United Bank Card Review

Merchant Maverick's Rating: (3.5 out of 5)

Last Updated: June 2nd, 2011.

Logo:

Overview:
United Bank Card (UBC) is based out of Hampton, New Jersey and has been in business since 2000. Based on the info I pulled from their site, they have about 110,000 merchant locations that they process for, with over $9 billion in annual processing volume. Needless to say, they are a pretty large processor.

Most of the good info will be found in the rest of this review, but I'll give you a quick recap here...

Even though they are a large ISO/MSP, their complaint count is much higher than some other processors their size (see Moneris, Elavon, EVO). That's not a good sign.

They also have a tough cancellation fee (see below), that can end up costing you a pretty penny. You want to avoid that at all cost. If you can, have them waive the fee, but make sure you get it all in writing.

I couldn't find any testimonials on their site. Not a huge deal, but it would be nice to see some.

You can find them on Facebook and Twitter.

United Bank Card gets a 3.5 out of 5 for now.

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Date Established:
2000.

Location:
Hampton, New Jersey.

Domain Name(s):

• www.unitedbankcard.com.
• www.isoprogram.com (ISO/Agent Program).
• www.unitedcashsolutions.com (ATM Solutions).
• www.harbortouch.com (POS Systems).

Parent/Partner Company:
The United Bank Card Network consists of two other major entities. Harbortouch POS Systems and United Cash Solutions which offers ATM solutions.

Type:
Registered ISO/MSP.

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

Payment Processor(s):
United Bank Card is the processor.

Payment Gateway(s):
Authorize.Net. Do you need help setting up your payment gateway with your website? Click here.

Trust Symbols:
The United Bank Card BBB profile has an "A-" rating as of this review, with 216 complaints in the last 36 months. That's pretty high, even for a large processor like UBC.

Negative Reviews:
The bulk of the negative reviews are going to be found on RipOffReport. There are about 40 of them (as of this update), so there's a quite bit of reading that you'll have to do. I personally read through all of them. See below to learn about the commonalities that I found.

Common Complaints:
Here they are...

• Witholding of funds/termination of accounts: It's hard to blame UBC in this regard. 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 UBC has every right to investigate, and withhold funds if they suspect any fraud. Here are a few reasons why you will get red flagged by UBC: (1) If you start processing way beyond the estimated monthly processing volume that you initially gave them when you signed up, (2) if you sell something that is way above the average ticket price that you told them, and (3) if you receive multiple chargeback disputes. Now, with that said, some processors are a bit more "trigger happy" than others, so judging by all the complaints, UBC may be quicker to hold funds and shut down accounts. That's something you'll want to consider when signing up with them.
• High cancellation (early-termination) fees/Auto-renewal of contract: Some complaints were in regards to UBC's contract terms and cancellation fee. Just so you know, if you break the UBC contract (3-years), then you either have to pay $250, or $35 multiplied by the number of months remaining in your contract. Whichever is more. This is generally referred to as a "liquidated damages" cancellation fee, and can be very very costly. On top of that, the UBC contract auto-renews once the 3-years is up. Not good.

Verifiable Testimonials/References:
None found. Be sure to ask for references.

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 UBC, 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:
Haven't had a chance to deal with their customer service, so don't forget to leave us a review if you have.

Contract Duration:
The contract duration is for 3-years, and auto-renews once the contract term is up.

Cancellation Fee:
The cancellation fee is either $250 or $35 multiplied by the number of months left in your contract. It's a brutal cancellation fee that gives sales reps no incentive to maintain the account, since they get paid regardless of whether the merchant stays with UBC or not.

I found two different versions of the UBC contract that make mention of the cancellation fee. The first one has a clear clause written about it in section "D6" and the second one has a small blurb mentioning something about a possible "minimum penalty of $250" at the bottom of section "B3."

Interchange-Plus Pricing:
Interchange-plus pricing is offered by UBC.

Seasonal Downtime:
Seasonal downtime is also offered.

Product/Service Offering:
Retail (Credit/Debit), Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT), Check Guarantee, e-Commerce, Gift & Loyalty, ATM, Point-Of-Sale (POS).

Product/Service Specialty:
None in particular, but the majority of their merchants are small-to-mid-sized businesses.

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