Riverside Payments to Pay $600K Over Small Business Deception Claims
The FTC and Washington state allege the payment processor hid fees and locked businesses into auto-renewing contracts while promising risk-free cancellation.
Payment processor Riverside Payments Inc. and its affiliate Cascade Equipment Leasing LLC have agreed to pay $600,000 to settle federal and state allegations that they misled small businesses about the true cost of their services, the Federal Trade Commission and Washington state announced.
According to the complaint, Riverside Payments falsely promised small business owners they would save money on payment-processing fees while concealing additional charges and locking customers into automatically renewing contracts. Despite marketing their services as "risk-free" with easy cancellation options, regulators allege the companies made exiting those agreements nearly impossible.
Read more Why Deferred Maintenance Costs Commercial Property Owners More →
The enforcement action targets both the corporate entities and the individual operators behind the firms, signaling that regulators are holding executives personally accountable alongside the businesses themselves. The FTC has intensified scrutiny of payment-processing companies in recent years, particularly those targeting small and independent business owners who may have limited resources to challenge deceptive contract terms.
The case underscores broader regulatory concern about hidden fees and restrictive cancellation clauses in the merchant-services industry. Small businesses that rely on third-party payment processors often sign multi-year contracts without fully understanding renewal provisions or the full schedule of fees they may incur over time.
Continue reading at Press Release Feed
