FTC Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson issued warning letters to the CEOs of four major payment and financial infrastructure providers regarding concerns about debanking law-abiding customers based on political or religious views. The letters remind the companies of their obligations to customers under the FTC Act, warn that inconsistent denials of service could trigger investigations and enforcement, and reference President Trump’s 2025 executive order prohibiting debanking due to political affiliations, religious beliefs, or lawful business activities.
In-house legal teams at financial services, payment processing, and financial infrastructure companies should prioritize reviewing all customer-facing agreements, including merchant services contracts, user terms of service, and account agreements, to audit service termination and denial of access clauses. These clauses must explicitly prohibit debanking or service denial based on customers’ political affiliations, religious beliefs, or lawful business activities, and must align with customers’ reasonable expectations of service access. Teams should also review downstream partnership agreements with banks, card networks, and other financial partners to ban such entities from facilitating debanking of shared customers, and ensure all service termination grounds are clearly defined to prevent inconsistent application. Additionally, references to FTC Act compliance and alignment with relevant executive orders should be updated to reflect the prohibition on viewpoint-based or discriminatory debanking.
Entity
PayPal Holdings, Inc., Stripe, Inc., Visa Inc., Mastercard Inc.
Industry
Financial Services"PayPal, Stripe, Visa and Mastercard"
"paypal-holdings-inc"
"stripe-inc"
"visa-inc"
"mastercard-inc"
"FTC Act"
$49.8M
The FTC and four states alleged that Progress Residential and Pretium Partners misled renters about rental prices and fees, improperly withheld security deposits, and engaged in other unlawful conduct. Under a proposed settlement, the companies will pay $49.75 million and must change their pricing, deposit, and customer-service practices.
The FTC and 22 state attorneys general filed an updated complaint alleging that Amazon secretly added surcharges to advertising auction prices and misled advertisers about the reasons for price increases. The release describes newly unredacted allegations; it does not report a judgment, settlement, or monetary penalty.
$600K
The FTC and Washington alleged that Riverside Payments and affiliates misrepresented savings and cancellation terms, concealed fees and auto-renewing contracts, and obtained consumers’ financial information using false or fraudulent statements. The proposed stipulated order requires a $600,000 payment, customer notice and a period to rescind agreements without penalty, and prohibits deceptive claims while requiring clear disclosures, informed consent for negative-option billing, and a simple cancellation method.
FTC staff announced warning letters to 25 healthcare plan marketers and lead generators about deceptive or unfair claims concerning plan benefits, coverage, costs, and enrollment incentives. The letters do not allege wrongdoing by their recipients or impose penalties; they encourage companies to review their advertisements for compliance.
The FTC summarized enforcement actions and other efforts targeting businesses and individuals allegedly impersonating government agencies or legitimate businesses. The release reports more than $80 million in consumer redress across prior actions and takedowns of 19 websites, but it does not announce a new settlement or impose a specific penalty.
The FTC and state and local co-plaintiffs filed a lawsuit alleging Toast imposed hidden and unauthorized fees, enrolled restaurants in add-ons without consent, obstructed subscription cancellations, and misrepresented customer support availability. The complaint is pending in federal court; the press release announces no monetary penalty or imposed remedy.