Mercury prohibits using its platform for illegal activities, sending spam, disrupting the service, or transmitting harmful content, and violations can result in account termination.
This analysis describes what Mercury's agreement states, permits, or reserves. It does not constitute a legal determination about enforceability. Regulatory applicability and practical outcomes may vary by jurisdiction, enforcement context, and individual circumstances. Read our methodology
Mercury's broad acceptable use restrictions mean that a good-faith business activity that Mercury later determines falls outside permitted use could result in account suspension without prior notice, cutting off access to business funds.
Interpretive note: The phrase 'otherwise objectionable' grants Mercury broad interpretive discretion, and the scope of activities that may trigger enforcement is not exhaustively defined, creating uncertainty for users in novel or regulated industries.
Mercury's updated terms establish detailed rules for how recurring autopay works on invoices. Under the revised language, payers authorize recurring ACH debits through a separate addendum, Mercury will not retry failed payments (except once if caused by a Mercury system issue), and autopay authorization will automatically cancel after two consecutive failures in a series. You can prevent autopay cancellation by ensuring payers have sufficient funds, re-enrolling the payer, or requesting manual payment if the series fails twice.
View change record →The updated terms establish that when customers pay invoices you issue through Mercury Invoicing via ACH debit, Mercury will apply a hold period before crediting the funds to your account. The hold period is determined by Mercury in its sole discretion based on risk factors related to the transaction, payer, and payment history, and may range from 1 to 4 business days from the date the ACH debit is initiated. Mercury will display an estimated funds availability date for each incoming invoice payment in your Invoicing dashboard.
View change record →Removal of general acceptable use restrictions may indicate consolidation into service-specific use policies or reduced enforcement language.
View full change record →The acceptable use policy gives Mercury broad discretion to determine what constitutes a policy violation and terminate accounts accordingly, which creates risk for businesses in industries that may be subject to Mercury's interpretation of permissible activity.
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"You agree not to engage in any of the following activities: using the Services for any unlawful purpose or in violation of any regulations; using the Services to transmit or store any content that is illegal, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, tortious, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, or otherwise objectionable; using the Services to send unsolicited communications; interfering with or disrupting the Services or servers; and using the Services in any manner that could damage, disable, overburden, or impair the Services.Excerpt from Mercury's Terms of Service
REGULATORY LANDSCAPE: Acceptable use restrictions in financial services platforms interact with Bank Secrecy Act requirements, FinCEN anti-money-laundering obligations, and OFAC sanctions compliance.
Enforcement risk, jurisdiction flags, contract triggers, and due diligence action items.
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Mercury's broad acceptable use restrictions mean that a good-faith business activity that Mercury later determines falls outside permitted use could result in account suspension without prior notice, cutting off access to business funds.
The acceptable use policy gives Mercury broad discretion to determine what constitutes a policy violation and terminate accounts accordingly, which creates risk for businesses in industries that may be subject to Mercury's interpretation of permissible activity.
ConductAtlas has identified this type of provision across 276 platforms. See the full comparison.
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