Clearent Processing Review

Merchant Maverick's Rating: (4 out of 5)

Last Updated: April 17th, 2010.

Overview:
Clearent Processing is one of those merchant service providers that seems like they're a great company. It's very likely that they are, but from the outside looking in, it's a bit difficult for me to tell. Here's why:

For starters, they're a relatively newer company. Although they have industry veterans as part of their leadership, they just don't have enough digital-age history for me to find enough online data about them. Most of the ISO/MSPs that have been around for a decade have had time to accumulate a decent amount of internet chatter for me to sift through. With newer companies, I don't have that luxury.

I think a great way for Clearent to instill some more trust in us, would be for them to have a dedicated testimonials page with fully disclosed testimonials on it. Better yet, if some Clearent merchants were to comment on my blog that they've had a wonderful experience with Clearent, well then, I wouldn't have a choice but to increase their rating. As of now, we don't have either of those.

If you take some time to read the Clearent website, you'll notice that they talk a great deal about transparency. The transparency that they're talking about is in regards to the reporting tools that they offer their merchants. Although that is great, I'd also love to see some other forms of transparency as well. The kind that deal with a company's reputation. The best way to offer that would be to create social media profiles for your company, and encourage your merchants to express their thoughts and opinions about you. We no longer live in an age where we can hide our customers feelings. Either we take control of those channels, or our customers will vent their frustrations (RipOffReport) or sing their praises (Yelp) on other platforms.

I hope that the folks at Clearent Processing take my advice on some of the above issues, I have a feeling that they will. Considering the great leadership they have over at that company, I don't see why they wouldn't. I'm going to give them a 4 out of 5 for now.

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Date Established:
2005.

Location:
Clayton, Missouri.

Domain Name(s):
www.clearent.com.

Parent/Partner Company:
No parent company for Clearent Processing.

Type:
Registered ISO/MSP.

Acquiring Bank(s) (Acquirer):
First National Bank.

Payment Processor(s):
TSYS (Vital).

Payment Gateway(s):
Authorize.Net.

Trust Symbols:
The Clearent BBB profile is sporting an "A-" as of this review, with 1 complaint in the last 36 months.

Negative Reviews:
None found.

Common Complaints:
None.

Verifiable Testimonials/References:
I couldn't find any legitimate testimonials on the Clearent site.

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 formal application with sensitive info like SSN numbers, then they should definitely have some third-party security in place.

Customer Service:
I've never had an account with Clearent, so I don't really know how their post-approval customer service is. Please help us out if you've worked with them before.

Contract Duration:
3-years.

Cancellation Fee:
$295.

Interchange-Plus Pricing:
They do offer interchange-plus.

Seasonal Downtime:
Seasonal downtime is also offered by Clearent.

Product/Service Offering:
Retail (Credit/Debit), Gift & Loyalty, Check Conversion, Check Guarantee, e-Commerce, MOTO (Mail Order/Telephone Order).

Product/Service Specialty:
None in particular.

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