Mint Protect Terms & Conditions

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Last updated: 19 December 2024

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This Mint Protect Addendum (“Addendum”) supplements the Mint Services Agreement ("Agreement") between Mint Payments Ltd (ABN 51 122 043 029) (“Mint,” “we,” or “us”) and the entity or individual (“you” or “user”) enrolled in Mint Protect. This Addendum sets forth the terms and conditions that apply to the Mint Protect service, which provides chargeback protection in addition to the services described in the Agreement. In the event of inconsistencies between this Addendum and the Agreement, this Addendum will prevail.

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1. Overview of Mint Protect

Mint Protect is a chargeback protection service from Mint, designed for travel merchants in the jurisdictions Mint operates, reducing the financial risks related to chargebacks.

A chargeback is a request by a cardholder to reverse a payment made with a debit or credit card. It is a form of consumer protection that allows cardholders to dispute a transaction and get their money back if they believe it was incorrect or fraudulent. When a customer disputes a debit or credit card transaction, the card issuer must determine whether to provide that cardholder with a refund for the transaction amount. Chargebacks can be granted to a cardholder for a variety of reasons, with the most common reasons being fraud, friendly fraud, and service issues.

Mint Protect offers a financial guarantee designed to reduce the financial impact of chargebacks due to:

• Supplier Insolvency: Chargebacks arising when a supplier becomes insolvent and fails to fulfill services.‍
• Service Non-Delivery: Chargebacks resulting from non-delivery of agreed services by suppliers.‍
• Fraudulent Transactions: Transactions disputed as unauthorised by the customer.

Chargeback coverage under Mint Protect specifically applies to chargebacks initiated through the following card schemes:

• Visa
• Mastercard
• American Express
• EFTPOS

Chargebacks from Mint’s gateway-only service, other payment methods, or alternative payment methods (APMs) such as non- card-based transactions are excluded from coverage.

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2. Eligibility Requirements

Mint Protect is available exclusively to travel agents and tour operators. Mint reserves the right to determine eligibility for participation in the Mint Protect program based on our internal risk assessment processes. Merchants must meet specific criteria to qualify for Mint Protect coverage.

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3. Pricing of Mint Protect

The cost of Mint Protect is incorporated into the overall pricing structure of Mint’s services. This reflects Mint’s assumption of the additional risk associated with providing chargeback protection and is not a separate line item or additional fee.

For existing merchants, the fees originally set out in the Agreement will be updated to reflect the Mint Protect additional services. For existing merchants, this fee adjustment will take effect from the signing date of this Addendum or when the new fees are charged, whichever is applicable. For the avoidance of doubt, merchants utilising Mint’s net settlement capability will be able to access Mint Protect immediately. In contrast, gross settlement merchants will be able to access from the first day of the following month of signing date.

Mint reserves the right to modify the fee structure with 30 days’ notice.

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4. Risk Management and Security Requirements of Mint Protect

To qualify for Mint Protect coverage, merchants must comply with the following risk management and security protocols:

• Fraud Controls: For a fraud-related chargeback to be covered under Mint Protect, merchants must implement Mint’s recommended fraud prevention settings, including enabling 3D Secure (3DS) on their account. Transactions processed via Mail Order/Telephone Order (MOTO) or transactions where a merchant chooses not to adopt 3DS on their account will result in those transactions not being covered for fraud-related chargebacks. However, these transactions will still be eligible for coverage under Mint Protect for other types of chargebacks, such as those resulting from supplier non-delivery or insolvency. No additional fees will be charged for Mint’s fraud tools if utilising the Mint Protect service.
• Customer Terms and Conditions: Merchants must provide transparent terms and conditions to customers, which must explicitly state that the merchant is acting as an agent only, and is not the airline, cruise company, or service provider. This means that the merchant is facilitating the booking or transaction but does not assume responsibility for the services provided by third parties. These terms must be acknowledged by customers before any transaction. Failure to comply may disqualify the merchant from Mint Protect coverage.
• Supplier List and Updates: Merchants are required to submit a current supplier list on inception and every six months thereafter. Merchants are required to notify Mint of any new significant supplier agreements within 14 days of entering into these arrangements. A significant supplier agreement is defined as any supplier arrangement representing greater than 1% of the forecast total supplier payments. If Mint is not notified of any significant supplier arrangements within this timeframe, we reserve the right to exclude them from coverage. Transactions involving suppliers known to be involuntary administration will not be covered by Mint Protect for transactions occurring from the date the supplier enters voluntary administration onward. Transactions processed before the supplier entered voluntary administration will remain covered under Mint Protect, provided all other eligibility criteria are met.
• Supplier Restrictions: Mint reserves the right to restrict coverage for specific suppliers based on risk assessments. Merchants will receive electronic notice of any such restrictions. Mint will publish a list of excluded suppliers, if any, on its website but will not unreasonably exclude suppliers. For suppliers added to the Mint Protect excluded supplier list, coverage will exclude only transactions occurring from the date the supplier is added to the excluded list onward. Transactions processed prior to the supplier’s addition to the excluded supplier list will remain covered, provided all other eligibility criteria are met.
• Restricted Countries: Chargebacks related to transactions where the customers travel location or the supplier’s location involves countries that appear on the “Do Not Travel” list by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) on SmartTraveller.gov.au, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) sanctions list, Australia’s Sanctions list published by DFAT and New Zealand’s Sanctions list published by the New Zealand Foreign Affairs & Trade, will not be covered by Mint Protect, only for transactions occurring from the date the country is added to these lists onward. Transactions processed prior to the date of the country’s addition to these lists will remain covered under Mint Protect, provided all other eligibility criteria are met.
• Suspicious Activity Notification: Merchants must immediately report any potentially suspicious activity to Mint.

Mint reserves the right to terminate Mint Protect coverage if a merchant’s chargeback rate exceeds a threshold determined by Mint’s risk assessment or if they fail to comply with fraud prevention, customer and supplier monitoring protocols.

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5. Chargebacks, Claim Handling and Communication

Mint is responsible for handling chargeback notifications and representing merchants during the dispute process.  Merchants will be informed of the following:

• Response times for handling chargeback notifications and reviewing disputes.
• Regular updates on the status of claims and expected timelines for resolution.
• Mint’s customer success team will provide ongoing communication regarding the dispute process and outcomes.

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6. Chargeback Process and Documentation Requirements

In the event of a chargeback, merchants are responsible for following Mint’s established chargeback dispute process. The general process involved is as follows:

1. Customer disputes a charge.
2. Card issuer determines whether the dispute is valid.
3. Customer receives a provisional credit for full transaction amount being disputed.
4. Card network collects dispute information, and notifies Mint
5. Mint notifies the merchant about the dispute.
6. Mint works with you to dispute the chargeback, and collects the compelling evidence to defend against the chargeback.
7. Mint review and submits the evidence to the issuer.
8. The issuer makes the final call and notifies the cardholder and Mint of its decision. If it approves the chargeback, the customer keeps the provisional credit. If it denies it, the provisional credit is deducted from the customer’s account.

As part of the Mint Protect terms, Merchants must provide comprehensive, accurate, and timely documentation to support the chargeback dispute resolution processes. Documentation must be submitted within 14 days of receiving a chargeback notification by Mint. Mint will outline the documentation to be provided in its initial correspondence, but it will include items such as evidence of booking, correspondence with the customer, and customer-facing terms and conditions. Failure to provide the necessary documentation may result in the loss of eligibility for Mint Protect coverage.

In cases of non-delivery of service by a supplier, merchants are required to take the following steps before seeking coverage under Mint Protect:

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1. ‍Direct Resolution with Supplier:
   • Merchants must make reasonable and documented efforts to seek a refund directly from the supplier on behalf of the cardholder.
   • This refund, if successfully obtained, must be promptly passed on to the cardholder to mitigate the risk of chargebacks. Any supplier or administrator refund not passed on to a customer where a chargeback has been initiated must be paid to Mint to cover the cost of the chargeback.
2. ‍Provision of Evidence:
   • Merchants must retain and provide Mint with clear evidence of correspondence with the supplier, demonstrating attempts to resolve the issue.
   • Evidence may include, but is not limited to:
     • Email threads
     • Formal complaint letters
     • Proof of refund requests
     • Supplier acknowledgments or responses
   • This documentation must be provided to Mint upon request.
   • Failure to provide sufficient evidence of correspondence with the supplier may result in the loss of eligibility for coverage under Mint Protect.‍
3. Exclusion of Liability:
   • Mint reserves the right to deny coverage if the merchant fails to adhere to these requirements or where evidence of a good-faith effort to resolve the issue is deemed insufficient.

As part of the Mint Protect service, Mint will be funding the provisional credit to the cardholder as part of the chargeback process. If the chargeback is successful and the merchant utilises Mint Protect, Mint will cover the chargeback amount, and you will not be liable subject to meeting the requirements of this Addendum.

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7. Coverage Start Date

Coverage under Mint Protect will commence from the signing date of this Addendum or when the new fees are charged, whichever is applicable.

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8. Inclusions and Exclusions

For the avoidance of doubt, the following inclusions and exclusions are specific to Mint Protect.

Inclusions:

Mint Protect covers the following:

• Chargebacks initiated through the following card schemes:
  • Visa
  • Mastercard
  • American Express
  • EFTPOS
• Chargebacks due to:
  • Supplier insolvency
  • Service non-delivery of agreed services by suppliers
  • Fraudulent transactions (only if 3D Secure (3DS) is utilised for fraud-related transactions)
• Transactions processed from the signing date of this Addendum or when the new fees are charged.

Exclusions:

Mint Protect does not cover the following:

• Chargebacks initiated through non-card payment methods such as account-to-account (A2A) transactions, alternative payment methods (APMs) not covered by card scheme rules, and card payments outside of the card schemes listed in the Addendum.
• Unless expressly agreed, transactions processed via Mint’s gateway-only service, where you contract directly with the acquiring bank or service provider. For example, this would include utilising Mint’s gateway connected to your direct American Express MID.
• Chargebacks related to transactions with suppliers that are in voluntary administration will not be covered for transactions occurring from the date the supplier enters voluntary administration onward. Transactions processed with the supplier before this date will remain covered. Chargebacks related to transactions involving suppliers on the Mint Protect supplier excluded supplier list will not be covered only for transactions occurring from the date the supplier is added to the excluded supplier list onward. Transactions processed prior to the supplier’s addition to the excluded supplier list will remain covered.
• Chargebacks related to countries listed on the “Do Not Travel” list by DFAT on SmartTraveller.gov.au, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) sanctions list, Australia’s Sanctions list published by DFAT, and New Zealand’s Sanctions list published by the New Zealand Foreign Affairs & Trade will not be covered only for transactions occurring from the date the country is added to these lists onward. Transactions processed prior to the date of addition will remain covered.
• Any chargebacks arising from errors, negligence, or fraudulent activity on the part of the merchant, including but not limited to:
  • Failure to deliver agreed services where the supplier is not at fault, including cases of merchant mismanagement or operational issues.
  • Incorrect transaction amounts.
  • Unauthorised duplicate transactions.
  • Failure to deliver promised refunds.
  • Fraudulent misrepresentation of goods or services.
• Chargebacks resulting from duplicate or redundant transactions, where the customer was charged more than once for the same purchase.
• Chargebacks arising from situations where a refund was promised or required but not processed by the merchant.
• Fraud-related chargebacks if 3DS was not utilised.
• Any chargebacks related to transactions involving restricted suppliers as identified by Mint.

Mint may modify the inclusions and exclusions as part of Mint Protect by providing 30 days’ written notice.

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9. Termination and Modifications

Merchants may terminate their participation in Mint Protect by providing 30 days’ written notice for any reason.

Mint reserves the right to terminate Mint Protect coverage if a merchant’s chargeback rate exceeds a threshold determined by Mint’s risk assessment or if they fail to comply with fraud prevention and supplier monitoring protocols.

We also reserve the right to terminate Mint Protect coverage immediately and suspend coverage for any prior transactions if we suspect or know that you are using or have used Mint’s payment services for unauthorised, fraudulent, or illegal purposes. If you have used Mint’s payment services for unauthorised, fraudulent, or illegal purposes, you acknowledge Mint will be entitled to be reimbursed by you for any previous chargebacks guaranteed by Mint.

Mint reserves the right to modify Mint Protect’s terms and conditions with 30 days’ notice, which will be communicated via email. Merchants may terminate their participation in Mint Protect immediately if they do not agree to any substantial modification of the terms.

Notice of termination or modification will be provided electronically through the Mint Payments Portal and by email.

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10. Legal Jurisdiction

This Addendum shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of New South Wales, Australia. Any disputes arising under or related to this Addendum will be resolved first through internal review and, if unresolved, through mediation or arbitration as per Mint’s standard dispute resolution policy.