National Merchant Bancard Review
Merchant Maverick's Rating: (3.5 out of 5)
Last Updated: January 28th, 2010.
Overview:
I was a little confused when trying to review National Merchant Bancard (NMB). They've spread their business across so many different domain names, entities and independent agents, it makes me wonder how they can keep track of everything...they probably can't. 
I'm not a big fan of ISOs that heavily promote their own independent agent program. By doing so, NMB is pretty much outsourcing its sales process. What that does, is it gives every yahoo with a business license the opportunity to sell NMB merchant accounts. I'm not saying that all independent agents are bad, but I do wonder why agent programs are even necessary. There are plenty of merchant service providers out there that don't have their own agent programs, because they believe that it reduces their ability to service their customers.
My word of advice to all merchants is to find an ISO that doesn't have their own independent agent program. Visit my merchant account comparison chart to see your options.
NMB doesn't have a BBB profile yet, but hopefully they'll set one up. I'd also like to see some testimonials listed on their site.
The one good thing about NMB is that they don't have very many negative reviews against them, but keep in mind that they've only been around since 2008, and because they have so many independent agents, those negative reviews could be listed under the agents business name and not NMB.
Considering both the good and the bad, I'll give NMB a 3.5 out of 5.
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Date Established:
2008 (I think). From the looks of it, NMB Inc. was registered in Florida in 2008.
Parent/Partner Company:
Alright, you ready for this? Here it goes...
- www.sunvirtual.com
- www.nationalmerchantbancard.com
- www.a1-merchant-accounts.com
- www.nmbancard.com
- www.free-merchant-accounts.com
- www.accepting-credit-cards.net
- www.merchant-accounts.cc
- www.ecommercemerchantaccounts.com
- www.value-merchant.com
- www.acceptcreditcardsinc.com
- www.995merchantaccounts.com
- www.free-merchant.com
- www.h20merchant.com
- www.1800merchantaccount.com
- www.cardserviceunion.com (Now a First Data Company)
- www.merchantlane.com (Now a First Data Company)
- www.poolmanprocessing.com
- www.acceptcreditcardsinc.com
All of the above domains are either current affiliates or were previously affiliated with National Merchant Bancard. So, when you're doing your research, keep that in mind.
Type:
Registered MSP/ISO of HSBC Bank USA, National Association, Buffalo, NY.
Trust Symbols:
Unfortunately for them, they don't have any trust symbols associated with their brand.
You can find their business license here.
Security/Privacy:
No third-party security features (i.e. McAfee, Verisign etc…) on the National Merchant Bancard site.
Customer Service:
I sent them an email in regards to their contract terms and cancellation fee. They did respond within a day or so, and their responses to both contract terms and seasonality are written below.
Contract Duration:
6-month initial contract, then month-to-month.
Seasonal Downtime:
NMB does not offer seasonal downtime.
Negative Reviews:
Couldn't really find anything on them, except for this thread at Scam.com but that could be because they're a newer company. I'll keep my eyes peeled though.
Common Complaints:
None as of this review.
Verifiable Testimonials/References:
I couldn't find any testimonials on the NMB site.
Locality:
Sunrise, Florida.
Product Offering:
Retail, Gift Cards & Loyalty, Check Processing, e-Commerce, Mail/Telephone, Cash Advance.
Specialty:
None in particular.
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As Seen In
October 16th, 2009 - 12:49
I actually have a merchant account with National Merchant Bancard and their customer service has been terrific. The enitre setup process only took about 15 minutes and my free terminal was shipped out the same day.
October 16th, 2009 - 13:46
Thanks Michael! I’ll take your review into consideration when it comes time to update the NMB score. Don’t forget to leave a star rating.
Take care!
October 19th, 2009 - 08:00
Hi, did you try them out? I just registered today and was wondering what your results were.
October 19th, 2009 - 10:12
Hi Veronica,
Is the question for me or Michael? I personally haven’t tried them out, but it seems that Michael has. Please let us know how it goes.
January 16th, 2010 - 01:30
It’s smart business practice to have a lot of domain names, especially when just starting out. It’s just a way to re-direct traffic based on key words. I do not find it underhanded at all.
January 16th, 2010 - 02:39
You have a valid point there Brighid, but multiple domains is only good when the entire domain name matches a specific keyphrase like “merchantaccounts.com” if NMB had domains like that, domains that are generic, that are keyword driven, then I wouldn’t have much of a problem with it. But, the domains in my review aren’t like that. The ones in my review are more like brands themselves. What that does is it makes my job harder because instead of having to look up complaints for just the brand “National Merchant Bancard,” I also have to check up on those ones too.
January 16th, 2010 - 09:04
They have affiliates or resellers that sell for them. I would think someone reviewing a company would know this as I figured this out in about 2 seconds. They sell for first data and so do their affiliates. This means if they are sucessful in thier ventures they will have many more domains.
January 16th, 2010 - 11:31
I mention that in the review, but I see how it can come off as if I’m bundling all those domains under the NMB brand. I know they have a TON of resellers and affiliates, and it might have taken me more than 2 seconds to figure that out, but that still doesn’t change the fact that I don’t like how fragmented they allow themselves to be. MSPs/ISOs themselves are resellers and affiliates of Visa and Mastercard. As a merchant, why do I need a reseller for my reseller? NMB is very successful, but remember, this site was created for merchants, not to tout how successful an ISO is. Personally, I don’t like MSPs/ISOs that allow their resellers and affiliates to have their own brands/domains. It makes the merchant’s job of reviewing them much more difficult. So, as a merchant, I’d much rather deal with a company that doesn’t have so many affiliates and resellers associated with their brand…too confusing.
January 27th, 2010 - 18:31
I too am considering asking this company for some money. My main purpose is because I have seen SEVERAL prominent sellers on eBay saying they don’t accept PayPal and they have a link in their auctions that says WHY they don’t. The link redirects you to a site that is ANTI PayPal and tells of PayPal horror stories. Now I can believe PayPal is somewhat shady because I had someone advertise rosetta stone software on ebay and I purchased it thru ebay and used PayPal. The person ended up sending me a COUNTERFEIT CD that did not even work. PayPal would NOT refund the charges, even though I follow their guide lines to a T, and the only reason they gave us that no matter what I RECEIVED the item. If it’s delivered they will not refund the charges. Well WaMu decided I was scammed and they refunded my money. That ofcourse was taken back from PayPal and that put my account into -$230 since I don’t carry money in my paypal account. They tried collecting the money from me and since I wouldn’t pay they closed out my account.
They sent me to collections and I was able to stop the collections with a letter from my bank.
I now have paypal as my Merchant Service Provider and my company generates $17,000+/month in sales and every day I am freaked PayPal will screw us over. So everyday I transfer the money out of PayPal and into my business checking account.
So If anyone knows is NMB is legit or not I would love to know. The sooner I leave PayPal the better.
January 27th, 2010 - 18:31
sorry I meant am considering asking them to HANDLE my money, not FOR.
May 4th, 2010 - 21:04
Call PayPal and tell them to turn Auto-Sweep on it will transfer your money to your bank account automatically.
June 26th, 2011 - 16:00
The same situation happened to me and I switched to [name removed]. The down side is their transaction limits. I’m checking out NMB too so I can see about upping transaction limits.
February 10th, 2010 - 19:08
I’m very currious about this service, as I just opened a business and absolutely can not afford what i’m paying. how are the rates with say, sunvirtual.com? are than Evalon or other processors?
February 11th, 2010 - 00:26
Luna,
Rates are going to vary. My advice is to narrow your search down to a few reputable companies, then ask for quotes.
January 20th, 2011 - 19:58
Luna,
As indicated above, sunvirtual.com is an alter ego for NMB.
March 4th, 2010 - 16:13
Perry,
After reading some of these storys, Im freaking out. I applied for an account at http://www.Imaxapp.com/mpa8882.aspx?ref=8882&promo=rjsfreemerchantapplication and have not heard anything from them yet,e-mail wise or phone. Look, Im broke to the max, lost my job to the recession and am trying to start an online business to make some money to pay down my student loans and credit card bills. Just trying to make a living and then someone trys to screw you out of your Identity and money. I gave them my personal info. which is what you have to inorder to apply for an account or credit card anywhere. Now Im worried they or whoever it is that is scaming may use my Personal info. for identitiy theft. Like the one person said, he googled this company and looked them up at the BBB and couldn’t find nothing so, What gives???
Any advice ?? please let me know
September 13th, 2010 - 15:14
“PayPal alternative” National Merchant Bancard uses http://www.merchantinc.com/rates as a website to “switch” prospective customers from using PayPal to using their On-line Credit Card processing service. The website does not tell you about the fees that they are going to charge monthly. After responding to an e-mail and giving them my personal and bank account details, National Merchant Bancard began charging my bank account without my authorization (they claim these charges are in the fine print of the agreement they offer). They have apparently set it up so that the account you gave them because you think they intended to deposit your credit card transactions there, is also available to them to take a direct debit for their undisclosed or at best, barely disclosed monthly fees – whether you end up using the service or not. Office Manager [name removed] assured me I would be refunded my fees if I signed a statement. I did so and was assured that all was taken care of and to contact “Corporate” at a 1-800 number for any further questions, but after that on the first week of September 2010 I was charged $19.95 and still no refund for the previous charges had ever appeared. When I called “Corporate” (I assume is National Bancard Central) I was asked to read out the bank statement charges – going through the entire process again – and this time the attendant told me that these charges were for starting up my account so what was the problem? – I asked her why my credit union account continued to be debited after she admitted my account had been “cancelled” and she proceeded to explain that my account had been “restructured” – I began losing my patience at this point because I recognized this as a clever re-defining of terms calculated to further confuse, if not defraud me. Although I did raise the volume of my voice and emphatically asserted that I had never intended to “restructure” my account, she accused me of “screaming” and used this as a justification to explain without letting me continue in any way, that she was transferring me to an agent who would help me. I was actually routed to the back of the general call line and have been on hold for almost an hour, so I doubt that she was telling me the truth about getting me an agent who could help. I am afraid that after several polite attempts to straighten this out, that I am dealing with a fraud and a scam and so I am going to continue sounding the warning.
October 15th, 2010 - 10:12
Been aware of what the National Merchant Bank Card, advertises; you can call their CSR 1-877-891-8409 and ask about what they offer; I found out that the terminal is free the one you plug on the wall, but the wireless terminal cost $799., acquring the termials (both of them) requires a 3 year contract with a $15 monthly fee, discount rate 1.99 %, and a 0.25 per transaction.
I think is a normal the ammount they are asking, i been shopping around for a wireless terminal and they do require a ll of the charges mention above and also the time commitmen: 3 years contract; that goes for anyone tryng to get terminals, wireless or not. I think they will have to advertise this information as well.