Ever wondered why that “free” POS hardware ends up costing so much later? Christopher Dryden, Esq., sits down with Magnolia Ventures’ Jessica Casto to pull back the curtain on modern payments strategy: how software-led distribution reshaped acquiring, why processor-agnostic design protects leverage, and where the fine print quietly shifts risk to the least prepared party. We move from the realities of US card economics—reward-heavy credit that pushes up costs—into the trenches of cash discounting and surcharging, where debit rules, tax exclusions, and state-by-state quirks can break a great pricing story if your product can’t adapt.

We talk through the rise of SaaS add-ons as vendors chase lost processing revenue, and we map the contract terms that matter most for ISVs, ISOs, and resellers: Schedule A transparency, onboarding responsibility, chargeback support, and residual ownership. Jessica shares a practical playbook for tech companies entering the US market—collect multiple processor proposals, compare effective margins not just splits, and engineer optionality so you can route, renegotiate, or switch without rewriting your stack. If you’re subsidizing hardware, pressure-test your payback periods against debit-heavy mixes and capped surcharges before you scale.

Education is a recurring theme. Too many operators and even CFOs don’t read merchant statements, miss pass-through fees, and get blindsided by portfolio-wide basis-point hikes. We make the case for productizing compliance: build configurable pricing engines that exclude tax, respect card-network caps, and flex with state regulations—and notify partners before merchants feel the change. If you sell software, payments isn’t an add-on; it’s a strategic capability. Tune in to learn how to negotiate liability, design durable revenue, and plan your exit on day one.

Enjoyed the conversation? Follow the show, share this episode with a teammate, and leave a quick review so more builders and operators can find it.

**Matters discussed are all opinions and do not constitute legal advice. All events or likeness to real people and events is a coincidence.**

PEP Links:
https://www.globallegallawfirm.com/podcasts/
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2176695

A payments podcast of Global Legal Law Firm

AI is no longer a chatbot. It is an agent that can move data and make decisions.

In this in-studio conversation, Leo Arzumanyan, Matthew Luciani, and Jeremy Stock cut through the hype and get practical about using AI in payments. We start where risk lives: privacy, closed versus open loops, and how to keep sensitive underwriting logic and merchant data inside your walls. Then we map the real use cases operators are deploying now: CRM ingestion, sales intelligence, document checks, and dispute workflows that turn noisy inputs into usable signals.

You will hear a clear-eyed view of model choice and control. Free models are fine for quick searches. Paid models and tuned agents belong in underwriting, portfolio analytics, and customer operations. The team explains how to set boundaries, why hallucinations happen, and how to keep an agent from freelancing outside your rules. We also tackle the organizational impact: which entry-level tasks will change, why experts must stay in the loop, and how to write ethical and operational guidelines that keep you compliant while you scale.

What you will take back to your team
•A simple governance plan: closed data loop, role-based access, red-team tests, and an incident path when an agent is wrong
•A deployment map: CRM ingestion, underwriting triage, post-payment risk checks, and dispute assembly with human review
•A safety checklist: consent and privacy prompts, model provenance, logging and evidence retention for audits and insurers
•A portfolio lens: use AI to raise approval rates, shorten dispute cycles, and find at-risk MIDs before attrition hits
Bottom line: adopt with intent. Train models on your domain, keep experts in the loop, and instrument every step so AI reduces risk instead of adding it.

Wondering where AI truly helps—and where it quietly raises the stakes? We dig into the real-world shift from chatbots to agentic AI and map the line between useful automation and unacceptable risk across payments, legal, and healthcare. From CRM workflows and underwriting logic to privileged communications and HIPAA concerns, we share practical guardrails to protect client data, trade secrets, and your competitive edge without slowing down innovation.

We compare leading models—GPT, Gemini, Claude, and Grok—through the lens of enterprise needs: reasoning quality, context windows, customization, and the difference between free tiers and paid, closed-loop deployments. We unpack why “paid is safer” isn’t just about accuracy; it’s about governance, logging, and the ability to constrain learning on sensitive inputs. You’ll hear concrete examples of how poorly scoped prompts and thin domain knowledge can produce confident, wrong outputs, including a contract that looked fine until expert review revealed major gaps.

The conversation also tackles a hard question: who should set the limits? We weigh user-driven controls against platform-imposed restrictions on legal and medical advice, arguing for transparent refusal reasons and identity-based access where appropriate. Ethics are lagging the tech, so we outline a practical playbook: define your AI usage policy, set role-based permissions, preflight prompts with boundaries, label unverified outputs, and route high-impact decisions to human experts. The near-term future of work will favor professionals who pair deep subject knowledge with strong model orchestration skills.


**Matters discussed are all opinions and do not constitute legal advice. All events or likeness to real people and events is a coincidence.**

PEP Links:
https://www.globallegallawfirm.com/podcasts/
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2176695

A payments podcast of Global Legal Law Firm

Banks don’t close accounts for sport; they close accounts when risk stories don’t add up.

James Huber, managing partner of Global Legal Law Firm, sits down with Adam Carlson from SOAR Payments (https://na2.hubs.ly/H033tL00) to unpack what “high risk” really means in 2026, why peptides became the latest MATCH magnet, and how card‑brand programs like VAMP are changing sponsor bank behavior. If you’ve ever dealt with a surprise PayFac shutdown, frozen funds, or a sudden document request, this conversation gives you the playbook to steady the ship and scale with confidence.

We examine how high-risk really works today, from peptide crackdowns and MATCH removals to VAMP’s tighter bank thresholds. Adam shares SOAR’s white‑glove approach, stronger underwriting, and the role of relationships and transparency in keeping merchants processing.

• redefining high risk and why more online merchants qualify
• peptide merchants as current MATCH targets and why
• pitfalls of instant approvals and PayFac shutdowns
• how white‑glove underwriting prevents fires
• using tech to spot altered bank statements
• VAMP thresholds, fines and stricter diligence
• portfolio balance, consolidation and agent economics
• mapping flow of funds and who holds fraud risk
• practical steps to keep accounts open long term
• book preview: High Risk Merchant Accounts 101
• relationships, knowledge and transparency as core edges
• how to contact SOAR Payments

We trace Adam’s path from online lead generation to building a boutique ISO that thrives on white‑glove underwriting and clear communication. He explains how SOAR vets applications, uses tech to catch altered bank statements, and positions complex merchants with acquiring banks that actually understand their model. We get candid about agent games, portfolio balancing, and the uncomfortable truth that acquiring is effectively an unsecured line of credit—so when chargebacks spike, scrutiny follows. You’ll learn why low‑risk volume is gold, how consolidation may accelerate, and which signals risk teams watch when they decide to ask questions or pull the plug.

Most importantly, we lay out practical steps to keep your account open: align your website and product catalog with your application, document fulfillment and refunds, clean up descriptors and customer service lines, and call your partner before adding sensitive SKUs. For peptide sellers and other regulated‑ish niches, context and transparency can be the difference between a compliant path and a permanent shutdown. Adam also previews his upcoming book, High Risk Merchant Accounts 101, aimed at helping founders navigate approvals, enhanced underwriting, and long‑term stability.

If payments feel like a black box, consider this your field guide. Subscribe for more expert conversations, share this episode with a founder who needs a steadier setup, and leave a review to tell us which risk topic you want us to tackle next.

**Matters discussed are all opinions and do not constitute legal advice. All events or likeness to real people and events is a coincidence.**

PEP Links:

https://www.globallegallawfirm.com/podcasts/

https://www.buzzsprout.com/2176695

A payments podcast of Global Legal Law Firm