fee can be charged by some providers if the merchant ends the contract before the end of the contract term. While contract terms of one-to-three years are typical, some providers have terms of up to five years with a one-year prior notice to cancel or the fee will be assessed. Some providers also assess all statement fees and monthly minimums remaining when the contract is terminated. Some providers may also assess a "lost profit" fee based on an assumption of profits they concluded they would have earned during the full term of the contract. Chargeback fee Chargebacks are the largest risk that is presented to banks and providers. This is not to be confused with refunds, which are simply a merchant refunding a transaction. In the Visa, Discover, and MasterCard rules, the merchant's processing bank is 100% responsible for all the transactions that the merchant performs. This can leave the provider open to millions of dollars of potential losses if the merchant operates in an illegal or risky manner and generates many chargebacks. The providers pass this cost on to the merchant, but if the merchant is fraudulent or simply does not have the money, the provider must pay all the costs to make the cardholder 'whole'. The chargeback risk is the largest part taken into consideration during the contract application and underwriting process. Some banks are much more stringent than others when assessing a merchant's chargeback risk. If a merchant encounters a chargeback they may be assessed a fee by their acquiring bank. A potential chargeback is presented on behalf of the card holder's bank to the merchant's credit card processing bank. Currently, both Visa and MasterCard require all merchants to maintain no more than 1% of dollar volume processed to be chargebacks. If the percentage goes above, there are penalties starting at $5,000 – $25,000 charged to the merchant's processing bank and ultimately passed on to the merchant. In all cases, a chargeback will cost the merchant a chargeback fee, typically $15–$30, plus the cost of the transaction and the amount processed. The Durbin Amendment On October 1, 2011, new rules, resulting from the Durbin Amendment, went into effect that lower the debit card interchange fees the Visa and MasterCard networks charge merchants. The new rules apply only to debit cards issued by banks with more than $10 billion in total assets. Prior to the implementation of the