Your rights under the Code of Conduct

A new or higher fee

Under the Code, if your processor adds a new fee or raises a fee and passes it on to you, you can give notice that you want to cancel without penalty within 70 days after the change takes effect, unless the change follows a schedule written into your agreement or is for an optional service or an avoidable penalty.

The Code requires notice between 30 and 60 days before the change, and says that if you did not get notice in that window, you can cancel without penalty at any time.

Your processor must send cancellation documents within 5 business days, and cancellation takes effect on the date you choose, at least 30 days after you return the documents, once equipment is returned. A terminal lease with a separate leasing company may not be covered. Line up a new provider before you cancel.

Element 3: “Acquirers and Downstream Participants must ensure merchants can cancel their agreements related to the provision of Card processing, including Related Service Agreements, without any form of penalty, within 70 calendar days after the effective date of the following:”

Element 3, bullet 1: “an increase of any existing Acquirer/Processor Fee or applicable domestic PCNO Core Fee passed on in part or in full to a merchant;”

Element 3, bullet 2: “the introduction of a new Acquirer/Processor Fee or applicable domestic PCNO Core Fee passed on in part or in full to a merchant; and/or”

Footnote 4: “If merchants are not provided between 30 and 60 calendar days' notice, they have the right to cancel their agreements without penalty at any time.”

Element 3: “The right to cancel agreements without penalty does not apply for Acquirer/Processor Fee or PCNO Core Fee increases made in accordance with pre-determined schedules, such as those based on merchant sales volume or the end of a promotional offer or period, provided that the schedules are included in the merchant's agreement.”

A card network rate cut

Under the Code, when a card network lowers a fee that applies to your transactions and your processor does not pass the full reduction on to you, it must tell you 30 to 60 days ahead, and you can give notice to cancel without penalty within 70 days after the reduction took effect.

For flat-rate plans the Code measures pass-through across the processor's group of similar merchants, not from your own statement, so the right step is to ask your processor to confirm in writing whether the reduction was passed on in full.

Element 3, bullet 3: “a reduction in applicable domestic PCNO Core Fees that are not passed on in full to a merchant.”

Element 4, bullet 3: “any reductions in applicable domestic PCNO Core Fees not passed on in full to merchants.”

Footnote 7: “Pass-through for blended/flat rate plans is to be calculated based on the weighted impact of a PCNO Core Fee reduction for the merchants in the Acquirer's or Downstream Participant's portfolio, grouped by applicable rate program.”

Footnote 8: “This notification is not required for Card processing plans that automatically provide the full benefit of a PCNO Core Fee reduction to a merchant. Similarly, this notification is not required if the Acquirer or Downstream Participant chooses not to increase the costs to a merchant for any existing applicable Acquirer/Processor Fee or PCNO Core Fee, or from the introduction of a new applicable Acquirer/Processor Fee or PCNO Core Fee.”

What your statement must show

The Code says that at least once a month you must receive, or be able to access (on paper or online), your effective rate for each card type you accept, the rate and total for interchange, network fees and every other fee, and the number and value of your transactions; flat-rate plans may instead show the per-transaction rate and any fees not included in it.

Element 1c: “Merchants must receive and/or have access to the following information, as applicable, no less frequently than monthly:”

Element 1c, bullet 1: “the effective merchant discount rate for the aggregate of each PCNO Card type the merchant accepted during the period;”

Element 1c, bullet 2: “the rate and total amount charged for interchange, wholesale discount rates, network assessment fees, and all other rates and fees charged by the Acquirer or Downstream Participant in that period; and”

Element 1c, bullet 3: “the number and volume of transactions for each type of payment transaction.”

A new card network fee passed on

If your processor passes on a new or higher card network fee, such as the Mastercard per-transaction fee that began on October 19, 2026, the Code requires it to tell you 30 to 60 days before it takes effect, with the old and new amounts and your 70-day cancellation date, and if you were not told in that window the Code says you can cancel without penalty at any time.

Element 4: “Acquirers or Downstream Participants, as applicable, must notify their merchants between 30 and 60 calendar days prior to the effective date of:”

Element 4, bullet 2: “any new or increased applicable domestic PCNO Core Fee passed on in part or in full to merchants; or”

Element 4, notice content: “the previous and the new amount(s) of interchange rates, wholesale discount rates, network assessment fees, or any other rate and fee charged by the Acquirer or Downstream Participant;”

Element 4, notice content: “that the merchant has a right to provide notice of its intent to exit its agreement without penalty within 70 calendar days after the effective date of the upcoming change. The notice to the merchant must include the date on which the 70-calendar day period expires. If a merchant's agreement has no fixed term or penalties for cancellation, the merchant must be provided instead with a reminder of its right to exit without penalty at any time.”

How to make a complaint

Your processor must acknowledge a Code complaint within 5 business days and investigate and respond in writing within 20 business days, or tell you why it needs longer and when to expect an answer; if you are not satisfied you can take it to the acquirer or the card network, and you can contact FCAC at any stage, though FCAC does not resolve individual complaints or award compensation.

Code Complaint Handling Process: “complaints are acknowledged within a maximum of five (5) business days; investigated and addressed within a maximum of 20 business days (30 business days for PCNOs) according to order of urgency; and the complainant is kept notified and informed throughout the process. If a response cannot be provided within 20 business days (or 30 business days for PCNOs), the merchant must be informed of the reason for the delay and the expected response time.”

Code Complaint Handling Process: “Nothing in the above process restricts the merchant from filing complaints directly with the FCAC at any stage of the complaint process.”

Renewing your agreement

If your agreement is a standard contract (not one negotiated with lawyers on both sides), you can give notice that you will not renew at any time up to 45 days before the renewal date, and a fixed-term agreement cannot automatically renew for a full new term, only for extensions of 6 months or less.

Your renewal date is in the summary box at the front of your agreement (Annex A).

Element 7: “A merchant may provide notice of non-renewal at any point during its agreement period, including for any Related Service Agreement, up to 45 calendar days prior to agreement renewal.”

Element 7: “Fixed-term agreements, including Related Service Agreements, cannot automatically be renewed for the full initial term but may convert to automatically renewable agreement extensions of six months or less.”

Footnote 9: “This applies to standard-form contracts (i.e., those contracts that have not been custom negotiated between the parties with both benefitting from legal counsel).”

Ask for your fee disclosures

The Code says you can ask your processor at any time during your agreement for the summary box of key terms, the cost per transaction table and the full list of fees, and it must provide them.

Element 1b: “However, these disclosures, or updates to them, must be provided to a merchant at any point during the course of their agreement upon request.”

A product you did not agree to

The Code says your processor cannot add a new product or service to your account without your express consent; a product you never agreed to cannot be treated as accepted just because you did not object.

Element 6: “Negative option acceptance is not allowed. The merchant with whom the Acquirer or Downstream Participant has the agreement must provide its express consent to accept a new payment processing product or service.”