New Visa/MC mandatory merchant program?
 

I was told by my bank that's providing a merchant account for me that Visa and MasterCard have implemented mandatory merchant programs geared toward preventing cardholder Fraud and Identity theft.

So, it's like $500/year to pay to some independent security company to make sure that your site is not hackable.

When I contacted another bank that I have a back-up account with - I had to drag it out of them, but it turned out to be true.

Anybody else is experiencing this?

sorry to inform you that your right...it is now mandatory to pay the fee which is usually between $300-$1000 per year.