Global Payments
Financials
80
out of 100. Number 5 of 512, counting from the worst.
Where Global Payments does well
- The privacy notice states plainly: 'Unless otherwise disclosed in a specific notice ... we do not sell your personal information to third parties for monetary compensation' — a real no-sale commitment.
- It grants CCPA-style rights (know, delete, opt out of sale, non-discrimination) and describes a straightforward unsubscribe path for marketing.
- In the arbitration clause, Global Payments agrees to pay JAMS fees above $125 and to cover costs if arbitration would be cost-prohibitive for the user — fairer than most forced-arbitration clauses.
- The merchant agreement's first page is a plain-language summary that openly calls out the arbitration clause, the early-termination fee, and the amendment right — unusual upfront candor for a B2B contract.
Just visiting Global Payments' website binds you to individual arbitration: no class actions, no punitive damages, Georgia law, and you must travel (figuratively or literally) to Atlanta to argue your case. There is no opt-out.
The fine print
6 clauses and findings from the draft archive, dated 1 October 2026. The plain English comes first; the small print is the company's own words. None of these has been checked yet.
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Just visiting Global Payments' website binds you to individual arbitration: no class actions, no punitive damages, Georgia law, and you must travel (figuratively or literally) to Atlanta to argue your case. There is no opt-out.
Except where prohibited by law, by using our Sites, you unconditionally consent and agree that: (1) any claim, dispute, or controversy (whether in contract, tort, or otherwise) you may have against Global Payments ... will be resolved exclusively by final and binding arbitration administered by JAMS ... (3) the arbitration shall be held in Atlanta, Georgia ... (6) there shall be no authority for any claims to be arbitrated on a class or representative basis ... (7) the arbitrator shall not have the power to award punitive damages against you or any Global Payments Entity
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Merchants are locked in for 3 years up front, then the contract auto-renews for a year at a time. To get out you must give notice a full 90 days before a term ends — miss that window and you're rolled over for another year.
The initial term of this Merchant Agreement shall be for the term of three years (the 'Initial Term') ... At the expiration of the Initial Term, this Merchant Agreement will automatically renew for successive one year periods ... unless a party provides the other parties with notice of its intent not to renew the Merchant Agreement at least ninety days prior to the expiration of the then current term.
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Leave early and you owe $250–$500 on top of everything else — and the contract insists you call it 'damages' rather than a penalty so it's harder to challenge in court.
if the Merchant Agreement is terminated prior to the expiration of the applicable Term of the Merchant Agreement for any reason other than for a material, uncured breach by Bank, Merchant agrees to pay Bank damages (the 'Damages') determined by adding an account closure fee as follows: (1) $250 for Merchants with less than twelve months remaining from the date of termination to the end of the then current Term, or; (2) $500 for Merchants with more than twelve months remaining ... (iii) Merchant acknowledges and agrees that the Damages are not a penalty but rather are a reasonable computation of the financial harm caused by the termination
Merchant Card Processing Agreement v18.0119, Section 11.2(d)
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Global Payments can rewrite the contract with 15 days' notice — or less whenever it decides a quick change is needed. Your only remedy is to quit the contract entirely, which itself triggers the early-termination fee.
Bank may amend this Merchant Agreement at any time by providing Merchant with fifteen days' prior notice ... Bank may amend this Merchant Agreement upon less than fifteen days' prior notice if Bank reasonably determines immediate modification is required by Requirements of Law, Operating Rules or any adverse change in Merchant's financial condition. ... The amendment will become effective unless Bank receives Merchant's notice terminating this Merchant Agreement before the effective date.
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When a card network raises its fees, Global Payments can pass the increase straight through to you with zero advance notice — and the contract explicitly says you still have to pay it.
Bank will not be required to provide Merchant with fifteen days' notice of an increase in Processing Fees in the event that any Card Association, or any other entity having such authority increases the Processing Fees ... However, failure to provide advance notice of the increase in Processing Fees will not affect Merchant's obligation to pay the increased Processing Fees. The increase(s) in Processing Fees shall be effective on the date specified by Bank.
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If they terminate you 'for cause' — for anything from excessive chargebacks to their subjective view that you're a risk — they put you on the industry-wide MATCH blacklist (the card industry's 'terminated merchant' file), which can make it nearly impossible to get a new processor. You pre-consent to it by signing.
Merchant acknowledges that Merchant Bank or Processor is required to report Merchant to the MATCH (and/or on the Consortium Merchant Negative File (the CMNF) published by Discover Network) if the Merchant Agreement is terminated for any of the foregoing reasons ... Merchant agrees and consents to such reporting
Merchant Card Processing Agreement v18.0119, Section 11.2(g)
How these were found
Documents actually read via browser_open: (1) Global Payments Website Privacy Notice at https://help.globalpay.com/privacy-policy, marked 'Last Updated: June 1, 2022' — covers website/app visitors; it explicitly notes merchant processing-data disclosures live in separate onboarding documents outside this notice's scope. (2) Merchant Card Processing Agreement v18.0119 (PDF footer 'UNIVMERAGMT v18.0119', filename dated 2019) at documents.globalpayments.com — a TSYS-era legacy form still hosted on the official merchant downloads page; newer versions may exist but this is the version published there. (3) Search-result snippets of the Terms of Use for the Global Payments Merchant Portal (hosted on a blob URL), not fully fetched. The US Merchant Privacy Notice URL referenced in the End User License Agreement (https://www.globalpayments.com/merchantprivacynotice) returned HTTP 404, so merchant-side data sharing/retention clauses could not be verified. Global Payments is B2B, so several clauses (reserve accounts, provisional credits) are industry-standard; scores reflect editorial judgment of the consumer/merchant-unfriendly skew.
These notes come from the original draft and are not independent verification.