Elavon (NOVA) Review
Merchant Maverick's Rating: (4 out of 5)
Last Updated: August 17th, 2010.
Overview:
Elavon (formerly known as NOVA Information Systems) is an acquirer based out of Atlanta, Georgia. They've been in business since 1991, but only under the Elavon name since 2008. The upside to working with Elavon will be that you have a company that handles pretty much everything under one roof. Much like any other acquirer, you're going direct to the source.
With that said, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of agents and organizations that resell Elavon's services. Some of them have been reviewed right here on my site. They go by different brand names, but at the end of the day, your account is probably being underwritten and boarded under the Elavon platform. Costco Wholesale is a big reseller of Elavon's services.
One thing that I haven't mentioned much, is that your experience with Elavon, or any big acquirer for that matter, will rely mostly on the sales rep/reseller that sets you up with that account. Even if you go direct, there are still some reps that are more educated and/or ethical than others. The goal is to find a rep within Elavon that you feel comfortable with. By doing that, you can ensure you'll get a 5-star experience everytime. And, because you're reading this site, you know more than 80% of other business owners, so you know what to look for and what to ask. If you feel comfortable, do it yourself, if not let me know, I'd be happy to help.
Moving on...
For a company as large as Elavon (1 million merchants), I'm surprised that their complaint count is rather low. However, keep in mind that the "Elavon" brand has only been around since 2008. Some of you might think that 166+ BBB complaints (as of this update) is high, but trust me when I tell you, I've seen a much higher number from much smaller companies. Just look through my reviews, and see for yourself.
In conclusion, I can't say that I have any major issues with Elavon. I think that the PCI compliance fee (see "Common Complaints" below) that they've been charging their merchants is not ideal, but I am yet to find a large acquirer that doesn't charge the same fee. It would be nice to see some testimonials, educational resources and some social media profiles, but all of those are incidental so long as Elavon is treating their merchants right.
I'm gonna give Elavon a 4 out of 5 for now.
Click Here If You Need Help Choosing a Provider
Don't forget to read through the rest of this review for more info on Elavon.
Date Established:
1991.
Location:
Atlanta, Georgia.
Domain Name(s):
www.elavon.com.
Parent/Partner Company:
The Elavon brand is a result of a merger between NOVA information systems and euroConex. Elavon is part of U.S. Bank's (U.S. Bancorp's) Payment Services division.
Type:
Registered Acquirer.
Acquiring Bank(s) (Acquirer):
U.S. Bancorp.
Payment Processor(s):
Elavon is the payment processor.
Payment Gateway(s):
Elavon generally opts for their own payment gateway by the name InternetSecure, but they can set you up with a third-party gateway like Authorize.Net, if you need it.
Do you need help setting up your payment gateway with your website? Click here.
Trust Symbols:
The Elavon BBB profile has an "A+" rating as of this review, with 166 complaints (as of this update) in the last 36-months.
Negative Reviews/Complaints:
You can find a decent amount of complaints on RipOffReport. Most of the other review and complaints sites have redundant reports, so I'm just going to stick with one source. If you have time, you should read through them, or you can check out my breakdown of them in the "Common Complaints" section below.
Although it doesn't look like a direct representative of Elavon is responding to the above mentioned complaints, you will notice that most of them have rebuttal's. You'll also notice that almost all of those rebuttal's come from a single person. It may be a rep from Elavon, but we can't tell for sure.
Common Complaints:
Here they are...
- Expensive terminal lease contracts through Ladco Leasing: Some merchants have complained about not being aware that they were signing into a 4-year terminal lease, that would essentially cost about 4-figures to get out of. The whole "not being aware" part can be chalked up to the merchant not fully understanding their contract, but I personally think terminal leasing is unnecessary to begin with. If you're a small merchant, and you only need a few terminals, then why not just buy them? They don't cost much these days. Leases make sense for bigger organizations that need many terminals, and don't have the upfront capital to invest in buying them.
- PCI compliance fee: Many of Elavon's merchants are having an issue with the annual PCI compliance fee of $175 that Elavon is dinging them with. Although PCI compliance is necessary for anyone that plans on accepting credit cards for their business, Elavon is not required to charge their merchants any type of fee for that compliance. So, contrary to what you may have heard, processor's are not required to pass that charge on to you.
- Witholding of funds/termination of accounts: I can't blame Elavon here at all. They accept a certain amount of risk for taking on a merchant. If that merchant starts conducting business outside of the agreed upon terms, then Elavon has a right to investigate. There are two main reasons that will get you red flagged by Elavon. (1) If you start processing way beyond the estimated monthly processing volume that you initially gave them when you signed up, and (2) if you sell something that is way above the average ticket price that you told them. If you anticipate either of those two numbers will change in any way, I highly recommend you contact Elavon to let them know ahead of time.
Verifiable Testimonials/References:
I couldn't find any verifiable testimonials (as of this review) on the Elavon website. Hopefully they'll put some up for us.
Security/Privacy:
No on-site security features (i.e. McAfee, Security Metrics etc...). The security issue really depends on what kind of information the merchant account provider is collecting from you. If they require you to fill out a full digital application with sensitive info like SSN numbers, then they should definitely have some third-party security in place. Sometimes, and in the case of Elavon, the initial contact form only requires some basic info, then the real application is taken care of by fax or later on through a secure online app.
Customer Service:
Have you worked with Elavon? Feel free to leave us your review. Don't forget to read the user review and comment policy.
Contract Duration:
3-years. However, this term is only if you go directly through Elavon. If you end up dealing with an Elavon reseller, that term can change.
Cancellation Fee:
$295 if you cancel before the first year is up, and $195 if you cancel within the 2nd or 3rd year. These numbers only apply to accounts setup directly through Elavon. If you go through a reseller the cancellation fee can go up or down depending on the reseller's own terms.
Interchange-Plus Pricing:
Interchange-plus is offered by Elavon. Don't forget to ask for this transparent pricing model before signing up.
Seasonal Downtime:
Seasonal downtime is also offered by Elavon. Be sure to verify this with your agent when speaking with them.
Product/Service Offering:
Retail (Credit/Debit), Mail Order/Telephone Order (MOTO), EBT, Check Services, Online/e-Commerce Payments, Gift & Loyalty, Pre-Paid, Online Reporting, ACH, Equipment Leasing, Point-of-Sale (POS).
Product/Service Specialty:
Elavon is the self-proclaimed leader when it comes to airline processing. They're also the #2 provider for hospitality processing, #3 for U.S. processing volume and #6 in the European market.
Don't forget to leave your review and rating in the comment section. 
First American Payment Systems Review
Merchant Maverick's Rating: (3.5 out of 5)
Last Updated: July 22nd, 2010.
Overview:
Based out of Forth Worth, Texas and operating since 1990, First American Payment Systems (FAPS) has about a decade's worth of payment processing under its belt. As of now, they do about $10 billion in transactional volume annually, which puts them in the mid to upper tier as far as size is concerned.
When I first started my review of FAPS, I noticed a huge amount of complaints on their BBB profile, and immediately expected to give them a bad review, but looks can be deceiving. It seems FAPS is taking the blame for some of its resellers sales practices, so be sure to read the "Trust Symbols" section below for more info about that.
The 3-year/$495 contract duration and cancellation fee is a bit high by industry standards, but I'm willing to bet that they'll work with you on that.
Moving on, I'd like to see some testimonials or case studies listed on the FAPS site. They don't have either as of now.
How about adding a blog or some other educational resources? The only blog that I found seemed geared more towards their sales agents than their merchants. Which isn't a problem since educated sales reps are just as important as educated merchants, but how about putting out some good resources for us as well?
The Twitter and Facebook accounts are cool. Now we know we can interact with them on a public channel if we ever need to.
With a few changes, FAPS can be sitting at a much higher rating. They can start by letting us know why their BBB profile associates them with so many other alternate names, and why they have so many complaints.
FAPS gets a 3.5 out of 5 for now.
Click Here If You Need Help Choosing a Provider
Date Established:
1990.
Location:
Fort Worth, Texas.
Domain Name(s):
www.first-american.net.
Parent/Partner Company:
FAPS doesn't have a parent company, but they do have some sister companies that handle their supplementary services.
- Merimac Capital (terminal leases).
- Govolution (government payments).
- AdvanceMe (merchant cash advance).
Type:
Registered ISO/MSP.
Acquiring Bank(s) (Acquirer):
Fifth Third Bank.
Payment Processor(s):
First American Payment Systems is the payment processor.
Payment Gateway(s):
FAPS has their own payment gateway by the name FirstPay.Net 2.0, but they can also set you up with the GoEmerchant payment gateway or Authorize.Net.
Do you need help setting up your payment gateway with your website? Click here.
Trust Symbols:
The First American Payment Systems BBB profile has a "D-" rating as of this review, with 479 complaints in the last 36-months.
At first blush, that looks like a ridiculous amount of complaints, but take a look at the alternate names section of that same BBB profile.
See these?...
AMERICA ONE
APPSTAR FINANCIAL
Eliot Management
FIRST ADVANTAGE
MERIMAC CAPITAL
Summit Merchant Solutions
TMG
TMS Certified Merchant Services
TMS Merchant Services
TRANS TECH
Transaction Merchant Services
TransTech Merchan Group
TRANSTECH MERCHANT GROUP
Basically, the BBB thinks that FAPS operates under those other business names too, but that's not entirely correct. The truth is that those other names are for sub-ISOs that resell FAPS' services. They are independent entities that contract First American Payment Systems for their services (underwriting, processing etc...), but handle the sales process themselves. They aren't owned by the same guys, so they shouldn't be listed as alternate names of FAPS.
What amazes me is that FAPS doesn't seem to be doing anything about it. If I was them, I would let the BBB know about the mix-up. I would then get rid of those resellers. Why keep them on board? Not only are they dirtying up your name, they're probably costing you some business as well.
I'll tell you right now though, not all resellers of FAPS services are that bad. GoEmerchant received an outstanding review from me, and they are a FAPS reseller. So, this goes to show, that although one company may get the blame, it could be another company (or even person) that's causing all the ruckus. It also adds to the argument that this industry is way too convoluted with way too many players operating under each other. Who's working for who?
Negative Reviews/Complaints:
I'm just going to use RipOffReport for this section, because most of the other complaint sites (i.e. Complaints Board, MeasuredUp etc...) have redundant reports.
If you read through the ROR complaints you'll notice that in addition to calling out FAPS, most of the complaints also include the name of other companies like, "Trans Tech Merchant Group" and "Summit Merchant Solutions."
Those companies are sub-ISOs (resellers) for FAPS, they aren't directly owned by FAPS, so what's happening here is that FAPS is taking the blame for not only their own hiccups, but the mistakes of their resellers as well.
Common Complaints:
If I filter out the complaints that are directed toward the resellers, I don't have much left to work with. First American Payment Systems (corporate) doesn't have that many complaints.
There were a couple merchants that had a bad experience with the FAPS terminal lease contracts (supplied by Merimac Capital), but that's about it. If I was you, I wouldn't lease a terminal to begin with. You can buy a terminal these days for less than $400, so no point in locking yourself into a contract (generally 4-years) that you can't break from.
Verifiable Testimonials/References:
I couldn't find any verifiable testimonials (as of this review) on the FAPS website. Get some good testimonials up guys! Case studies would be even better.
Security/Privacy:
Their website is HTTPS secured, but I'm not sure which company is handling the SSL. It would be nice to see that certificate.
Customer Service:
Have you worked with First American Payment Systems? Feel free to leave us your review. Don't forget to read the user review and comment policy.
Contract Duration:
3-years.
Cancellation Fee:
$495. This is pretty high by industry standards. If I was you, I'd try and get them to lower this for you, or eliminate it completely.
Interchange-Plus Pricing:
Interchange-plus is offered by FAPS, but you will have to qualify for it. Generally, "qualifying" means you process $10k or more per month.
Seasonal Downtime:
Seasonal downtime is also offered by FAPS.
Product/Service Offering:
Retail (Credit/Debit), Mail Order/Telephone Order (MOTO), EBT, Check Services, Online/e-Commerce Payments, Gift & Loyalty, Online Reporting, ACH, Equipment Leasing, ATM, Merchant Cash Advance, Remote Deposit Capture.
Product/Service Specialty:
None.
Don't forget to leave your review and rating in the comment section.
1st American Card Service Review
Merchant Maverick's Rating: (3.5 out of 5)
Last Updated: July 13th, 2010.
Overview:
1st American Card Service is based out of Murrieta, California and has been in business since 1985. Most of the good info about them will be listed throughout the rest of this review, but I'll give you a quick rundown right here.
They have a high number of BBB complaints (46 as of this review), but a pretty low amount of negative reviews elsewhere on the web.
I couldn't find any testimonials or case studies listed on their site, which would definitely help with their credibility.
I'd like them to show a bit more transparency as a company too. Who's behind the company? What kind of experience do they have? As of now, they're operating from a P.O Box, which is fine with me, but I think they should compensate for the lack of a physical office by telling us a bit more about themselves. How about a Facebook page? Or a Twitter account? Can we communicate with you publicly?
I'm sure 1st American Card Service has plenty of money, so how about spending some of that cash on a blog or some other educational resources for their merchants. As of now, their site is lacking in that department.
Finally, something to keep in mind is that 1st American Card Service is a reseller for iPayment. I was told that you will not be charged an early termination fee by 1st American Card Service, but an iPayment contract carries with it a 3-year term and $350 cancellation (termination) fee. 1st American Card Service might be waiving that fee for their merchants, but be sure to verify that with them before you sign up.
1st American Card Service gets a 3.5 out of 5 for now.
Click Here If You Need Help Choosing a Provider
Date Established:
1986.
Location:
Murrieta, California.
Domain Name(s):
- www.1stamericancardservice.com.
- www.iacceptcreditcards.com.
- www.1stworldcardservice.com.
Parent/Partner Company:
The Visa ISO list places Avalon America Corporation as the parent company of 1st American Card Service.
Type:
Registered ISO/MSP.
Acquiring Bank(s) (Acquirer):
Westmerica Bancorporation and Wells Fargo (through iPayment).
Payment Processor(s):
I was told by a rep that they are a direct processor, but based on the contracts that I've seen, it seems that 1st American Card Service uses iPayment to process their transactions.
It's important to know which other companies will be playing a part in the operation of your merchant account, so you can do your research on them as well. If iPayment will be handling the processing of your credit card transactions, then that's another layer of bureaucracy that you might have to deal with.
On top of that, iPayment has its own risk/underwriting department, so they'll probably have some level of control over your account. They can probably shut you down if they suspect anything, without authorization from 1st American Card Service. That's even more important to know.
Payment Gateway(s):
I was told that they can set you up with pretty much any gateway, but they prefer Authorize.Net or eProcessing Network.
Do you need help setting up your payment gateway with your website? Click here.
Trust Symbols:
The 1st American Card Service BBB profile has an "A+" rating as of this review, with 46 complaints in the last 36-months. They're also part of the BBB's TrustLink program.
Negative Reviews/Complaints:
You'll find an average amount of complaints on the usual sites like RipOffReport, Complaints Board and MeasuredUp. Not too out of control though.
Common Complaints:
I couldn't find enough complaints to really nail down anything in particular, so I'm going to leave this part open for now.
Verifiable Testimonials/References:
I couldn't find any verifiable testimonials (as of this review) on the 1st American Card Service website. Get some good testimonials up guys! Case studies would be even better.
Security/Privacy:
Their website states that they are secured by Verisign, but if you navigate to one of their online applications, you'll notice that that page isn't "HTTPS" secured. The application is sitting on a subdomain (secure.1stamericancardservice.com), but HTTPS is the only way you can send SSL encrypted data over a network. So unless I'm missing something, your personal data is probably not encrypted when it is sent through that online app. It would be nice to see their SSL certificate too.
Customer Service:
Have you worked with 1st American Card Service? Feel free to leave us your review. Don't forget to read the user review and comment policy.
Contract Duration:
I was told that there is no long-term contract, but as always, be sure to clarify that on your merchant agreement/contract.
Cancellation Fee:
Same thing applies here. They said there is no early termination fee, and as long as you verify that with them, then you should be good.
Interchange-Plus Pricing:
Interchange-plus is offered by 1st American Card Service, but unless you ask for it specifically, you may not be setup with it. Be sure to ask.
Seasonal Downtime:
Seasonal downtime is also offered by 1st American Card Service.
Product/Service Offering:
Retail (Credit/Debit), Online/e-Commerce Payments, Virtual Terminal, Mail Order/Telephone Order (MOTO), Wireless, Quickbooks Integration, Check Processing, Yahoo Stores.
Product/Service Specialty:
None.
Don't forget to leave your review and rating in the comment section.
TransFirst Merchant Services Review
Merchant Maverick's Rating: (3.5 out of 5)
Last Updated: June 26th, 2010.
Overview:
TransFirst is an ISO/MSP that has been around since 1995. They're headquartered in Hauppauge, New York, but have offices in a few different states. They're one of the larger processors out there with $30 billion in transactional volume per year (as of this update). They also own the ISO/MSP by the name Merchant Accounts Express (aka Merchant Express), and have other ISOs (Independent Sales Organizations) and ISAs (Independent Sales Agents) that resell their payment processing services. To get a better idea of where TransFirst fits into the whole process read this article.
Putting all of that aside, let's check out some other things about TransFirst...
For a processor of their size, their complaint and negative review count is pretty low. Even though I don't place that much weight on an ISO/MSPs complaint count alone, I've seen other processors of the same size or even smaller have a ridiculous amount of complaints, so it's good to know that TransFirst is at or below average with theirs.
Speaking of complaints, TransFirst could be doing a much better job at publicly responding to any negative feedback that they're receiving. As of now, they're not really submitting rebuttals to any of the complaints on sites like RipOffReport and Complaints Board. Granted, some of those complaints could be completely falsified or erroneous, but a few of them do address some really important issues like the auto-renewal of the TransFirst contract.
Binding a merchant into a contract is less than ideal, but auto-renewing that contract once it's up, is even worse. By doing so, the processor is basically betting on the fact that either the merchant doesn't know about the auto-renewal, or is too lazy to do anything about it. By transferring responsibility over to the merchant, they have an airtight excuse..."Sorry sir/ma'am, your contract clearly states that you need to notify us in writing that you want to cancel your 3-year term with us within 90-days of its expiration, otherwise your contract will auto-renew for another year." Not cool!
Moving on...
I definitely would like to see some fully disclosed testimonials and/or case studies on their website as well. I know they have some testimonials on their subsidiary website (www.merchantexpress.com), but those don't have the merchant's full-name and company name, so they don't count.
You can find TransFirst on Twitter and Facebook.
They get a 3.5 out of 5 for now.
Click Here If You Need Help Choosing a Provider
Date Established:
1995.
Location:
Hauppauge, New York (corporate headquarters). You'll find a full list of their other locations directly on the TransFirst contact page.
Domain Name(s):
- www.transfirst.com.
- www.transfirst.net.
- www.yestotransfirst.com.
- www.paymentresource.com.
- www.transfirstsales.com.
Parent/Partner Company:
TransFirst Holdings, Inc. is the parent company. They have several corporate and technology partnerships with other entities as well. You can see all of them by visiting the TransFirst website.
Type:
Registered ISO/MSP.
Acquiring Bank(s) (Acquirer):
Fifth Third Bank, Merrick Bank and Columbus Bank & Trust.
Payment Processor(s):
TransFirst is the processor.
Payment Gateway(s):
Transaction Central or Authorize.Net.
Do you need help setting up your payment gateway with your website? Click here.
Trust Symbols:
The TransFirst BBB profile has an "A+" rating as of this review, with 74 complaints in the last 36-months.
Negative Reviews/Complaints:
You'll find an average amount of complaints on the usual sites like RipOffReport and Complaints Board. Not too out of control though.
If you read through them, you'll also notice that a few of those complaints are actually directed at a reseller of TransFirst (Universal Merchant Services Corp.). I'll try to write a review about UMS soon.
Common Complaints:
Here they are...
- Expensive terminal lease contracts through Lease Finance Group (LFG) and Northern Leasing: It is well known within the industry that terminal leases are a big money maker for sales reps. They usually come with a 4-year contract, and can cost you a ton of money. I've actually seen similar complaints against Lease Finance Group (LFG) and Northern Leasing when doing my review of Pivotal Payments and EVO Merchant Services. My advice, avoid terminal leases unless absolutely necessary. Rarely have I seen a merchant that cannot afford the $200-$400 that it will cost to just buy a terminal outright.
- Undisclosed contract terms: The truth is that most sales reps are going to avoid talking about contract terms regardless of which provider you go with. They want you to sign up, so it's to their benefit to just stay hushed in that regard. I think a little vigilance on your part will go a long way though. And, if you're reading this review, then none of TransFirst's contract terms should be a surprise to you (see below).
Verifiable Testimonials/References:
No verifiable testimonials listed on any of the TransFirst websites. I would expect a company as large as TransFirst to invest some time and resources in building out a nice "success stories" section, but as of this update, they don't have anything.
Security/Privacy:
No on-site security features (i.e. McAfee, Security Metrics etc...). The security issue really depends on what kind of information the merchant provider is collecting from you. If they require you to fill out a full digital application with sensitive info like SSN numbers, then they should definitely have some third-party security in place. Sometimes, and in the case of TransFirst, the initial contact form only requires some basic info, then the real application is taken care of by fax or later on through a secure online app.
Customer Service:
Have you worked with TransFirst? Feel free to leave us your review. Don't forget to read the user review and comment policy.
Contract Duration:
Here's the exact wording from the TransFirst contract:
Term/Renewal. The initial term of this Merchant Agreement shall be for the term of three (3) years (the “Initial Term”) commencing on the date this Merchant Agreement is executed by authorized officers of Merchant Bank and Processor. At the expiration of the Initial Term, this Merchant Agreement will automatically renew for successive one (1) year periods (each a “Renewal Term” and collectively with the Initial Term the “Term”) unless a party provides the other parties with notice of its intent not to renew this Merchant Agreement at least ninety (90) days prior to the expiration of the then current term.
Cancellation Fee:
There are actually a few different cancellation fees depending on which contract you get. I was able to pull three different versions of the "Damages for Early Termination" clause in their merchant agreement (PDF) from off of their site. I've uploaded them to my site so you can take a look. Here they are:
I've also copied snippets from each of those contracts so you don't necessarily have to download them if you don't want to.
Version #1
(d) Damages for Early Termination.
(i) Bank and Merchant acknowledge and agree that in addition to all other remedies available to Bank under this Merchant Agreement or as otherwise available in law or equity, if this Merchant Agreement is terminated prior to the expiration of the applicable Term of the Merchant Agreement for any reason other than for a material, uncured breach by Bank, Merchant agrees to pay Bank damages (the “Damages”) determined by:
(ii) computing the number of months remaining from the date of termination to the end of the then current Initial or Renewal Term; and
(iii) multiplying that number by the Merchant’s minimum monthly fees; and
(iv) adding an account closure fee as follows: (1) $250 for Merchants with less than twelve months remaining from the date of termination to the end of the then current Term, or less than $33,500 in average monthly processing volume; (2) $500 for Merchants with twelve to twenty four months remaining or between $33,500 and $50,000 in average monthly processing volume; or (3) $1000 for Merchants with more than twenty four months remaining or greater than $50,000 in average monthly processing volume.
Version #2
(d) Damages for Early Termination.
(i) Bank and Merchant acknowledge and agree that in addition to all other remedies available to Bank under this Merchant Agreement or as otherwise available in law or equity, if this Merchant Agreement is terminated prior to the expiration of the applicable Term of the Merchant Agreement for any reason other than for a material, uncured breach by Bank, Merchant agrees to pay Bank damages (the “Damages”) determined by adding an account closure fee as follows: (1) $250 for Merchants with less than twelve months remaining from the date of termination to the end of the then current Term, or; (2) $500 for Merchants with more than twelve months remaining.
Version #3
(d) Damages for Early Termination.
(i) Bank and Merchant acknowledge and agree that in addition to all other remedies available to Bank under this Merchant Agreement or as otherwise available in law or equity, if this Merchant Agreement is terminated prior to the expiration of the applicable Term of the Merchant Agreement for any reason other than for a material, uncured breach by Bank, Merchant agrees to pay Bank damages (the “Damages”) determined by adding an account closure fee of $495, unless such termination occurs either within fifteen days of any increase in Processing Fees or in any of the thirty days prior to the end of the then current Term.
Interchange-Plus Pricing:
Interchange-plus is offered by TransFirst.
Seasonal Downtime:
Seasonal downtime is also offered by TransFirst.
Product/Service Offering:
Retail (Credit/Debit), Online/e-Commerce Payments, EBT, Point-Of-Sale (POS), Mail Order/Telephone Order (MOTO), Wireless, Cash Advance, Check Services, ACH Processing, Gift & Loyalty, Recurring Billing.
Product/Service Specialty:
None.
Don't forget to leave your review and rating in the comment section.
Merchant Accounts Express Review
Merchant Maverick's Rating: (3.5 out of 5)
Last Updated: June 13th, 2010.
Overview:
Merchant Accounts Express, also know simply as, Merchant Express operates out of Nashua, New Hampshire and has been in business since 1998. They're a subsidiary of TransFirst which is based out of Louisville, Colorado.
Merchant Express is a full service provider, so they can set you up with whatever you need. e-Commerce, retail, wireless etc...
They have a great score on the BBB with only a handful of complaints (as of this update), and hardly any negative reviews online.
Merchant Express also provides some decent educational resources on the "Learn" section of their site. So, be sure to step up your merchant account knowledge before you sign the dotted line.
Although they do have a comprehensive testimonials section, none of them include the merchants full name or business name, so it's difficult to give them much credibility. I'll allow some user reviews and comments to build up here on Merchant Maverick before I accept any of those testimonials as legit.
The major issue that I'm having with Merchant Express right now is their lack of transparency as a company. What I mean by that is that as merchants we want to see that we're dealing with a real company with real people and real success stories. The online world allows for a tremendous opportunity to display some of that same transparency. With the type of testimonials that I'm seeing on their website now, I'm not really feeling the love. Additionally, it would be great to see them open up to us by setting up some social media profiles, and actually using them to directly communicate with us. A Twitter account and Facebook page would be awesome.
In a world where CEO's are handing out cease and desist's to customers just for contacting them, you'll stand out as a genuine company that's actually accessible to us peon's. That's a rare quality these days, but an absolute must if you plan on surviving the online world. Bad news travels at the speed of light, just ask Randall Peterson (AT&T CEO), but on the flip side, if you let us know that you're hearing our voice, we'll go to bat for you any day of the week.
Merchant Express gets a 3.5 out of 5 for now.
Click Here If You Need Help Choosing a Provider
Date Established:
1998.
Location:
Nashua, New Hampshire.
Domain Name(s):
www.merchantexpress.com.
Parent/Partner Company:
Merchant Express is owned by TransFirst.
Type:
Registered ISO/MSP.
Acquiring Bank(s) (Acquirer):
Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Fifth Third Bank, Merrick Bank and Columbus Bank & Trust.
Payment Processor(s):
TransFirst. They've also been known to do business with First Data and possibly Pipeline Data.
Payment Gateway(s):
Transaction Central or Authorize.Net.
Do you need help setting up your payment gateway with your website? Click here.
Trust Symbols:
The Merchant Express BBB profile has an "A+" rating as of this review, with just 5 complaints in the last 36-months.
Negative Reviews:
There were only a few negative reviews scattered here and there, but nothing to worry about. For a company that has been in business since 1998, that's a great track record.
Common Complaints:
None.
Verifiable Testimonials/References:
The Merchant Express website has a very long testimonials section with quite a few merchants listed on it, the only problem is that those testimonials don't have full-disclosure (i.e. full-name/business-name), so they'd be virtually impossible to verify.
Security/Privacy:
The Merchant Express application is secured by McAfee.
Customer Service:
Have you worked with Merchant Express? Feel free to leave us your review. Don't forget to read the user review and comment policy.
Contract Duration:
3-years with a 30-day risk free trial guarantee.
Cancellation Fee:
If you cancel your account after the 30-day trial is up, you'll be charged a $495 cancellation fee. They also have an option where you'll be able to setup your account without a term (month-to-month) if you pay an upfront fee of $100.
Interchange-Plus Pricing:
Interchange-plus is offered by Merchant Express.
Seasonal Downtime:
Seasonal downtime is also offered by Merchant Express.
Product/Service Offering:
Retail (Credit/Debit), Online/e-Commerce Payments, EBT, Mail Order/Telephone Order (MOTO), Wireless, Quickbooks Integration.
Product/Service Specialty:
None.
Don't forget to leave your review and rating in the comment section.
North American Bancard Review
Merchant Maverick's Rating: (3.5 out of 5)
Last Updated: June 10th, 2010.
Overview:
North American Bancard (NAB) is based out of Troy, Michigan and has been in business since 1992. For a company that processes over $7 billion in transactions per year, I would definitely expect them to have a decent number of complaints...which they do.
Here's why...
Too many outside sales reps & organizations, band contract terms (cancellation fees) and not enough oversight.
The larger ISO/MSPs like NAB have quite a few other individuals (independent contractors) and companies (independent sales organizations) that work under them and resell their products. That can leave quite a bit of room for problems to arise. If you have other individuals and companies representing your brand, then you may become accountable for some of their unethical behavior. What's worse is that it seems NAB doesn't have the resources to make sure that all of those reps are complaint with the NAB philosophy.
You'll notice in my "Common Complaints" section below, that quite a few unsuspecting merchants have complained about a 3-year contract term that they did not know existed. Why? Probably because the person/company that sold them the account didn't tell them about it. I'm gonna do you a favor and tell you right now, so you aren't caught by surprise like the rest.
A merchant account with North American Bancard does carry a 3-year term. Here's a direct quote from a rep at NAB.
In regards to the cancellation fee, Section 13 contained in the Terms and Conditions clearly states, Any merchant who terminates this agreement prior to it's termination date is responsible for any and all monthly fees assessed under the Agreement for the remainder of the then existing term of the Agreement, including all minimum monthly fee commitments, which in no case shall be less than $295.00.
So now you know.
Personally, I think that the contract term is a way too much. There are plenty of providers out there that don't even charge cancellation fess, let alone the entire cost of the remaining monthly fees left in your contract.
With that said, I'm very very impressed by the way NAB is handling all of those complaints around the web. Nearly all of them have rebuttals that are custom tailored to the merchant's dispute. That means that NAB has someone, or a few someone's, actively seeking out those complaints, and trying their best to resolve them. I seriously have not seen another provider as diligent with rebuttals as I have seen with North American Bancard. They're doing a great job in that department.
Moving on to testimonials, NAB has a great section on their website dedicated to them. They call it their "success stories." Be sure to check it out when you have some time. You might even try to contact some of those merchants to see if they're still happy with NAB's service.
They have the Twitter account, Facebook page and LinkedIn profile if you want to connect with them through any of those channels. And, they also have a nice blog and articles section with a ton of great info, so be sure to brush up on your merchant account knowledge before you decide to take the dive.
North American Bancard gets a 3.5 out of 5 for now. The only reason why they didn't get a higher score from me is because of the way they charge their cancellation fee.
Click Here If You Need Help Choosing a Provider
Date Established:
1992.
Location:
Troy, Michigan.
Domain Name(s):
- www.nabancard.com.
- www.nabpci.com.
- www.advancedpaymentsolutions.com.
Parent/Partner Company:
Doesn't look like North American Bancard is a subsidiary of any other company.
Type:
Registered ISO/MSP.
Acquiring Bank(s) (Acquirer):
HSBC Bank.
Payment Processor(s):
Global Payments.
Payment Gateway(s):
Authorize.Net, Plug'n Pay, VeriFone PAYware Connect and First Data Global Gateway.
Do you need help setting up your payment gateway with your website? Click here.
Trust Symbols:
The North American Bancard BBB profile has an "A+" rating as of this review, with 284 complaints in the last 36-months.
Negative Reviews:
There are quite a bit of negative reviews and complaints about North American Bancard all throughout the web, including sites like RipOffReport, My3cents, Complaints.com, Complaints Board and more. There's also plenty of overlap between those sites because some of the merchants have posted in multiple locations. You can spend a great deal of time looking through all of them yourself, or you can just accept my breakdown of it all. I'll lay it out for you in the "Common Complaints" section below.
I do want to say something though. Out of all the providers that I've reviewed so far, I have never seen a company put forth so much effort to address nearly EVERY complaint against them. And, I'm not talking about generic, boiler-plate responses here. I'm talking about customized, investigative rebuttals that at times have ended up in a complete resolution of the merchants complaint. I've always said that a company's response to complaints is just as important, if not more important, than the complaints themselves. Bravo NAB, bravo!
Common Complaints:
So, after spending about 2hrs trolling through all of the complaints and negative reviews, I was able to find a basic pattern...
- Undisclosed 3-year contract w/ cancellation fee: This is probably the biggest issue that merchants are having with NAB, and I'll tell you why. North American Bancard relies on a large pool of outside sales reps that push their products. Some of those reps are going to be ethical, and others are going to be bad-seeds. In regards to the contract, an NAB merchant account carries with it a 3-year term that allows you to cancel within 45-days if you're not satisfied, without any repercussion. However, after that 45-days you are locked in for the remainder of the contract. The cost of cancelling early is calculated by multiplying your monthly fees by the remaining months on that contract, but the fee can be no less than $295. So, for example, if you're paying $45 in monthly fees and you have about 13-months left on your contract, your cancellation fee is going to be $585 ($45 x 13). But, if you only have 3-months left on your contract, you would expect to pay only $135 ($45 x 3), right? Wrong. The minimum cancellation fee is $295, remember? Now, going back to those bad reps, some of them probably didn't inform the merchant about that agreement, so those merchants were hit by surprise once they tried to breach their contracts. Classic bait and switch. My goal here is to prevent you from falling prey to that sales tactic. Be sure to read your contract. Double check everything. Don't believe the sales rep if they tell you that you're not obligated whatsoever. Rarely will that cancellation fee be waived for you, so chances are, you're signing a contract with a 3-year term and a pretty hefty cancellation fee.
- PCI compliance fee: PCI compliance is a relatively new thing to merchants. They don't understand it just yet, so you can imagine how surprised those same merchants were when NAB added a PCI compliance fee of $79/yr to their list of already existing fees. Many of them were PISSED! But, the reality is that PCI compliance is here to stay, and most of these merchant account providers are going to try and pass the cost of staying compliant on to you. However, the level of compliance varies from merchant to merchant. An e-Commerce merchant may need to be more secure than a retailer with a dial-up terminal. When it comes to PCI compliance, knowledge is power. Spend some time on the PCI Security Standards Council website to see what level of security you're responsible for. You may not need to pay that $79 per year after all.
That's about it for common complaints. There were a few merchants here and there that complained about funds being deposited too late into their accounts, but that number was low enough to not warrant much airtime.
Verifiable Testimonials/References:
You can find some success stories listed on the NAB site with full-disclosure. Some high-profile clients I might add.
Security/Privacy:
No on-site security features (i.e. McAfee, Security Metrics etc...). The security issue really depends on what kind of information the merchant provider is collecting from you. If they require you to fill out a full digital application with sensitive info like SSN numbers, then they should definitely have some third-party security in place. Sometimes, and in the case of NAB, the application only requires some basic info, then the real application is taken care of by fax or later on through a secure online app.
Customer Service:
Have you worked with North American Bancard? Feel free to leave us your review. Don't forget to read the user review and comment policy.
Contract Duration:
3-years with the option of cancelling within 45-days without repercussion.
Cancellation Fee:
NAB calculates your cancellation fee by multiplying your monthly dues by the amount of months left on your contract. In a world where some ISO/MSPs don't even charge you a cancellation fee, I think the NAB policy is less than ideal.
Interchange-Plus Pricing:
Interchange-plus is offered by NAB.
Seasonal Downtime:
Seasonal downtime is also offered by North American Bancard.
Product/Service Offering:
Retail (Credit/Debit), Online/e-Commerce Payments, Check Acceptance, Gift & Loyalty, Mail Order/Telephone Order (MOTO), Wireless, Business Cash Advance, ATM Services.
Product/Service Specialty:
None.
Don't forget to leave your review and rating in the comment section.
Moneris Solutions Review
Merchant Maverick's Rating: (4 out of 5)
Last Updated: June 5th, 2010.
Overview:
Moneris Solutions is a Canadian based credit card processor that also has a U.S. division (Humboldt Merchant Services). The bulk of their business is with Canadian merchants, so this review will most likely benefit those of you that are trying to get setup with a merchant account in Canada.
Moneris is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario (Canada) and has been in business since 2000. They're a pretty large processor doing about $2 billion in transactional volume per year. You may not have known this, but they're actually a joint project between RBC Royal Bank and BMO Bank of Montreal. That's some pretty heavy backing.
I think Moneris is a good provider with a full set of products and services that can basically cover just about any solution you're looking for. Their problems aren't with their service offering, but rather their contract terms and their lack of response to consumer complaints.
They have an average amount of complaints compared to how big they are, but I think their lack of response to any of those complaints has been one of the big issues that I'm having with Moneris. Read the "Negative Reviews" section below to find out what I mean.
The other problem they seem to be having is with their contraction cancellation terms. You see, Moneris has a 3-year merchant agreement that automatically renews once that 3-years is up. Quite a few merchants have complained (see below) that they were not aware of that auto-renew feature. I'm sure it's disclosed somewhere in the contract, but these merchants obviously didn't know about it. Personally, I think that if they're going to have that auto-renew feature in place, they should make it very clear to the merchant. There are too many other providers that don't even lock you into a contract for them to be playing this game. Don't get the wrong impression though, it's not all bad news when it comes to Moneris.
They have a great testimonials section that they call "Success Stories." You definitely need to check it out. They've also done a great job in the social media arena, even dedicating a whole page of their site to it.
They have a Facebook page, Twitter account, LinkedIn profile and a Youtube channel filled with helpful videos. They also sponsor a great informational blog about the retail industry (www.myretailer.ca), and they have a blog of their own.
I think Moneris could easily increase their rating if they were to address the auto-renew issue, and if they made an active effort to respond to those online complaints.
Moneris Solutions gets a 4 out of 5 for now.
Click Here If You Need Help Choosing a Provider
Date Established:
2000.
Location:
Toronto, Ontario (Canada).
Domain Name(s):
- www.eselectplus.ca.
- www.monerispartners.com.
- www.monerisadvisorycouncil.com.
Parent/Partner Company:
Moneris Solutions is a joint investment between RBC Royal Bank and BMO Bank of Montreal (including Harris Bank).
Type:
Registered ISO/MSP.
Acquiring Bank(s) (Acquirer):
RBC Royal Bank and BMO Bank of Montreal (including Harris Bank).
Payment Processor(s):
Moneris Solutions is the direct payment processor.
Payment Gateway(s):
Moneris uses its own self-branded payment gateway.
Do you need help setting up your payment gateway with your website? Click here.
Trust Symbols:
The Moneris Solutions BBB profile has an "A" rating as of this review, with 15 complaints in the last 36-months.
Negative Reviews:
You'll be able to find some complaints on both RipOffReport and Complaints Board. What really disappoints me about Moneris is that they haven't responded to any of those complaints. I can't tell you how important it is for us to actually hear from the company when we see complaints like that. They could clear up so much if only they would come to the table with some honest, straight-forward rebuttals. But, they're not doing that, and it's hurting their reputation. It's actually pretty surprising considering how in tune they are with their social media channels. I guess they don't know much about reputation management...not yet, at least.
Common Complaints:
Here they are...
- Undisclosed automatic renewal of contract: I haven't been able to get my hands on a Moneris contract yet, but I'll post it here once I do. The biggest complaint by far is about the automatic renewal of the Moneris contract. Apparently your contract auto-renews once the 3-year time frame is up. The problem with that is that the merchants that are waiting for their contract to cancel before they terminate in order to avoid the fee, get caught by surprise when they're charged one anyway. Just FYI, here's how to avoid it; You must put in a request to cancel your contract 30-60 days prior to the auto-renewal, otherwise your contract will renew, and you'll be stuck paying a $250-$300 cancellation fee even if you're terminating your contract a day before it expires. I understand why they do the auto-renewal, but they need to do a much better job of informing their merchants about it.
- Bad customer service: A few other merchants have complained about dealing with rude customer service reps. I'd like to hear some more opinions on this, as it's difficult to tell based on a few anonymous complaints. If you've dealt with their customer service reps, please let us know how it's been.
Verifiable Testimonials/References:
Moneris has a pretty nice section dedicated to "Success Stories." They're basically case studies of past merchants that have had success using Moneris as their payment processor. You can look through them and see if your business is similar to any of 'em. If so, then it's possible that you'll have the same success.
Security/Privacy:
The Moneris application is secured, but I'm not sure by which company (i.e. McAfee, Verisign etc...).
Customer Service:
Have you worked with Moneris Solutions? Feel free to leave us your review. Don't forget to read the user review and comment policy.
Contract Duration:
3-years.
Cancellation Fee:
I was told the fee is $250, but I've noticed quite a few other merchants speaking about it being $300. Be sure to read the "Termination" section of your contract to clarify this.
Interchange-Plus Pricing:
Interchange-plus is offered by Moneris Solutions.
Seasonal Downtime:
Seasonal downtime is also offered by Moneris Solutions. You'll be able to shut your account down for up to 6-months without fee. As always, make sure you verify those terms on your application before signing.
Product/Service Offering:
Retail (Credit/Debit), Online/e-Commerce Payments, Gift & Loyalty, Mail Order/Telephone Order (MOTO), Wireless, POS (Point-of-Sale).
Product/Service Specialty:
None.
Don't forget to leave your review and rating in the comment section.
Chase Paymentech Review
Merchant Maverick's Rating: (4 out of 5)
Last Updated: June 3rd, 2010.
Overview:
Chase Paymentech (CP) is the very first Acquirer that I've reviewed here on Merchant Maverick. If you don't know what an acquirer is, you can check out the term in my glossary, or you can read about here. Visa also has a list of all registered acquirer's that you can find here.
To give you an idea of how big they are, Chase Paymentech processed in excess of $713.9 billion dollars in transactions in 2008 alone. Yup, these guys are the big dog's.
Chase Paymentech was originally Chase Merchant Services which then merged with Paymentech, Inc. in 2005-2006. The company's headquarters are based out Dallas, Texas, and if you consider Paymentech, Inc's start date, then you can basically say that they've been in business since 1985. Though, I personally think that more emphasis should be placed on how they've operated since the merger.
CP also became a partner of First Data in its early years of operation. They forged an alliance in 2006 which didn't last very long. Their relationship ended in 2008.
Moving on to the good stuff...
For a company that has processed almost a trillion in transactions, I was surprised to find a relatively low number of complaints. However, keep in mind that the "Chase Paymentech" brand has only been around since 2005, so it's still pretty new. With that said, I highly recommend you check out the "Common Complaints" section below so you can avoid some of the problems that other merchants have been facing with CP. And, be sure you download a copy of their terms and conditions as you may not receive one from your sales rep. You can download it in PDF form here.
I wasn't able to find any testimonials on the CP website which is always a bad thing if you ask me.
They do have a Facebook page and Twitter account, but neither of them seem active.
Chase Paymentech gets a 4 out of 5.
Click Here If You Need Help Choosing a Provider
Date Established:
Paymentech, Inc., which was the corporation's name before it merged with Chase, was established in 1985. The merger happened in 2005.
Location:
Dallas, Texas.
Domain Name(s):
www.chasepaymentech.com.
Parent/Partner Company:
JPMorgan Chase is the parent company of Chase Paymentech. Back in 2005, JPMorgan Chase acquired the Dallas based Paymentech, Inc., hence the new name.
Chase Paymentech inked a deal with First Data in 2006, but ended that relationship just two years later in 2008. I think this blog post by Mike Shatz of "The Merchants's Blog" is a great read if you want to learn some more about the implications of that break-up.
Type:
Registered Acquirer/Acquiring Bank. Chase Paymentech is actually the first acquirer that I've reviewed so far. Visit this page to learn more about how the industry operates, and where Chase Paymentech fits in to all of it.
Acquiring Bank(s) (Acquirer):
JPMorgan Chase.
Payment Processor(s):
Chase Paymentech is the direct payment processor.
Payment Gateway(s):
They use their own Orbital Payment Gateway.
Do you need help setting up your payment gateway with your website? Click here.
Trust Symbols:
The Chase Paymentech BBB profile has an "A+" rating as of this review, with 30 complaints in the last 36-months.
Negative Reviews:
You can find some complaints on RipOffReport, Complaints Board and Pissed Consumer. Take a look at my "Common Complaints" section below to get an idea of what past merchants are saying about Chase Paymentech.
Common Complaints:
Here they are...
- Expensive/undisclosed terminal lease contracts through Lease Finance Group (LFG) and Northern Leasing: It is well known within the industry that terminal leases are a big money maker for sales reps. They usually come with a 4-year contract, and can cost you a ton of money. I've actually seen similar complaints against Lease Finance Group (LFG) and Northern Leasing when doing my review of Pivotal Payments and EVO Merchant Services. There are just too many other providers out there that won't lock you into these types of terminal contracts for you to even waste your time here.
- Non-disclosure of contract terms and cancellation fees by sales reps: This boils down to the type of sales rep you get. Remember, these guys are trying to get PAID! So, if they think that a 3-year contract term or a $350 cancellation fee is going to stop you from signing up with them, do you really think that they're going to tell you about it? Probably not, so you're going to want to do your own research. I was able to dig up a copy of those terms that you can download by clicking here (PDF). Pay particular attention to section 10 (10.1, 10.2, 10.3, 10.4) as this pertains to the contract length (3-years) and the cancellation fee ($350).
- Bad post-approval customer service: I really wouldn't expect much from such a large bureaucratic organization like Chase. You're usually a number, and not a name. Maybe they can prove me wrong.
Verifiable Testimonials/References:
I wasn't able to find any testimonials listed on the Chase Paymentech site...not cool!
Security/Privacy:
No on-site security features (i.e. McAfee, Security Metrics etc...). The security issue really depends on what kind of information the merchant account provider is collecting from you. If they require you to fill out a full digital application with sensitive info like SSN numbers, then they should definitely have some third-party security in place. Sometimes, and in the case of Chase Paymentech, the application only requires some basic info, then the real application is taken care of by fax or later on through a secure online app.
Customer Service:
Have you worked with Chase Paymentech? Feel free to leave us your review.
Contract Duration:
3-years. You can download the Chase Paymentech contract by clicking here (PDF).
Cancellation Fee:
$350+. I added the "+" sign because this amount can be much more depending on what type of terminal lease you signed up for. The $350 is just for your merchant account with Chase Paymentech, not including the terminal lease.
Interchange-Plus Pricing:
Interchange-plus is offered by Chase Paymentech.
Seasonal Downtime:
Seasonal downtime is also offered by Chase Paymentech, but it depends on what type of business you are.
Product/Service Offering:
Retail (Credit/Debit), Online/e-Commerce Payments, Gift & Loyalty, Mail Order/Telephone Order (MOTO), Wireless, POS (Point-of-Sale), Recurring Payments, International Processing.
Product/Service Specialty:
None.
Don't forget to leave your review and rating in the comment section.
Intuit Payment Solutions Review
Merchant Maverick's Rating: (3 out of 5)
Last Updated: June 2nd, 2010.
Overview:
I recently did a pretty extensive review of Innovative Merchant Solutions (IMS). You're definitely going to want to read it if you plan on doing business with Intuit Payment Solutions (IPS).
For those of you that don't know, Intuit Payment Solutions (IPS), or rather the overhead corporation (Intuit, Inc.) is the parent company of IMS. So, since Intuit Payment Solutions (IPS) is just another extension of that family, I've decided to just use one review for both entities.
They both share the same BBB profile, and if you do a search on any review or complaint site, you'll probably see both brand names associated with any filings.
Intuit Payment Solutions obviously has a different domain name (payments.intuit.com), but like I said, you're just getting more of the same.
IPS gets a 3 out of 5.
Heartland Payment Systems Review
Merchant Maverick's Rating: (5 out of 5)
Last Updated: May 21st, 2010.
Overview:
I've been meaning to review Heartland Payment Systems for quite some time now, and I finally got the chance to do my research. I have to admit, I wasn't expecting much coming into this review. I had heard about the data breach they faced back in 2008, so I automatically assumed that they were a bad company to work with, but I'm happy to admit that I was way wrong.
Heartland Payment Systems is headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey, but they have offices all across the U.S. They've been in business since 1997, so you can rest assured that they know what they're doing. They're also the 5th largest credit card processor in the United States and the 9th largest worldwide. Processing $80 billion in transactions just last year. But, enough about their corporate profile, let's get to the important stuff.
The first thing that I want to address is the 2008 data breach. You can google "Heartland data breach" and get tons of articles about the whole thing, if you want to dive into it, but I'll give you a quick rundown.
In 2008, a man by the name Albert Gonzalez hacked into the Heartland system and stole the data from some 130 million credit and debit cards. An unfortunate disaster that, to be honest, could have happened to anyone. What impresses me is how Heartland has reacted to that breach.
Not only have they been extremely transparent about the issue, even dedicating a whole site to it, but they're also pushing very hard to get things right in the security department. With their recent launch of E3 Secure, I'd be willing to bet that Heartland is probably one of the most secure processors you can work with right now. After taking a hit like the 2008 breach, they'd better be.
Speaking of transparency, Heartland has a site dedicated to helping you uncover the true cost of your merchant account. Check out CostOfABurger.com to learn more. Heartland also understands that educated merchants make for good clients, so they've created the Merchant Bill of Rights website. I highly recommend you check it out. Add to that, the great "resources" section that they have on their main site, and you have all the educational material you need to make an informed decision as a merchant.
Moving on to the negative reviews and complaints department. I delve into this area a bit more below, but I'm basically very happy to say that Heartland doesn't have nearly the amount of complaints that I'd expect them to have.
They have great testimonials, they have an active Facebook page and Twitter account and they offer both interchange-plus pricing and seasonal downtime. I really couldn't ask for anything more from a provider.
Heartland Payment Systems gets a 5 out of 5 rating.
Click Here To Get Started With Heartland Payment Systems
Or You If You Need More Help Choosing a Provider Click Here
Date Established:
1997.
Location:
Princeton, New Jersey.
Domain Name(s):
- www.heartlandpaymentsystems.com.
- www.costofaburger.com.
- www.merchantbillofrights.org.
- www.heartlandpaymentsinsider.com.
- www.2008breach.com.
- www.e3secure.com.
Parent/Partner Company:
Heartland Payments Systems is the parent company. They've either partnered with or acquired a few companies of their own.
- Parcxmart Technologies (electronic payments).
- Debitek (prepaid cards).
- eSecure Peripherals (cashless vending).
- General Meters Corporation (one-card systems).
- transmodus (check processing).
- Encore Capital (merchant loans).
- Collective Point of Sale Solutions Ltd. (canadian merchant services provider).
- Crane Merchandising Systems (cashless vending).
- Alliance Data Systems Corporation (network services).
- Chockstone, Inc. (gift & loyalty marketing).
Type:
Registered ISO/MSP.
Acquiring Bank(s) (Acquirer):
Key Bank National Association.
Payment Processor(s):
Heartland Payment Systems is the transaction processor.
Payment Gateway(s):
Heartland uses their own self-branded payment gateway.
Do you need help setting up your payment gateway with your website? Click here.
Trust Symbols:
The Heartland Payment Systems BBB profile has an "A+" rating as of this review, with 14 complaints in the last 36-months.
14 complaints? Really? I've seen companies a fraction of the size of Heartland with complaints in the triple digits. These guys only have 14? Wow!
Negative Reviews:
For an ISO/MSP as large as Heartland Payment Systems I'd expect to find hundreds of complaints on RipOffReport...I found three. I checked some of the other consumer complaints sites, but couldn't find anything on them. I'm actually very very surprised, considering they had to deal with that data breach of 2008. It really goes to show what lengths Heartland has gone to maintain their reputation...bravo!
Common Complaints:
None.
Verifiable Testimonials/References:
If you browse through the Heartland site, you'll notice some merchant testimonials (with videos) on the upper-right side of the page. Good stuff!!
Security/Privacy:
No on-site security features (i.e. McAfee, Security Metrics etc...). The security issue really depends on what kind of information the merchant provider is collecting from you. If they require you to fill out a full digital application with sensitive info like SSN numbers, then they should definitely have some third-party security in place. Sometimes, and in the case of Heartland, the application only requires some basic info, then the real application is taken care of by fax/pdf or later on through a secure online app.
Customer Service:
Have you worked with Heartland Payment Systems before? Feel free to leave us your user review.
Contract Duration:
Heartland generally has a contract length of 3-years, but I heard that that term is not set in stone. Feel free to negotiate.
Cancellation Fee:
$295, but you can probably negotiate your way out of this one as well. Granted you're worth it to them as a merchant. 
Interchange-Plus Pricing:
Heartland does offer interchange-pass-through/interchange-plus pricing. Good to know.
Seasonal Downtime:
Seasonal downtime is also offered by Heartland. Be sure to ask for it.
Product/Service Offering:
Retail (Credit/Debit/Prepaid), Payroll, Check Management, Gift & Loyalty, Online/e-Commerce Payments, Micro Payments, Merchant Lending, POS Equipment.
Product/Service Specialty:
None.
Don't forget to leave your review and rating in the comment section.
