Last updated: 29 November 2022

Use of CCF's services for any dealings, engagement, or sale of goods/services linked directly or indirectly with jurisdictions CCF has deemed high risk, such as Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria, and the Crimea, Donetsk, and Luhansk Regions, or persons CCF has deemed high risk, such as those individuals or entities named to a restricted person or party list of the U.S., United Kingdom, European Union or United Nations, including the sanctions lists maintained by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control or the Denied Persons List or Entity List maintained by the U.S. Department of Commerce, is prohibited. Additionally, it is prohibited to use CCF's products and services to directly or indirectly export, reexport, sell, or supply accounting, trust and corporate formation, or management consulting services to any person located in the Russian Federation.

Prohibited Businesses

You must not use CCF’s services for the following activities.

Illegal products and services:

Illegal drugs, substances designed to mimic illegal drugs, and equipment designed for making or using drugs;

Fake references or ID-providing services;

Telecommunications manipulation equipment including jamming devices;

Any business or organization that (a.) engages in, encourages, promotes or celebrates unlawful violence or physical harm to persons or property, or (b.) engages in, encourages, promotes or celebrates unlawful violence toward any group based on race, religion, disability, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, or any other immutable characteristic;

Any other products or services that are in violation of law in the jurisdictions where your business is located or targeted to.

Products and services that infringe intellectual property rights:

Sales or distribution of music, movies, software, or any other licensed materials without appropriate authorization;

Counterfeit goods;

Illegally imported or exported products;

Unauthorized sale of brand name or designer products or services;

Any other products or services that directly infringe or facilitate infringement upon the trademark, patent, copyright, trade secrets, proprietary or privacy rights of any third party.

Products and services that are unfair, predatory or deceptive:

Pyramid schemes;

‘Get rich quick’ schemes including: investment opportunities or other services that promise high rewards to mislead consumers; schemes that claim to offer high rewards for very little effort or up front work; sites that promise fast and easy money; businesses that make outrageous claims, use deceptive testimonials, use high-pressure upselling, and/or use fake testimonials; (with or without a written contract) offering unrealistic incentives/rewards as an inducement to purchase products or services but do not respond to any queries after the purchase;

No value-added services including sale or resale of a service without added benefit to the buyer and resale of government offerings without authorization or added value;

Sales of online traffic or engagement;

Negative response marketing and telemarketing;

Predatory mortgage consulting, lending, credit repair and counseling services;

Predatory investment opportunities with no or low money down;

Remote technical support;

Mugshot publication or pay-to-remove sites;

Essay mills;

Chain letters;

Door-to-door sales;

Any other businesses that CCF considers unfair, deceptive or predatory towards consumers.

Certain legal services:

Law firms collecting funds for purposes other than legal service fee payment;

Bankruptcy attorneys;

Bail bonds.

Misuse of CCF products:

Use of CCF products with false, manipulated, inaccurate, or misleading information regarding your identity, business entity, the nature of business, and any other information requested by CCF (you must inform us immediately of any changes to your personal and business information);

Use of CCF products to facilitate transactions on behalf of another undisclosed merchant or for products/services that were not disclosed in the merchant's CCF account application;

Use of CCF principally as a virtual terminal (e.g., submitting card transactions by manually inputting card information);

Processing where there is no bona fide good or service sold, or donation accepted; card testing;

Evasion of card network chargeback monitoring programs;

Cross-border acquiring where the business address of the merchant is outside of the jurisdiction of the acquiring CCF entity unless permitted under the card network rules;

Sharing cardholder information with another merchant for payment cross-sell products or services;

Use of CCF intellectual property without prior written consent from CCF; use of the CCF name or logo including use of CCF trade or service marks inconsistent with the CCF Marks Usage Agreement, or in a manner that otherwise harms CCF or the CCF brand; any action that implies an untrue endorsement by or affiliation with CCF.

The types of businesses listed above are representative but not exhaustive.

Restricted Businesses

You must not use CCF’s services for the following activities, unless you have received our prior written approval. Restricted Business categories may be imposed through card network rules, requirements of financial partners, or due to compliance and legal obligations. If your business falls into one of the restricted categories, please contact us. We are here to help!

Regulated industries such as:

Financial products and services;

Investment and brokerage services;

Lending services;

Buy Now Pay Later services;

Crowdfunding;

Debt collection agencies;

Insurance services including medical benefit packages;

Money transmitters, currency exchange services and other money services businesses; Neobanks / challenger banks;

Other financial institutions.

Government services:

Government grants:

Embassy, foreign consulate, or other foreign governments.

Pharmaceuticals, medical devices and telemedicine:

Online pharmacies;

Prescription-only products;

Prescription-only and regulated medical devices;

Telemedicine and telehealth services.

Tobacco:

Tobacco products including e-cigarettes and e-liquid.

Others:

Credit card and identity theft protection services;

Other age restricted goods or services.

Businesses that may pose elevated financial risk such as:

Travel:

Travel reservation services and clubs;

Airlines and cruises;

Timeshare services.

Non-fiat currency and stored value:

Virtual and cryptocurrencies, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and mining services;

Prepaid phone cards, sim cards, and phone services;

Sale of stored value or credits maintained, accepted and issued by anyone other than the seller;

Sale of in-game currency or game items, unless the merchant is the operator of the virtual world.

Business models that may be particularly prone to abuse by ‘bad actors’ such as:

Multi-level marketing:

Businesses where sellers get their revenue both from selling items and from signing up new sellers;

Network marketing and referral marketing programs.

Shipping:

Shipping brokers;

Forwarding brokers;

Drop shipping.

Others:

Charity sweepstakes and raffles for the explicit purpose of fundraising.

The types of businesses listed above are representative but not exhaustive.