Carranza Law Group, Inc. Chicago, Illinois

Fernando R. CarranzaJD, CPA

Attorney and Certified Public Accountant

Call (630) 854-4558 Email me Save contact

Re:Merchants and advertisers in trouble with a payment processor

Placed on MATCH. Reserve held. Fees you never agreed to.

Dear reader,

A payment processor can close your account on short notice. It can hold your money, and it can put your business on a list that follows you for five years. If that has happened to you, you are probably short on time and short on straight answers.

I help merchants and advertisers who are in a dispute with their payment processor, ISO (independent sales organization) or acquiring bank. I am a lawyer and a CPA, and I used to prosecute financial crimes.

Margin note: Licensed in Illinois. Admitted to the Illinois bar in 1987.

Below are three situations I can help with: a MATCH listing, a reserve that is not released, and fees that are not in your contract.

Placed on MATCH?

I can help you find out why, and what it takes to get off.

MATCH is a list Mastercard runs of merchants that acquirers have terminated for cause. Acquirers check it before they open a new account, so a listing can shut you out of card processing. A listing stays for five years, and only the acquirer that added you can change or remove it.

What I do:

Get the reason for the listing, and the acquirer that made it, in writing.
Compare that reason with what actually happened and with your contract.
Where the listing is wrong, press for correction or removal. Where it is valid, work out what the acquirer needs to see to reconsider, and what to fix first.

Good to know. Removal is never guaranteed. Merchant agreements often require arbitration, with written notice before you can file, so timing matters.

Can’t get your reserve released?

Whether an ISO or an acquiring bank is holding your money, call me.

Processors hold part of your sales, or a lump sum, as a reserve against chargebacks. Holds often run 90 to 180 days, and many agreements keep a reserve for 180 days after you leave. Your agreement sets the amount, the schedule and the release date. The trouble starts when the date passes and the money doesn’t come back.

What I do:

Find out who holds the money and under which agreement: the ISO, the acquiring bank, or both.
Work out what should have been released, and when, from your reserve terms and your statements.
Demand it in writing. If that fails, pursue it through negotiation, arbitration or court, whichever your agreement allows.

Good to know. Keep your balance statements, the termination notice and every message about the reserve. The dates matter.

Charged fees that weren’t in your contract?

Put the contract next to the statements.

Extra fees come in many forms: statement and PCI non-compliance fees, early-termination charges, markups on interchange, monthly minimums. If a charge doesn’t trace back to the agreement you signed, or to what you were told before you signed, you may be able to get it back.

What I do:

Go through the contract and every monthly statement, line by line. As a CPA, I’m at home in the numbers.
Add up what you were charged beyond the agreed terms, and over what period.
Demand repayment and an end to the charges, and take it further if the processor refuses.

Good to know. Act quickly. Many agreements require you to challenge statement errors within a short window.

Why a lawyer who is also a CPA

I read the numbers.

I started in audit and tax at PricewaterhouseCoopers and Ernst & Young, and I have been a Certified Public Accountant in Illinois since 1983.

Margin note: Audit, tax and consulting, 1983 to 1988.

I have seen fraud from the prosecutor’s side.

I prosecuted financial crimes and governmental fraud for the Cook County State’s Attorney.

Margin note: Assistant state’s attorney, 1988 to 1990.

I know the bank side.

I have represented banks and other financial institutions on electronic funds transfers and settlement, and built anti-money-laundering and know-your-customer programs, so I know what compliance teams look at when they close an account or hold funds.

I have handled other people’s money and other people’s disputes.

As General Counsel and CFO of a Chicago title company I oversaw escrow accounts across more than $500M of closings, and I have tried and arbitrated commercial disputes.

Margin note: General Counsel and CFO, 2005 to 2011. See Schedule A.

Tell me what happened. Send me the notice you received, or call. I can help you find out where you stand and what your options are.

Call (630) 854-4558 Email me at fcarranza@frclaw.us Save contact LinkedIn

Sincerely,

Fernando R. Carranza, JD, CPA

Enclosures:Schedule A, experience, and Schedule B, background.

P.S.What to bring to the first call: your merchant processing agreement and any reserve or fee addenda; the termination, MATCH or reserve notice; the last twelve months of processing statements; and your messages with the ISO, processor or bank.

Schedule AExperience

$25MAccredited-investor offering for a crypto-lending platform, with SEC and CFTC compliance.
AMLAnti-money-laundering and anti-corruption compliance program for a multinational client, built to the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines.
DisputesCommercial litigation, arbitration and mediation, including jury and bench trials, on breach of contract, fiduciary duty and business torts including fraud.
$20MCross-border commercial litigation in Mexico for a Fortune 200 company.
$500M+Residential, commercial and construction closings, with the company’s escrow accounts overseen as General Counsel and CFO of a Chicago title company.

Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Matters are described without client names.

Schedule BBackground

Education

Stanford Graduate School of Engineering: AI Graduate Certificate, Product Innovation (2026)

DePaul University College of Law: J.D., Corporate Law

University of Illinois, Gies College of Business: B.S., Accounting

License and admissions

Certified Public Accountant, State of Illinois (since 1983)

Admitted to practice: State of Illinois (1987); U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois (1990); U.S. Tax Court (1994)

Teaching and service

Associate professor of law, The John Marshall Law School (now UIC School of Law); legal-clinic volunteer

Eagle Scout mentor, Boy Scouts of America

Memberships

Hispanic National Bar Association

International Bar Association

Illinois CPA Society and AICPA

Latin American Bar Association

Mexican American Lawyers Association (board)

Illinois Hispanic Lawyers Association, including its Judicial Evaluation Committee

U.S.–Mexico Chamber of Commerce

Languages

English; Spanish (full professional proficiency); Portuguese (conversational)

Publications

“Across the Border: Foreign Investors Form Alliances In Mexico,” The National Law Journal (1998)

“International Litigation v. Alternative Dispute Resolution: Making the NAFTA Choice,” Dispute Resolution Magazine (1994)

Wider payments and finance work

Money that moves online is governed by consumer-protection rules, bank rules, anti-money-laundering rules and the contracts under all of them, and my practice covers six areas of it.

Consumer payment rules: I advise on the consumer rules that govern how money moves: the Electronic Funds Transfer Act (Regulation E), the Expedited Funds Availability Act (Regulation CC), the Fair Credit Reporting Act, Truth in Lending (Regulation Z), RESPA (Regulation X), fair debt collection (Regulation F), and the prohibition on unfair, deceptive or abusive practices (UDAAP).
Fraud and financial crime: I work on anti-money-laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) programs under FinCEN and FATF standards, on OFAC and excluded-parties screening, on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and on internal investigations.
Digital assets and new payment rails: I have been counsel to crypto lenders and DeFi lending platforms. I work on token-offering (ICO and STO) frameworks, Howey Test analysis and Regulation D exemptions, on smart contracts (ERC-20, 721 and 1155), and on keeping a product aligned with both the SEC and the CFTC.
Data and security: I work on GDPR and CCPA contracts, including data processing agreements, standard contractual clauses, data transfer agreements and BAAs. I also work with the NIST Cybersecurity Framework, Regulation S-P and FFIEC examination standards, and on privacy, data-protection and transfer impact assessments.
Contracts and technology: I work on software licensing and SaaS agreements, IP licensing and joint ventures, and I have advised on payment structure for a cybersecurity platform. I also work on AI governance, agentic-AI protocols and the procurement of AI-powered financial tools.
Disputes and investigations: I handle commercial litigation, arbitration and mediation, regulatory inquiries before the SEC and PCAOB, and cross-border disputes, including those that turn on the Hague Evidence Convention.

Full background

2012–presentCarranza Law Group, Inc., founder. Capital markets, SEC compliance, AI governance, blockchain and digital-asset regulation, cross-border structured finance.
2005–2011Executive Title, Inc., General Counsel and CFO of an independent title and closing company. Over $500M in residential, commercial and construction closings.
2000–2004Ross & Hardies, corporate partner, international consulting.
1995–2000D’Ancona & Pflaum, securities and M&A partner.
1990–1995Phelan, Pope & John, senior associate, international business and commercial litigation.
1988–1990Cook County State’s Attorney, assistant state’s attorney, financial crimes and governmental fraud.
1983–1988PricewaterhouseCoopers and Ernst & Young, audit, tax and consulting (senior and manager).