Case notes
Longer pieces that sit outside the course. Each one starts with a document rather than an opinion, quotes it, and says the date it was read.
The card fee you are not allowed to charge, and the one you are
The surcharge ban is narrower than every guide says. Regulation 6A stops you charging a fee on consumer cards and leaves commercial cards alone, regulation 6B changes the…
Note 02 · 5 September 2026Two doors your customer can use to take the money back, and only one is law
A chargeback is a message between two banks, and it appears in neither the Payment Services Regulations nor the Consumer Credit Act. What the statutes do give your custom…
Note 03 · 5 September 2026The free terminal, priced
A free terminal is a rental with the price moved into a minimum monthly service charge. One division tells you the month it starts costing you: the minimum divided by you…
Note 04 · 16 September 2026The £100 limit was scrapped, and the till did not notice
On 19 March 2026 the fixed £100 contactless limit stopped being a rule. The big banks kept it anyway, and the terminals in most shops are still set to it. Here is what ch…
Note 05 · 16 September 2026Next day does not mean the same day twice
Three providers, three meanings of next day. One pays out on Saturday and Sunday, one does not pay out at weekends at all, and one pays fastest into its own account. Here…
Note 06 · 17 September 2026The phone was never the expensive part
Tap to Pay on iPhone has worked in the UK since July 2023. Seventeen providers now list it. The phone saves you a card reader worth tens of pounds and changes nothing abo…
Note 07 · 17 September 2026The card I assumed cost more
American Express does not always cost a British shop more than Visa or Mastercard. On a flat-rate reader it costs exactly the same. On a discounted monthly plan it can co…
Note 08 · 17 September 2026The account nobody opens any more
A small British shop can take cards without ever opening a merchant account in the old sense. The question that matters is who holds your takings between the tap and your…
Note 09 · 23 September 2026The name on the card machine, and the firm on the register
Searching the register for Square returns 431 firms, and one card machine company has 3 records under the same company number. Here is how to find the entity that actuall…
Note 10 · 24 September 2026Three full cards, three near-identical scores, and the entity question under all of them
Bank Index scores Worldpay 3.0 on fees because it publishes no UK small business rates and asks for an 18-month contract. SumUp scores 8.0, but its full card is the Irish…
Note 11 · 5 October 2026Card payment providers UK: Bank Index shows which machines sit on a checked licence and which on a register line
Card payment providers UK compared on Bank Index: Stripe's UK entity has a full profile, while Paymentsense, DNA, Handepay and Teya show register-based scores.…
Note 12 · 20 October 2026Refund to Card How Long UK: The Rules Behind the Wait
A shop presses refund today and the customer's bank shows it days later. The card scheme rules and UK refund law set a deadline for each step of the trip.…
Note 13 · 23 October 2026Interchange plus pricing UK: what a blended card rate hides
Interchange plus pricing UK providers sell puts the card bank's fee on its own line. A blended rate folds it, and often the scheme fee, into one number.…
Note 14 · 27 October 2026Card Machine Contract Early Termination Fees: The 18-Month Rule
Leaving a card terminal hire can cost more than leaving the card processing deal. What the PSR's 18-month cap covers, what it leaves out, what to check first.…
Note 15 · 30 October 2026Pre Authorisation Card Payment UK: How Long a Hotel Hold Lasts
A hold on a guest's card is not a payment. What Visa, Mastercard and UK payment law say about its size, how long it lasts and how fast it must be released.…