your split—no “trust us” clauses.

Termination: Define cause, cure periods, data hand-off, and residual survivability.

Legal review isn’t overhead—it’s risk control. The right ISO alignment protects both sides and prevents relationship drift when people change or priorities shift.

The Sales Operating System: Practical Tactics You Can Use Today

Lead with candor: “Here’s what this does, here’s what it doesn’t, here’s the tradeoff.” Credibility beats clever.

Do the work on-site: Touch the hardware, map the workflow, document the current stack. Solve a real pain in the first week.

Sell the integration, not the widget: Demo the end state—“close batch, auto-post, reconcile”—not the menu tree.

Standardize discovery: Ten questions that surface risk, compliance gaps, and must-have integrations before you quote.

Instrument your portfolio: Track install-to-activation lag, support ticket drivers, and save reasons. Close the loop monthly.

Confidence Without the Spin: A Culture That Compounds

Knowledge compounds when you share it. JJ’s rule: teach the playbook, build a bench of mentors, and reward the person who asked the tough question—because that question saved ten others. Teams that hoard information burn out; teams that publish internal “how-to”s and run weekly debriefs scale.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

Moving from construction to payments and transferring customer skills into process and project management

Overcoming doorknocking fear and building “Teflon” confidence through reps and real merchant work



**Matters discussed are all opinions and do not constitute legal advice. All events or likeness to real people and events is a coincide

A payments podcast of Global Legal Law Firm

Fines Without Findings: Surcharging Rules, Real Penalties, and How to Stay Out of the Crosshairs

Join Christopher Dryden, Leo Arzumanyan, and Jeremy Stock of Global Legal Law Firm (https://www.globallegallawfirm.com/podcasts/) as they discuss how merchants are getting hit with four- and five-figure “surcharging violations”—and no one will say what actually went wrong. In this episode, our hosts pull back the curtain on the rulebook, the enforcement machine, and the practical fixes that keep ISOs, PayFacs, processors, and merchants compliant without tanking conversion. We share real cases, explain the caps, and show exactly where signage and receipt language fail in the wild—and how to fix them fast.

Why this matters

When letters arrive without clear findings or remediation steps, fines escalate, fear shuts down communication, and portfolios absorb risk they can’t see. Underwriting can’t screen for prior fines, “debit is not credit” keeps tripping teams, and state laws collide with brand rules at the POS. We translate that chaos into a clear playbook you can apply this week.

What we cover (and how to use it)

Fines without findings
How assessments jump from a few thousand dollars to much more with little guidance, why letters lack specific violations, and the operational drag that follows.

The three pricing models—done right
Surcharging (credit-only; capped by brand), cash discounting (posted price is the card price; discount for cash), dual pricing (two posted prices: cash vs. credit). Where teams mix concepts and invite complaints.

Debit ≠ credit
The most common failure mode. Why “flat fee on everything” is a lawsuit magnet, how to configure debit handling so frontline staff can’t override compliance.

Signage, receipts, and “conspicuous disclosure”
The exact choke points: entry, shelf/menus, checkout, and receipts. What must be stated, where it must appear, and why register-only signs get merchants fined.

State law vs. brand rules
How state statutes (e.g., display/advertising) can create liability even when brand caps are honored, and why the stricter rule governs in conflicts.

Risk flow and blind spots
Liability waterfalls from sponsor bank → acquirer/ISO → merchant, yet there’s no fines database. The underwriting gap this creates—and how to close it with attestations and audits.

Due process and escalation
Why fear of reprisal keeps merchants quiet, what a transparent channel should look like, and how to preserve evidence to challenge bad assessments.

The practical playbook (copy/paste to your runbook)

Standardize onboarding
Require a signed pricing/surcharging attestation covering signage, debit handling, caps, and receipt language. Lock these into your CRM and renewal cycles.

Compliance-in-a-box
Provide pre-approved templates for entry placards, menu/shelf tags, POS receipt footers, and e-commerce disclosures. Include brand-cap reminders where staff see them.

Configure the POS, not just the people
Hard-cap surcharge percentages at the terminal; block debit surcharges by BIN range; enforce item-level dual pricing where required. Turn on receipt disclosures by default.

Audit on a cadence
Quarterly website and on-site checks (or merchant-submitted photo audits). Verify that posted prices match the program (cash discount vs. dual vs. surcharge). Document everything.

Respond like a regulator will
When a notice lands, open a ticket, collect photos/receipts, map each allegation to the rule text, remediate within SLA, and keep a paper trail for appeal. Train support to route these instantly.

Who should watch/listen

ISOs/PayFacs tightening pricing programs across mixed merchant portfolios

**Matters discussed are all opinions

A payments podcast of Global Legal Law Firm

AI Agents at Checkout: Automation, Authenticity, and the Next Wave of Payments

What happens when AI agents start shopping and paying on our behalf—while merchants still have to trust the identity behind every transaction? In this special deep dive with Kevin Woodward of Digital Transactions (https://www.digitaltransactions.net/), hosted by Christopher Dryden, Esq., and Jeremy Stock, we unpack the fast-arriving tension between automation and authenticity: from AI-written copy and agentic commerce to the real-world controls that keep risk, compliance, and customer experience aligned.

Why this matters now

Agentic commerce is moving from demo to deployment. Real-time rails are scaling. State regulators are experimenting. And card-brand oversight, fraud, and chargebacks haven’t taken a day off. If you build, sell, underwrite, or operate in payments, this episode is a field guide to what’s changing—and what you can do about it.

What we cover (and what you’ll take back to your team)

AI voice vs. original signal: Where AI helps (summarization, QA, triage) and where it corrodes credibility—and how to keep content independent and useful.

Underwriting is still human: Faster KYC/KYB and onboarding at the edges—but real risk decisions hinge on verifying real people and real businesses.

VAMP, real-time, and instant payout rails: What FedNow, RTP, Visa Direct, and Mastercard Send mean for settlement, refunds, and dispute windows—and where the operational debt hides.

Agentic commerce trust stack: If a bot buys, who is liable? We dig into identity, consent, and verification, and discuss early moves that could make bot-to-merchant transactions acceptable at scale.

Checkout friction vs. choice overload: How to remove clicks without losing safeguards; practical patterns to reduce false declines while maintaining SCA/2FA integrity.

Regulation by patchwork: State-by-state experiments on interchange and pricing; why chargebacks still drain margins; where crypto and stablecoins are inching toward compliant, useful flows.

Differentiating in a commoditized market: Vertical expertise, better UX, richer data, and trustworthy support as the new moat when processing looks the same from the outside.

Modernizing the stack: Consolidating legacy platforms into API-first architectures and tapping open banking/pay-by-bank for recurring and bill-pay experiences that actually convert.

Who should watch/listen

ISOs, PayFacs, acquirers, processors, PSPs, risk and compliance leaders, vertical SaaS and marketplace operators, and anybody tasked with reducing fraud, raising approval rates, and keeping regulators calm.

Practical next steps you can implement this quarter

Stand up a bot-aware identity policy (consent logging, device fingerprinting, challenge flows) before agent traffic hits checkout.

Measure VAMP-relevant ratios and dispute signals per MID; align refund and settlement timing to new rails to blunt chargeback exposure.

Use AI where it’s defensible: document classification, web-footprint scanning, and attrition prediction—while keeping humans in the loop for final decisions.

Reduce choice overload at checkout; test pay-by-bank for bill pay and subscription use cases where it improves completion and lowers cost.

If this helps you see around the corner on agentic commerce and the controls it demands, subscribe and share with your ops, risk, and product teams—and tell us which piece you want us to unpack next.

**Matters discussed are all opinions and do not constitute legal advice. All events or likeness to real people and events is a coincidence.**

Visit Global Legal Law Firm today: https://www.globallegallawfirm.com/podcasts/

A payments podcast of Global Legal Law Firm

This special episode flips the script.

Instead of hosting, James Huber, Esq.—Managing Partner of Global Legal Law Firm (https://www.globallegallawfirm.com/podcasts/) and co-host of The Payments Experts Podcast—steps into the hot seat as the guest, interviewed by Rob Hoblit, Chief Revenue Officer at NMI (https://www.nmi.com/), during one of their internal Fireside Chats, now shared publicly for the first time.

🔍 The conversation is candid, tactical, and tailored for operators in the payments ecosystem—ISOs, PayFacs, fintech teams, and software platforms alike. It’s not about contracts for the sake of contracts. It’s about understanding how and why deals actually fail: because of misaligned incentives, shallow diligence, or premature handshakes—not because a clause was missing.

James pulls back the curtain on:

How payments litigation really unfolds, where ego often drives escalation as much as dollars

The cost of educating outside counsel vs. working with payments-fluent legal teams

Why underwriting discipline and real-time oversight are more essential than ever in the VAMP era

What the next wave of surcharging enforcement could mean for ISOs and platforms

Why dual pricing models, “compliance-in-a-box” kits, and proper signage remain hot-button issues

The litigation-laced future of crypto, stablecoins, and alt-rails—and why Visa and Mastercard aren’t going anywhere

Plus: If you’re scaling toward an acquisition or preparing to raise capital, James shares actionable advice on structuring deals, diligencing counterparties, and avoiding the regulatory landmines that can nuke valuations before a term sheet is signed.

⚖️ Whether you’re onboarding your first 100 MIDs or navigating multi-million dollar disputes, this conversation delivers sharp insights on how to protect your margin, reputation, and roadmap—before things go sideways.

**Matters discussed are all opinions and do not constitute legal advice. All events or likeness to real people and events is a coincidence.**

Subscribe, follow, and leave a review if this helped sharpen your risk radar. And if your team wants to hear more Fireside Chats like this one, drop us a note with the topic you're wrestling with—we’ll put it in the queue.

A payments podcast of Global Legal Law Firm

Risk keeps moving even when the rules look settled. We sat down with Kevin Woodward, senior editor at Digital Transactions (https://www.digitaltransactions.net/), to trace where the real pressure is building in payments: Visa’s VAMP and its oversight shift, tokenization that works until it doesn’t, and AI that can help teams underwrite faster without surrendering judgment. The conversation starts with a hard truth—most portfolio fires begin with poor or selective underwriting—and follows that thread into how VAMP could push acquirers toward cleaner books by making constant onboard-offboard cycles a red flag, not business as usual.

Then we get practical. Tokenization has reduced fraud and enabled seamless recurring billing, but when a high-risk merchant is terminated, those vaulted credentials often become immovable. Without a secure and standardized path to token migration, legitimate businesses face revenue cliffs and consumers face needless friction. We explore why that gap exists, how incentives lock data in, and what a fair migration framework could look like for processors, merchants, and cardholders.

Finally, we dig into AI’s real uses: accelerating document checks, classifying business models, scanning web footprints, and predicting attrition so portfolios don’t bleed out quietly. It’s not about replacing experts; it’s about turning noise into signal so risk teams can act early. Along the way, we talk fines versus fairness, communication gaps in new program rollouts, and the small credibility details—like clear, compliant content—that still matter to regulators and partners.

If you care about underwriting discipline, token portability, and AI that actually reduces risk, this one’s for you. Follow and subscribe for more conversations at the edge of payments, and drop a review to tell us where you’re seeing the most friction today.

**Matters discussed are all opinions and do not constitute legal advice. All events or likeness to real people and events is a coincidence.**

Visit Global Legal Law Firm today: https://www.globallegallawfirm.com/podcasts/

A payments podcast of Global Legal Law Firm

The VAMP Era Is Here: What Payments Pros Must Know Before It’s Too Late

Think MATCH was hard to navigate? VAMP just rewrote the risk rulebook.
In this high-impact episode, Christopher Dryden, Esq., and COO, Jeremy Stock, sit down with Matt Steinbrecher of Sound Commerce (https://sound-commerce.com/) to unpack the hidden compliance traps now emerging in merchant processing. Whether you’re an ISO onboarding merchants, a payfac dealing with CNP risk, or an investor evaluating portfolios—this episode is your early warning system.

🔍 Inside the Episode:
🚨 VAMP Isn’t Just a Buzzword—It’s Reshaping Risk Allocation

Card-not-present merchants are under a microscope. With fines expected in Q4, underwriting guidelines are tightening fast.

More ISOs are mandating RDR/Ethoca enrollment upfront. But does it help—or just shift risk silently?

🔒 The Visibility Problem: Enforcement Actions You’ll Never See

You can’t mitigate what you can’t see. We reveal how current KYC/KYB protocols fail to flag prior brand enforcement—leaving acquirers exposed to massive liability.

TC40s, dispute ratios, and fraud patterns—why they matter now more than ever.

⚠️ Case Study: The Stripe Termination No One Saw Coming

A merchant with 7 years of clean history, solid revenue, and low chargebacks was dropped without warning.

Funds frozen, tokens locked, back office access revoked. Could VAMP-related algorithms be driving silent purges?

💸 M&A Fallout: How Hidden Risk Distorts Portfolio Value

We explore how prior brand violations can kill a deal, increase reserves, and skew acquisition pricing.

For buyers and sellers alike, compliance due diligence is now mission-critical.

🧠 What Smart Acquirers and ISOs Should Do Next

Don’t wait for a fine to learn you’re out of compliance. We break down:

Monitoring VAMP ratios and TC40s per MID

Demanding API-level RDR visibility

Building attestation forms for boarding

Negotiating token migration rights and refund runways

Creating responsible offboarding flows (escrow-backed refunds, sunset terms, and portability)

🧩 Why This Episode Matters:

VAMP is not just compliance—it’s market structure. As enforcement rises, smaller high-risk shops may vanish, while those who plan ahead will own the next era of acquiring. Whether you’re working in underwriting, ops, portfolio acquisition, or product strategy, this episode is a blueprint for navigating what’s next.

Ever tried to board a merchant and wondered what you can’t see? We pull back the curtain on the blind spots that matter most: prior card‑brand violations, second‑strike liabilities, and how surcharging and dual pricing mistakes can snowball into five‑figure fines you never saw coming. With Matt Steinbrecher of Sound Commerce, we explore what VAMP could mean for acquirers, ISOs, and POS providers—and why today’s KYC/KYB isn’t built to surface nonpublic enforcement history.

**Matters discussed are all opinions and do not constitute legal advice. All events or likeness to real people and events is a coincidence.**

👉 Global Legal Law Firm Podcast Hub: https://www.globallegallawfirm.com/podcasts/

🔔 Subscribe for more expert conversations on VAMP, MATCH, chargebacks, portfolio risk, high-risk verticals, acquiring, and merchant boarding strategy.

💬 Leave us a review: What’s your biggest VAMP challenge?

A payments podcast of Global Legal Law Firm