July 24, 2026

The Scam Merchant Monitoring Program: New Mastercard Rules are Now in Effect

Mastercard’s Scam Merchant Monitoring Program went into effect on July 24, 2026. If you process card-not-present transactions, this change affects you. Not hypothetically, and not eventually. I mean right now. Today. The program adds a third layer of compliance monitoring on top of the Excessive Chargeback Program (ECP) and the Excessive Fraud Merchant (EFM) program that merchants already navigate. Understanding …

July 15, 2026

The Summer Travel Chargeback Problem Is Bigger Than Airlines Think

I was recently looking over some new data published by NerdWallet on the state of air travel in the US. According to the data, airfare prices have surged 26.7% year-over-year. The timing couldn’t be more consequential here; as we’re heading into peak travel season, consumers are already stretched thin. Operational disruptions continue to compound and the payments infrastructure that the …

June 29, 2026

Net Recovery Rate: The Key Chargeback Metric That You’re Probably Ignoring

Most merchants managing chargebacks believe they’re doing reasonably well. They track their win rates, they represent disputes diligently, and when the numbers come back showing they’ve won nearly half their cases, they take that as confirmation that their program is working. According to new our 2026 Chargeback Field Report, merchants report winning 44.6% of the chargebacks they receive. That’s a …