---
title: O.C.G.A. § 7-9-12.1. Treatment of merchant funds.
collection: code
id: 7-9-12.1
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 7-9-12.1 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/7-9-12.1
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/7-9-12.1.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/7-9-12.1/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t7-t8-(v5)-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=12761d5c_0#page=105
date: 2025
status: active
corpus_version: 2025-supplement-89aa39ab3c68
license: CC0-1.0
publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice.
up: https://georgiacommons.org/code/7-9.md
previous: https://georgiacommons.org/code/7-9-12.md
next: https://georgiacommons.org/code/7-9-13.md
index: https://georgiacommons.org/code/index.md
version: the only printed version
in_force: true
current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly
heading_path: BANKING AND FINANCE / GEORGIA MERCHANT ACQUIRER LIMITED PURPOSE BANK
---

# O.C.G.A. § 7-9-12.1. Treatment of merchant funds.

(a) All merchant funds shall constitute a trust fund until paid to the individual merchant. A merchant acquirer limited purpose bank shall have a fiduciary duty to preserve and account for merchant funds, and merchant acquirer limited purpose banks shall be liable for merchant funds.

(b) All merchant funds shall be deposited immediately and shall remain in an account at a financial institution that is federally insured and authorized to do business in this state until paid over to the individual merchant; provided, however, that nothing in this Code section shall preclude a merchant acquirer limited purpose bank from making appropriate deductions for chargebacks, fees, reserves, and other costs related to providing authorized merchant acquiring services owed by the individual merchant prior to remitting the net amount to the individual merchant. At the time of deposit into the account, the funds of the individual merchant in the account shall be deemed to be the property of the individual merchant. The merchant acquirer limited purpose bank shall maintain or cause to be maintained account records that identify individual merchants and the total amount held for each individual merchant. Such records shall be maintained in good faith and in the ordinary course of business and in a manner that can be readily ascertained.

(c) Notwithstanding subsection (b) of this Code section, the department may, by regulation or otherwise, authorize the merchant acquirer limited purpose bank to receive and hold merchant funds in accordance with alternative safeguarding arrangements designed to protect merchant funds.

## History

Code 1981, § 7-9-12.1, enacted by Ga. L. 2015, p. 344, § 39/HB 184; Ga. L. 2025, p. 590, § 34/HB 15, effective July 1, 2025.

## Amendments

The 2025 amendment, effective July 1, 2025, in subsection (b), deleted “by the merchant acquirer limited purpose bank” following “deposited immediately” in the first sentence and inserted “or cause to be maintained” in the third sentence and added subsection (c).