Small businesses tied to Riverside Payments card-processing contracts would get 60 days to cancel without the $695 early termination fee under a proposed settlement between the Federal Trade Commission, the State of Washington and the company. Riverside, based in Washington, would also pay $600,000, the FTC said in a Nov. 2 release. The deal is a stipulated order filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, and the FTC’s page does not say a judge has yet signed it.
The people it matters to are owners of small shops, restaurants and service businesses who signed a merchant-processing agreement with Riverside or its equipment-leasing affiliate, Cascade Equipment Leasing, and who have been looking for a way out. Anyone in that position needs to know what the waiver covers, what it does not say and who to contact.
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How does the 60-day cancellation window work?
Under the proposed order, the defendants must notify customers that for a 60-day period Riverside will waive the early termination fee, or any penalty, for rescinding merchant-processing agreements. Small businesses can rescind their processing agreements in that period without a termination penalty, the FTC said.
Washington Attorney General Nick Brown’s office, which announced the settlement the same day, described it the same way: eligible businesses can cancel without a termination penalty, and the defendants must tell customers about the waiver. Neither agency says when the 60 days begin, so the notice from Riverside is the document to watch for.
The waiver is described as covering the early termination fee or any penalty for rescinding merchant-processing agreements. The FTC’s release does not say whether it reaches the separate equipment lease from Cascade, which the complaint says renewed on its own schedule, so an owner with both should look at each contract’s cancellation terms.
Who is on the hook for the $600,000?
The defendants are Riverside Payments Inc., its affiliate Cascade Equipment Leasing LLC and owners Brandon Skinner and Jason Reese, according to the FTC. They will pay $600,000, and a $32,083,921 judgment entered against all four is suspended after that payment because of their inability to pay the full amount.
The suspension has a catch. The full judgment becomes due if the defendants are found to have lied about their finances. The FTC vote to approve the complaint and order was 2-0.
What did regulators say Riverside did?
The FTC and Washington allege that Riverside falsely promised small businesses they would save money on payment processing, including savings of 40% to 60%, when businesses that switched typically paid more. Quote sheets allegedly left out fees such as activation, batch, data security non-compliance and inactive processing fees.
The complaint also alleges the 26-page electronic contract buried an auto-renewal after a three-year term, the $695 early termination fee, and an equipment lease from Cascade that renewed for a year longer than the processing contract. Riverside is accused of telling customers they could cancel anytime without penalty and that it would switch unsatisfied businesses back to their old processor and pay them $500 for their “time and hassle.” The FTC says cancelling was extremely difficult and callbacks often never came.
Those are allegations in a complaint filed alongside the settlement. The FTC cites the FTC Act and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, since it says Riverside obtained customers’ financial information through false statements.
Are there refunds for Washington businesses?
Washington’s release says more than 300 small businesses in the state will be eligible for relief, and that payments will be based on each business’s processing volume over the past six months. It gives no per-business amounts and does not say how eligible businesses will be notified. The AG’s office takes complaints at atg.wa.gov/file-complaint, and its main number is 360-753-6200. The FTC’s release does not describe any payments to businesses outside Washington, so owners elsewhere have the cancellation waiver but no published refund process.
Brown said he is “gratified that we can now deliver relief to impacted Washington businesses,” and that the case provides accountability for the deceptive practices. Christopher Mufarrige, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said, “The FTC will hold accountable companies that deceive small businesses, whose hard work powers our economy.”
For an owner deciding whether to use the window, the paperwork that matters is the original 26-page agreement, the quote sheet, any equipment lease and recent monthly statements showing the fees charged. Comparing what was promised with what was billed is the starting point for a cancellation or a complaint to the attorney general.
What else does the order change?
The proposed order bars Riverside from misrepresenting costs, savings, cancellation conditions and other material facts, and from making unsubstantiated savings and earnings claims. It also requires clear disclosure of all material terms before the company gets billing information, express informed consent for any automatic billing, and a simple way to cancel.
The order’s disclosure rules apply going forward, which means a business signing with Riverside after the order is entered should see every material term, including any termination fee and renewal date, before it is asked for card or bank details. The earnings claims matter for another group. The FTC says Riverside’s ads told sales agents they could earn $75,000 to $95,000 a year, while agents averaged $3,787 a year.
Stuck in a processing contract that costs more than promised?
A cancellation window only helps the owner who uses it, and a fee that goes unchallenged just keeps being charged. Businesses and households alike lose money on terms they never saw, such as an auto-renewal, a termination fee or an equipment lease that outlasts the contract.
101 Phone Scripts to Lower Your Bills has 101 short scripts to read straight off the page when calling a company, and they are written for household bills, so the turn here is to the method rather than to a processor contract. It includes 101 calls, word for word, for every company you pay, and a section on credit cards and banks covering lower rates, fee refunds and no-fee accounts.
Get the word-for-word call scripts for waiving fees and challenging a bill →
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
Warren Cohen is a finance writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, covering personal finance topics including credit, banking, and beginner investing. He earned his degree in business administration from Arizona State University and began his career working in consumer finance, where he gained direct experience with lending and credit systems. He now writes for personal finance websites and fintech platforms, focusing on clear, practical content that helps readers make informed financial decisions.
