The news
In two weeks of FTC payments enforcement, the Federal Trade Commission reached proposed settlements with processors Nuvei and Humboldt Merchant Services and a $100 million deal with fleet card provider FleetCor, now Corpay (CPAY), between September 4 and September 17, 2026.
On September 4, the FTC said Canada-based Nuvei and several subsidiaries will pay $4.85 million for consumer redress. The agency alleged Nuvei processed more than $30 million from 2017 to 2023 for Reimage, which the FTC described as an offshore tech support scam, and served other merchants engaged in deceptive practices. The proposed order in federal court in Arizona would bar Nuvei from processing for tech support sellers that use telemarketing or pop-ups, ban tactics such as load balancing, which spreads a merchant's transactions across accounts to evade fraud monitoring, and require screening of high-risk clients and investigation of those that exceed chargeback limits.
On September 8, the FTC alleged Humboldt Merchant Services knowingly processed payments for more than 1,000 shell company merchants, including a billing scheme the agency shut down in 2024, with chargebacks almost 10 times what card brands consider excessive. Under a proposed order, Humboldt would pay $12 million and be banned from processing for straw companies, merchants on Mastercard's MATCH list of terminated merchants, subjects of law enforcement actions and certain online sellers using only mailbox addresses. Katherine White, a deputy director in the FTC's consumer protection bureau, said Humboldt kept processing "despite red flags indicating they were scamming consumers." Neither FTC release included comment from Nuvei or Humboldt.
On September 17, FleetCor and chief executive Ronald Clarke agreed to pay $100 million to resolve an administrative action after federal courts found the company charged small business customers hidden, unauthorized fees and made false fuel savings claims. The FTC said a court order permanently bars FleetCor from billing without express informed consent or hiding charges behind hyperlinks. The Commission vote was 1-0-1, with Chairman Andrew Ferguson recused, and the settlement is open for 30 days of public comment after Federal Register publication. Payments Dive reported Corpay had $4.5 billion in revenue last year and did not immediately respond to its request for comment.
The numbers
- FleetCor/Corpay settlement
- $100 million
- Humboldt Merchant Services redress (proposed order)
- $12 million
- Nuvei redress (proposed order)
- $4.85 million
- Payments Nuvei processed for Reimage, 2017-2023 (FTC)
- More than $30 million
- Shell company merchants Humboldt processed for (FTC)
- More than 1,000
Why CEOs should care
For leaders at payment processors, independent sales organizations and payment facilitators, the proposed orders read like an underwriting checklist. The FTC expects processors to spot shell and straw merchants, check the MATCH list, act on chargeback spikes, and refuse to spread risky volume across accounts. Ask your risk team how many merchants exceed chargeback thresholds, how fast they are reviewed, and whether sales incentives reward onboarding merchants that risk teams flag.
Merchants that rely on subscription or negative-option billing, where customers are charged until they cancel, should expect tougher onboarding, larger reserves and faster terminations from processors reading these orders. Keep chargeback ratios well below network thresholds, make cancellation easy and document customer consent.
For CFOs buying fleet cards and other business payment products, the FleetCor case is a reminder to audit fees. Pull a year of statements, list every fee type, and compare it with the contract and the original sales pitch. Require written fee schedules and notice before new charges. Boards should note that the FTC named Clarke personally, a signal that executives can be held responsible for billing practices. Ask management who approves new fees, how customers consent to them and how often internal audit tests the billing system against contracts.
The bigger picture
The three cases show the FTC focusing on the plumbing of payments fraud: processors that let bad merchants in, and billers that bury fees. The pattern matters more as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has cut back supervision, pausing 274 exams, its inspector general found; on September 25, 2026, U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken in Oregon ordered the bureau's funding restored, Courthouse News reported. Processors and payment facilitators should assume that merchant screening failures will be judged against the specific practices named in these orders, including load balancing and ignoring MATCH-list and chargeback warnings.
What’s next
After the FleetCor comment period, the Commission will decide whether to make the consent order final; the FTC said the $100 million will fund redress for harmed business customers. The processor orders need a judge's approval. Watch for further cases against processors and independent sales organizations, and for card networks and acquiring banks to tighten monitoring rules for high-risk merchant categories in response.
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