Bank of America Merchant Services Review
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- Date Established
- 2009
- Location
- Charlotte, NC
Pros
- Next-day deposits available
- Multiple hardware/software options available
- Check/eCheck acceptance
Cons
- $500 early termination fee
- Poor customer support
- Limited pricing disclosed online
- Expensive terminal leases
- Inconsistent/confusing pricing
Overview
Bank of America is well-known by customers and business owners alike. That’s why I can understand why many merchants go straight to Bank of America Merchant Services for payment processing services. It’s a very established name, it’s convenient, and if you trust them to handle your banking, why shouldn’t you trust them to handle your credit card processing?
But here’s the thing: we aren’t talking about Bank of America, the bank. Banc of America Merchant Services, LLC, is not a bank, and while Bank of America is the parent company, it’s not the same company. Yes, that is supposed to be a c in the legal name. To confuse matters a little more, Banc of America with aΒ c refers to itself in all its online material as Bank of America with a k. From here on out, we’ll refer to the combined effort of these two in the context of merchant services as BAMS, Bank of America, or even BofA.
BAMS is an apropos name as it is an enormous merchant acquirer with a huge footprint. It’s ranked third in the nation for purchase volume, according to the 2017 Nilson Report (the most current report available at the time of writing this review). And Bank of America’s acquiring service is growing in volume each year.
BAMS is ultimately just a First Data reseller, meaning that BofA repackages and reprices First Data products instead of developing its own solutions. This sort of practice is very common, especially with First Data. (First Data ranked fourth on the Nilson Report, behind Bank of America. So really, Bank of America has a bigger footprint than First Data, the company BAMS gets its core products from.)
Despite this large footprint, Bank of America isn’t bringing anything new to the table. Its merchant rates are hardly competitive, and if anything, BofA adds strict contractual agreements that hide behind its dinner-table name recognition.
What’s more problematic is that we see reports time and again that suggest this company uses questionable sales tactics and overall poor advertising transparency to get merchants to sign on the dotted line. You can imagine that all of this unease leads to a growing pool of unsatisfied customers who didnβt understand the costs, and they face high costs and frustration when they want to get out. Between expensive early termination fees, bank-breaking lease agreements, add-on services that many other processors include outright, and shoddy customer support, most anyone would start to wonder how such a poor company manages to be so large.
The truth is that many merchants may not be checking over their fees with a fine tooth comb, so they may not know better. Many don’t take the time actually to read the contract before signing. (Don’t do that.) Others are knee-deep in BofA services and may feel it would cost more to migrate elsewhere. And some merchants likely have enough purchasing power to bargain down the extraneous fees in their initial agreement. For all of those merchants who already bank with Bank of America, next-day deposits for business checking account holders remains a major draw. Name recognition may be another significant deciding factor.
If you’re really sure you want to look into Bank of America for your credit card processing, read this review carefully and keep all these factors in mind. In the following post, you’ll find out why I can’t give Bank of America Merchant Services more than 3 stars. Yes, BAMS is a big company with powerful resources, but Iβm just not convinced that it wields these resources to the benefit of merchants. This company could improve on many features including transparency, pricing, and frankly, the fundamental way the company operates. If we saw improvement in any regard, we could raise the rating, but not until then.
Check out the full Bank of America Merchant Services review below for the rundown of our rating. If you’re not up to it, you could also explore our handy comparison chart below and find out about the better-rated companies we’ve found that stand out from the crowd.
We've done in-depth research on each and confidently recommend them.
Table of Contents
Products & Services
Image of Bank of America Merchant Services Web Page
You have several options to choose from when it comes to your Bank of America merchant services. Keep in mind, though, that most of the options below will cost extra, and specific prices may vary by account. We found that on the official merchant services website, prices were missing. However, on Bank of America’s main banking website, it mentions merchant services, and on those pages, they’ve included some specific pricing for purchasing some of the lower-end hardware outright. Leasing and other information are harder to find, however, as well as rates surrounding eCommerce services.
We’ll dig deeper into pricing later on in the post. For now, here’s an overview of available products and services when you sign up for a merchant account.
- Tablet-based POS options: If you don’t have a POS or you’re looking to upgrade, Bank of America offers the Clover suite of POS products, including the Clover Station, Clover Mini, and Clover Flex. You’ll find several types of devices available based on your needs, and the hardware kit includes support for magstripe, EMV, and NFC transactions. Plus, Clover supports a large app market for all kinds of integrations. For swiped, dipped or tapped cards, you’ll pay 2.7% on each transaction, but this cost doesn’t include other fees that you’ll face with your account, or keyed-in transactions. (We’ll talk more about fees below.)
- Check Acceptance: Check acceptance is becoming increasingly rare among processors, but BAMS can process that for you while detecting potential fraud during the time of the sale through Clover’s TeleCheck service.
- Mobile Payments: The Clover Go mobile app (read our review) isn’t as functional as the full-fledged Clover POS but it’s partially compatible. You’ll pay 2.7% per swipe, dip or tap, or 3.5% + $0.15 per keyed transaction. There’s a basic swipe/chip card reader that connects via headphone hack available for $34.99. You can also opt for Clover Go Bluetooth reader for $59.99.
- Payment Gateway: Bank of America offers its own payment gateway for online merchants, but you’ll likely face a large setup fee and a per-transaction fee on top of processing rates.
- Dynamic Currency Conversion: If you frequently deal with customers from another country, BAMS offers dynamic currency conversion so you can charge customers in their card’s currency for a clearer customer checkout process.
- Global ePricing: BAMS calls this Global ePricing, but other companies generally refer to it as multi-currency displays. If you have an online shop and sell all over the globe, you can display item prices in location-specific currencies automatically.
- Real-Time Reporting and Analytics: BAMS promises detailed reporting and analytics, but you’ll be paying additional monthly fees for this. Considering that many of the best merchant account providers and third-party processors like Square offer free and detailed analytics for no additional cost, I’m a bit put off by this. We discuss which software bundle comes with what later on in this post.
- Gift Card Services:Β Through the Clover POS, you can use their Gift Cards App to launch and track a gift card program. You can order a batch as small as 100 and can choose from a handful of ready-made designs.
- Loyalty Program:Β As another example of how nondescript the marketing information is on the BAMS site, you won’t be able to find too much about the loyalty program. However, it’s part of the free software option that’s available with all plans except Clover Go.
- TransArmor Data Protection: TransArmor is a data breach protection service that provides tokenization and encryption, and you’ll get it at no charge with Clover products. If you’re bringing your own POS to the party, expect BAMS to charge you a monthly fee for this service. This data protection is NOT the same as a PCI compliance fee.
- Next-Day Deposits: If you have a Bank of America business checking account, your funds are released to you the next business day. Having a BAMS account also means the bank will waive your $30 monthly fee for checking. If you don’t have a BofA checking account, your deposits will take longer. BAMS doesn’t clarify, but I would expect 2-3 business days.
That’s really about it for Bank of America’s services. For the most part, these solutions address most everything a merchant needs, which is nice. However, nothing about these options stand out as enticing or even note-worthy. Most of their services are just re-packaged deals from another provider β and they’re going to cost you more to get them.
Fees & Rates
Bank of America Merchant Services has gotten a little better about disclosing pricing, and we were glad to see that BAMS now has a more predictable flat-rate pricing model for some POS solutions (more below). However, they don’t have information about eCommerce rates, the Clover Station or terms of service on the site, so we can’t look at a sample contract and point out the red flags right off the bat.
Some large processors like this ambiguity for a variety of reasons. One is that they base their pricing on a whole slew of factors such as your industry, your monthly or annual volume, what kind of hardware you need, etc., and specific plan. However, plenty of other businesses clearly disclose their markup, so you know exactly what you’ll pay when you sign up. So you shouldn’t accept the lack of pricing disclosure as perfectly normal.
To get more detailed pricing information for this post, we reached out to Bank of America and obtained some numbers. Keep in mind that they based these figures on the type of business model we presented β a small business startup merchant. We didn’t attempt to negotiate a deal or shop specific plans. Your experience and quotes may vary. I suspect that if five different businesses contacted BofA, we might get 5 different quotes; that’s the nature of these things. Below are the quotes we received from the rep:
eCommerce CostsΒ
- Gateway Setup Fee: $99 (one time)
- Gateway Service Fee: $16/month
- Gateway Per-transaction fee: $0.10
- PCI Compliance Fee: $9.95/month
As far as the transaction rate, the rep quoted me a tiered pricing model for online transactions. This type of billing means that your transaction rates can vary significantly depending on how a credit card processor categorizes your sale. The rep broke down eCommerce rates for me below:
- Qualified Rate: 2.19% + $0.20
- Mid-Qualified: 3.19% + $0.20
- Non-Qualified: 4.09% + $0.20
So what’s a qualified transaction? Any swiped or inserted card that does not have an attached reward program like points or miles. Keyed-in, corporate, and international cards will cost more, according to her explanation. You can see how commonly used rewards cards can start to be very expensive for merchants, as they no longer pay the qualified rate, and the other two scenarios are a bit muddy when it comes to categorizing. The tiered pricing model is one of our least favorites for transparency issues.
Hardware Options & Costs
Clover Go (Mobile Card Reader)
- Swiped/Dipped/Tapped Transactions: 2.7%
- Keyed Entry Transactions: 3.5% + $0.15
- EMV-Enabled Headphone Jack Reader: $34.99
- All-In-One Bluetooth Card Reader: $59.99
- No Monthly Fee
Clover Mini LTE & Clover Mini WiFi
- Swiped/Dipped/Tapped Transactions: 2.7%
- Keyed Entry Transactions: 3.5% + $0.15
- Includes: Built-in receipt printer and various power supplies (e.g., power brick, cables, etc)
- Clover Mini WiFi: From $599
- Clover Mini LTE: From $649
Clover Flex
- Cost: $499
- Swiped/Dipped/Tapped Transactions: 2.7%
- Keyed Entry Transactions: 3.5% + $0.15
- WiFi enabled
- Built-in receipt printer
- Barcode scanner/camera
- Works offline
Clover Station
- Cost: $1,264 full price
- Swiped/Dipped/Tapped Transactions: Non disclosed
- FD40 PIN pad
- Receipt printer
- Cash drawer
- Printer paper
- Cables
As I was poking around, I noticed this footnote under the Clover Station items:
Clover Station requires Clover Mini to accept PIN Debit. Clover Station requires Clover Mini or an NFC Display Printer to accept NFC transactions. In jurisdictions that require a cardholder facing display, Clover Station requires a Clover Mini, NFC Display Printer or a display pole.
In other words, if you want to accept PIN debit or live in an area that requires a customer-facing display, you’ll need to purchase a Clover Mini for each of your stations, too!
That’s not even all of the fine print — for example, with the Clover Flex, you can opt for 4g LTE data service, but only for an additional monthly fee (Clover lists the fee as $15/month for 1 GB of mobile data, as stated in our Clover Flex review). Scroll through the BAMS pages about Clover and you’ll find lots of these footnotes with the fine print.
BAMS does offer various hardware accessories to go with your Clover equipment, but to be honest I am certain you could get those accessories for a lower price through another provide, because I know for a fact that Bank of America marks up the cost of the Clover hardware. That in itself isn’t necessarily a bad thing, because most First Data resellers mark up the cost of the hardware in order to make a bit of money. But if you are bargain conscious, get your accessories elsewhere because you can definitely pay less than the asking price.
Software Plans For Clover POS
In addition to the cost of the hardware, you’re going to have to pay a software fee with Clover.Β You have three choices when it comes to what your POS can actually do for your business. First, we have Payments Plus, which is a completely free plan with any device (except for Clover Go, which is an entirely separate app from the Clover POS). As I studied the page for awhile, I realized that once again, things can get confusing if you’re not paying attention. Case in point, the first “feature” of Payments Plus is cloud-based reporting accessible via web or mobile app. But there are no specific reports listed here, and you have to opt for the Register Lite plan at $9.95 per month to even add tax rates, discounts, and here’s the big red flag β to get product-level reporting and inventory tracking.
Seeing how product inventory and reporting are the basic tenants of most merchant services, I have to wonder what reports are coming along with the “freemium” version. My guess is that the report is an overall sales tally for the day, but again, they don’t specify here.
So as far as actual reporting or basic functionality like adding a discount or tax to the item, you’re on the hook for another monthly fee. Here is an overview of each plan:
Payments Plus (Free; supports Clover Flex and Clover Mini)
- Cloud-Based Reporting: Accessed on app or web (No specifics about reports are listed on site.)
- Customer Engagement: Promotions, loyalty, rewards programs, customer feedback
- Employee Management: Schedule management, employee permissions and logs
Register Lite ($9.95 per month/per device; supports Clover Flex and Clover Mini)Β
This Register LiteΒ plan for POS includes all of the Payments Plus service plan items plus:
- Tax rates and discounts
- Line-item sales for quicker checkout
- Create and save orders, add notes, and refund items
- Detailed product-level reports
- Cash drawer integration
- Access Clover App Market of 300 apps (additional charges apply)
Register ($29.95 per month/per device; supports Clover Flex, Mini, & Station)
The Register software plan for POS will give you everything in Payments Plus, Register LITE and:
- Kitchen printer integration
- Weight scale integration (available on Clover Mini and Clover Station)
- More detailed reporting (such as the ability to see reporting based on variant and modifier)
- Enhanced inventory management (variant and modifier-level line item descriptions)
All of these costs start to add up quickly. Clover is competitive in the POS space, but I don’t think anyone except a Clover representative would tell you it’s the best pricing available.
Keep in mind that if you contact the company over the phone to get set up β especially if you’re also using some other part of Bank of America’s offerings β you’ll pay an undisclosed price. I have no information about whether that’s lower or higher. BAMS does have some lovely fine print saying that not all merchants are eligible for the online rate, and that prices vary when dealing with sales reps, so you should be wary. When you deal with a sales rep, you’ll also likely be offered hardware through a leasing program, which should absolutely avoid at all costs. We discuss more about that in our next sections, so don’t miss it!
Finally, one of the bigger draws of BAMS is next-day deposits for merchants who also have a business checking account with them. If you don’t have a BofA business checking account, your deposits will take longer (2-3 business days being most likely).
If you are with BofA, it’s important to note yet another fee β your business checking account will cost about $30/month to maintain, unless you’re also using merchant services and/or payroll as well. In which case, the company is happy to waive that fee. It claims that this saves you money. In fact, BAMS goes so far as to claim this is a great way to reduce your processing fees:
But do you want to know how else you can save money? Get a business account with another bank or a credit union that has low or nonexistent monthly fees. Then choose a processor who will give you next-day deposits regardless of which bank you use.
Contract Length & Early Termination Fee
When I previously talked to a Bank of America rep using the live chat feature, he told me that there was a three-year contract in place, which fits with everything we’ve heard from merchants. He also said there was no early termination fee, which definitely does NOT fit with everything we’ve heard from merchants. We have multiple reports of merchants being assessed a $500 ETF, which is $200 MORE than the typical ETF (most processors I’ve seen charge about $300). That’s ridiculously expensive for a company that already charges a boatload of fees.
During the conversation I had this week with the BoA rep, she did disclose the termination agreement for processing to include the $500 cancellation fee. It kind of makes one wonder why they make it so expensive to leave in the first place. Some of the most ethical of merchant account providers we’ve reviewed operate on a month-to-month basis without contracts, so you certainly shouldn’t feel like an ETF is unavoidable. If you don’t want to be locked into a contract, I recommend checking out our top-rated processors.
Lease Agreement: Benefit or Risk?
It’s also important to note that Bank of America uses an equipment leasing program. It’s not even an in-house leasing program. If you want to lease Clover hardware, you’ll actually be dealing with First Data. While the company is a large and overall solid processor, their leasing program can be terrible for merchants.
According to the rep I talked to, leases for equipment are 36 months. When I asked the rep about cancelling the lease, she informed me that I’d need to pay the remainder balance of the lease. Note that she did not say the remainder balance for the cost of hardware, but the cost of the lease. This hefty sum would be far above what a merchant would pay outright for equipment. And if you’re cancelling the equipment lease, you probably have a good reason. Yet you’d still be left with the remainder of the lease and the hardware you won’t use. For this reason, we strongly caution merchants against lease agreements though BoA.
If you can, buy the equipment outright. Buying your POS hardware outright will cost more up front, but it’ll be a much better deal overall. If you need more time to pay, consider a small business loan to buy the equipment instead.
Sales & Advertising Transparency
BAMS exhibits almost every transparency issue Iβve come to expect from less-than-stellar processors. For starters, BAMS only offers pricing information for some of its plans and services, coupled with a disclaimer that not everyone will be eligible for that pricing.
Any processor that does this will tell you it’s because pricing is contingent on your industry, your average transaction size, your monthly/annual volume and other factors. And that’s true β however, that’s how they set rates. That’s not the case across the board. Transparent merchant services companies have no trouble disclosing their markup and fees because they charge consistent, transparent rates to everyone and typically only offer special rates for high-volume merchant accounts. And that’s to save you money, not the other way around.
Second, I am utterly unimpressed by the BAMS website. It is clunky, poorly designed, and lacking information in obvious places. The design feels like three sites within one, and as a result is very difficult to navigate. To confuse matters even more, they even have a separate mini-site on the main Bank of America site under its small business services, which has different information!
And again — the website is full of fine print. It’s EVERYwhere. Every single page has footnotes with all the exceptions and rules and requirements and all the extra bits that BAMS doesn’t want you to pay attention to but has to disclose. Good processors don’t usually have to throw fine print everywhere becase they can be transparent and still win over customers. That doesn’t seem the case here.
Lastly, my impression is that Bank of America doesn’t want you to rely on the website. It wants to get you into a live chat or on the phone or submitting information via email so that its sales reps can work their “magic.” For example, the only item that BAMS gives information in FAQ for merchant costs is this short explanation of a chargeback. You’d think this would be a good spot to explain the myriad of other fees you’ll incur with a BAMS account, but no.
Bank of America FAQ Screenshot
As far as other points of connection, their social media channels are limited. Bank of America Merchant Services has a dedicated LinkedIn and Facebook page. Both appear to be updated regularly, but that’s about it. Facebook’s page favors the Call Now action button, meaning that you shouldn’t count on a timely response if you message them on Facebook.
BofA has a Twitter feed, as well as dedicated news and help Twitter channels; however, remember that Merchant Services is a different company. All in all, you’re better off trying to go through the official support channel (a phone line) than getting help on social media.
For a company that claims to tailor itself to small business, I find this extremely disappointing.Β Things work differently in an enterprise environment, where doing business usually involves sales calls, presentations, reps visiting on site, meetings to discuss the decision, etc. Small businesses just don’t operate like that and so to see such a disappointing site and nonexistent social media (and minimal educational content) leaves me disheartened. A company as large as Bank of America can certainly do better — it just has to want to. And sadly, I don’t think it does. Β
Many reviewers complain about non-disclosure of important contract terms, misleading fee/rate explanation, and overall poor sales transparency during consultations. Although it looks like most, if not all of the BAMS sales reps are company employees and not independent agents, this doesnβt guarantee a good sales experience.
One thing I often do when reviewing a company is check out an employee review site to see what people say. Sales agents are particularly great about leaving reviews, so this gives me some helpful information (like whether the agents get a base pay plus bonuses or work solely on commission). I checked out Bank of America Merchant services from the employment review site, Glassdoor. Here, employees can leave reviews anonymously, so it’s likely going to represent a balanced view of leadership and working conditions. As of spring 2019, BAMS has a 3.2 out of 5-star rating from employees, with 58% of employees who would recommend the job to a friend.
Glassdoor Bank of America Employee Rating
For the most part, the biggest pros seem to be good work balance, good base reimbursement, and potential for good earnings. However, the cons seem to be issues with poor management, pressure to upsell to merchants who may not need the products or services, and outdated technology. Those are just not things we should be hearing from a leading entity with billions of merchants under its belt. It definitely seems that these issues affect merchants (especially that pressure to upsell!).
When dealing with Bank of America, I urge you to proceed cautiously and donβt sign anything until youβve read it carefully. Be very thorough in asking questions and make sure that what you’ve been told lines up with what your contract says. If you’re worried about a pushy sales person, you can and should certainly consider walking away — you can contact the company again later and try to get a sales rep who isn’t quite so aggressive. High-pressured sales tactics lead to spur of the moment decisions that put you potentially in a bad spot — you don’t want to sign something because there’s a “limited time deal” only to find out that you’re now trapped in a contract. If you need help understanding your contract, reach out to us.
Customer Service & Technical Support
While the customer support is decent, I’m left feeling underwhelmed concerning the overall support services and self-serve information offered at BAMS. It’s good to see that you can at least access help 24-hours a day, though the help itself has a mixed bag of reviews as far as quality is concerned.
At BofA, youβll find:
- Phone Support (Payment Processing): Offered 24/7. This seems to be the sole means of support from actual BAMS agents. On the one hand, being able to talk to a live person is great. On the other, some people (myself included) loathe getting on the phone if we can get an answer another way (email or live chat).
- Small Online FAQ: This self-help section is bare-bones, and I am quite disappointed by it. Then again, if BofA signs most merchants up with Clover, the Clover FAQs (which you can find on the Clover site) will address most of the software and hardware problems.
- Clover Device Support: Phone and email support are available directly though Clover if you have technical issues. This is a pretty standard practice with any First Data reseller — Clover’s reps are going to be the most knowledgeable about the products and how to troubleshoot them. The good news is Clover’s support is 24/7.
- CyberSource Support for eCommerce: Offered 24/7 through the Cyber Business Center app.
- Payeezy Gateway Support: Offered for activation and password assistance online.
If you’re not signed up with Bank of America yet, you can also access a separate phone line, live chat, or an email inquiry form to start the application process or ask questions before you sign up. The live chat feature was responsive and generally helpful. However, they definitely want to get your information passed off to a sales rep who can talk you into signing. After I explained I wasn’t going to share my phone number or business name, I was told their help for me was limited.
If you have experience using the BAMS customer service options, please leave your thoughts in our comments section. Thank you!
User Reviews
Negative Reviews & Complaints
Since Bank of America doesnβt have a separate BBB profile for Bank of America Merchant Services company, we donβt have that resource to draw from in this case. However, elsewhere the web isΒ populated with complaints against BAMS. When searching the company by name in Google, we found that Bank of America Merchant services has 82 Google Reviews with a 1.4 out of 5-star rating as of May 2019. Upon further inspection, it was fairly simple to pinpoint major problems, given how numerous and explicit they are. Here are the common issues:
- Expensive Terminal Lease Contracts: Some merchants have complained about not being aware that they were signing a non-cancellable terminal lease. The whole “not being aware” part can be chalked up to some merchants not fully understanding how leasing works, but I think more likely it’s sales reps being dodgy about explaining the terms. Terminal leasing is unnecessary to begin with. And First Data’s insistence on leasing is a huge mark against the whole Clover system, as well as the inconsistency in pricing from one reseller to the next.
- Withholding Funds/Termination Of Accounts: This can happen for a number of reasons. Chargebacks and/or suspicious charges can easily raise a red flag that will either get you suspended or shut down. Both First Data and Bank of America have been known to be a bit trigger-happy when it comes to holding funds, and sadly merchants are having trouble getting funding from legitimate transactions. You’re going to want to learn how to avoid holds and minimize chargebacksΒ if you plan on signing up with BofA.
- High Cancellation Fee: If you want to cancel before your contract is up (three years), then Bank of America will likely charge you a $500 cancellation fee. That’s pretty steep considering there are plenty of other providers that don’t charge a fee at all and the industry standard is usually about $300. On top of that, we see multiple reports of BofA continuing to charge for services after cancellation and customers have trouble cancelling the contract in general!
- High And/Or Hidden Fees: You’ll see first that Bank of America isn’t great at disclosing fees, and that’s likely because they are quite high. In addition to setup, monthly, and PCI compliance fees (not to mention the ETF) you could also be hit with annual fees. Merchant complaints aren’t clear what other kinds of fees they encounter, just that they sometimes can amount to almost 10% of a single transaction. Related to this, you’ll see general complaints that Bank of America is expensive — and that may be as a result of high processing rates and all the assorted other fees BofA charges.
- Poor Customer Service: While even a big company can give you a nice, personal experience via friendly and dedicated account reps, this doesnβt seem to be the case with Bank of America. One reviewer pointed out that they are “hands on” when they are working with you to get you to sign their contract, but aren’t helpful when merchant issues arise. While they may have 24/7 phone support, that doesnβt mean itβs good quality. Complaints specifically focus on equipment issues, long hold times, being shuffled around from department to department without a solution, and outright rude and even condescending support reps.
Positive Reviews & Testimonials
Google Reviews seems to be the largest pool of reviews for the actual Bank of America Merchant Services wing, rather than a general BofA customer base. Here it’s clear that things are focused on merchant accounts, and at 1.4 out of 5 stars, you can imagine that it’s not very good. However, after filtering it for only positive reviews, I found just seven 5-star reviews out of the 82. Five of those reviews had no text and were also from people who have only filled out only one Google review, and it was for BAMS. I’d imagine out of the hundreds of thousands of users, if the service was exemplary, we’d hear some details about it somewhere β however that just doesn’t appear to be the case, and I’m left with serious doubts on the validity of those reviews.
Bank of America doesn’t appear to have any testimonials on its own merchant services website, which is disappointing, because BAMS definitely has the resources to put them together. The closest we get is this claim about serving about half of the the major brands in various categories:
This sounds pretty great — it makes BAMS seem like a trusted brand. But keep in mind these clients are definitely getting the special A-lister treatment, which you may not qualify for as a small business.
Otherwise, positive reviews are pretty hard to come by. There is one place where positive reviews might lurk — amid the reviews of Clover products. The Clover reviews seem to be a dumping ground of reviews from all of First Data’s many resellers. Unfortunately, weeding through them all and figuring out which sales reps work for which company is nigh impossible. And this kind of ties into an important idea: BAMS has great products. After all, Clover POS is a powerful piece of software. The problem is with the terms and services Bank of America offers to merchants.
Final Verdict
Nothing that Bank of America offers is anything you can’t get elsewhere. Plenty of merchant service providers offer (free) next-day deposits regardless of who you bank with (Fattmerchant comes to mind), and that’s the biggest standout feature. And as I hope I’ve conveyed to you here, Bank of America doesn’t offer competitive pricing for its services or its hardware. In fact, its outsourced terminal lease program (through First Data) is hugely problematic. A company as large as Bank of America Merchant Services can and should do better than just repackaging another processor’s goods for high prices and poor customer support.
If I had to guess, I’d say that the customers of Bank of America Merchant Services likely signed up thinking that they were playing it safe with a big-name bank.Β But name recognition shouldn’t be the reason you choose a credit card processor.
Because BAMS could improve so much in regards to its services, but it still covers the basics, Iβm leaving the Bank of America Merchant Services review at 3.0Β stars. While I’m not exactly saying to run for the hills, I recommend that you seriously consider other vetted options before jumping on board with BAMS. Other credit card processors manage to provide transparent pricing and much better support, and you don’t necessarily have to sacrifice next-day deposits. And quick side note: if you’re paying $30/month for business checking through BofA, then maybe you should also look at another bank or credit union (even though I’m not actually reviewing BofA’s checking services).
In closing, if BAMS showed any sort of commitment to improvement in any regard, I’d happily raise the rating. Until we see better customer service, better leasing terms, or even just an improvement in transparency on the website, Bank of America Merchant Services will stay right where it is in my books.
If you have experience with or insight into BofA Merchant Services, leave your thoughts in a comment! Thanks for reading and good luck.
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Emily Hale
Emily is a writer, strategist, and freelance consultant based in Indianapolis. She is driven to create content that empowers her readers and her clients to make better choices in their business and their lives. When she's not in the thick of researching and developing blogs for Merchant Maverick, she likes to cook from scratch for her family or escape outdoors and meander through nature with her rescue pup.
Latest posts by Emily Hale (see all)
- Square For Nonprofits: Everything You Need To Know About Seamlessly Accepting Donations, Running Events, & Selling Merch With Squareβs Platform - December 6, 2019
- What Is Shopify Pay & Why Does It Matter For Merchants? - September 16, 2019
- How To Sell On Instagram With Shoppable Posts - August 20, 2019
- Should You Open A Merchant Account With Your Bank? - July 29, 2019
- Does Your Merchant Agreement Have An Auto Renewal Clause? - July 17, 2019
To learn more about how we score our reviews, see our Credit Card Processor Rating Criteria.
Organization Name: Relational Repair
Thank you for your comprehensive review of BAMS, it lines up with my experience as a sole practitioner in my small business. I have had business accounts with BoA and using BAMS for 4+ years now. For the most part it has worked to process cc payments well, but I have been frustrated with not having a Clover Go device that works with my phone (and hence paying higher rates this whole time and not appreciating the hard upsell to Clover Flex which I don’t need.), and also just all the other monthly charges that keep adding up. I am finally looking into switching banks and merchant processors, and reading your review is giving me courage to do it finally, armed with information that my frustrating experiencing is valid!
Organization Name: villa azure
it is not possible to describe it. never! Never use this service and this bank, it’s thieves and crooks. A year ago, I started to work with this service, after 6 days they froze (closed) my account and all the money that I earned. It’s been a year since they did not give me my money and nobody can tell me why.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Dare to Wear
For anyone looking for a merchant account please stay away from Bank Of America Merchant. They make it loos so easy and it might seem fair price for your clover device but believe me they are ripping people off. They will sign you up for a long term contract and you won’t be able to get out of it for a long long time. I closed my store last year and I called BOA Merchant customer service to close my account immediately after I shut down my business. They were unable to cancel my account unless I pay over $500 cancellation fee so now I’m stuck to monthly fees until next year. They should be more supportive of small business as we are the ones who work hard to make the magic happen … but instead they will lure you in and if your business doens’t go according to your plan you will be stuck with long term fees. There are many other companies out there to chose from …. This is my experience and I would like to share with everyone. Please don’t make the same mistake I did.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Deeva Threading
OMG, i came here after i have been victimized by BAMS, they never told me about the contract and termination fee. i thought the machine from first data is $500. they have very poor communication skills. They are big frud. They charge me $1478. at the end when i close my business and try the close the account. I feel like so cheated and the amount goes to collection. then finally i had to pay $1478 after paying the monthly fee of $42 for a year. This so sad that most of the people have kind of same situation.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: MicroAdvantage, Inc.
We’ve had BofA Merchant Services for over a decade and frankly I’m surprised that BofA got as many as three stars in this review. When the reviewer listed “poor customer service” under cons, she was not kidding. Because this bank farms out all its merchant services to other companies, whenever anything goes wrong they point fingers and NOTHING gets done. There is no ownership of their product so they don’t put any initiative into solving any problems. It’s the number one reason we would leave BofA in a heartbeat if we could. We’ve tried at least twice to survey all the various processors but because the bulk of our charges come from large ticket or Tier 3 charges, we’ve been unable to find another company that can handle that.Our only saving grave at this point is the fact that they switched their online processing provider and that company’s technicians are outstanding, both knowledgeable and helpful and it’s simple to get through to somebody. You could call BofA all day and never get through to someone who could or is willing to help you. The only worse company in terms of customer service (or lack thereof) is AT&T.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Pelham Services Inc
This BOA merchant service has the worst service that i have ever seeing only comprable with trash collection. Our terminal got Hacked and were issue wrong charges, they not only took from my account the amount the was deposit (no complains about that, but they also did charge backs in the same amounts and BOA is charging us huge fees for those transaction and now we do not find a person in the whole organization who can help us to solve the situation. Please advice if anyone has gone thru the same case and how did it get solved.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: helix
Terrible customer service. No support. They charge YOU for fraudulent online services. They do not update you on requirements. They do not respond to requests. They do not monitor your account until it is 100 times over the normal usage with obvious fraudulent charges online.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Hi Amy, When you mention that, “They do not monitor your account until it is 100 times over the normal usage with obvious fraudulent charges online.” Are you talking about chargebacks?
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Life Transitions, LLC
I gave a rating of one star because there is no available rating that is lower . I wish the Bank of America representative would have explained to me that BOA Merchant Services is a separate entity and getting in touch with the right department to resolve an issue is close to impossible. Fortunately, I was able to discontinue my contract before actually activating if after I read these reviews. However, it’s not completely resolved and it’s going into the 5th month. The customer service which I’m lumping all departments (sales, customer service, collections, IT, etc.) are horrible. There is no communication between these entities and you have to start over with your issue each time you are transferred, which in my case has been a minimum of 20 times (not an exaggeration). I did not expect type of behavior from a reputable business (Bank of America) but as I mentioned, they are separate from BOA. A few of the representatives were very helpful and tried to resolve the issue and for them I am grateful. However, overall, I would not recommend Bank of America Merchant services to anyone for their processing needs. I’m still searching and will make sure I read the fine print before proceeding with a merchant services provider.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Around The Clock Gas Service
Bank of America Merchant has very poor customer service, I was on the phone with them for 3 hours and 32 minutes today, I was transferred 4 times to 4 different departments and nobody seem to find the problem, while having some charge backs they first tell you that the best and fastest way to respond to a dispute is to fax it…. Well did that on two occasions and get denied on both, reason! well because my first fax did not go through completely, when I did re-fax and made sure it was sent the second time because I did notice all the pages did not go through. When I called back because I received a denied letter, they said that it was because they only received partial fax, goes to show they are getting paid as a merchant but do nothing for you because instead of checking the paperwork before sending it to the credit card company, they send what they receive first.. to me they are just big bullies and do not care about their customer’s interest even paying them. I am under contract but as soon as my contract it up, I will be taking my business elsewhere. It is such a shame because I’ve had them for as my bankers for more than 20 years, any recommendations on a better bank?
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: M.S. Auditing & Comsulting
As it was said in the beginning of this this review they say that Bank of American and Bank of American Merchant Services are two different companies. There are not the same. That is important to know. So if you have a loan or bank account with Bank of America it is not with Bank of American Merchant Services. The other thing is that First Data is the company that processes for Bank of America Merchant Services.
I have audited Bank Of America Merchant Services statements and have found that they are padding merchants statement. this is costing merchants a lot of money.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Resilient Tresses Hair by Nae
What are you doing about it?
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Ten Tiny Toes Photography, LLC
This company is such a scam. I haven’t used my account in 9 months, and called to cancel it and was NEVER told that there was a contract in place nor that there would be a $500 early termination fee. The fact that they would not tell me this is absolutely absurd and has to be illegal!!! They just took the money out of my account one day. I will be filing as many complaints as possible about this and telling EVERY business owner I use to stay away from them!
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Total rip off! Somehow sold a $120 worth credit card machine for a $1,500.And they have me on a hook on leasing. Plus we keep receiving charges nobody could explain.Way to treat start-ups BoA
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
The absolutely worst costumer service.The person helping me was actually arguing with me about closing my account!?!? I would never recommend ever,ever ever!! Merchant services explained to me that they would close my account then proceeded to continue to take ‘fees’ from my small business.i wish I would have read these reviews before choosing to use their services
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
We believe that this company is complete scam. Save yourself headaches and find a better company. Payeezy/First Data/Clover, if you keep playing with businesses, we will take you to court…
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Horrible service!! I was told by a Merchant Services representative at Bank Of America that they could give me great rates and beat my QuickBooks go payment rates. FAR FROM THE TRUTH!!! I processed one payment of 8900 using QuickBooks. Client had AmEx. Fees were 302.00. Processed second payment of 8900.00 with same card using First Date/ Payeezy and the fees were close to 600.00!!! Rip OFF!!! I will be switching banks and have already closed my First Data Account.DO NOT TRUST THESE COMPAINIES!!
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Bank of America Merchant Services in tandem with Clover Card Reader is a huge scam. Using Bank of America Merchant Services was a huge mistake and cost my company thousands of dollars. The support is horrible, there are hidden fees, and they do everything possible to screw you. Using BofA and Clover was the biggest mistake my company made this year. Do yourself a favor and stay far away. Considering a lawsuit against BofA because of the awful merchant services.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Please let me know if you end up suing. I think a lot of people have grounds for this!
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Resilient Tresses Hair by Nae
I agree we need to take stand.This is highway robbery.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
When you switch processors it will take an act of congress to get this bank to stop stealing money from your account and you will not get it back. For several months we were getting charged for the monthly base fee even though we cancelled. They told me that they could not undo what was done. When we finally were told we would not be charged anymore an annual fee of 57.00 was taken out two months later. I have now had to pay my bank to put a hold on any withdraws from these people. I will never do business with them again in any way shape or form and I tell everyone I know to do likewise.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
YEEEEESS… BAMS is the worst step for starting a small business. Their representatives are not transparent as they hide critical information. They are specialist avoiding contact with customer that want to cancel this service. The representatives never tell you about the $500.00 cancellation fees or a four year contract, auto renew, hidden fees or annual fees.
What is the role of Bank of America’s representative in this scam?
If the Federal Trade Commission has any concern, is about time for a complaint
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Epifanio,
I’m really sorry you had a crummy experience. Unfortunately that happens too often in this industry..
I am a relationship manager with Heartland. I would be more than happy to help you personally, or get you in contact with a local rep in your area. If you haven’t heard of us, Heartland is the 5th largest direct processor in the United States. Feel free to check out the review Merchant Maverick wrote about us.. We pride ourselves in doing right by our clients, and have developed many practices in order to achieve that.
Please feel free to contact me. I’m happy to tell you more or to get you connected with someone in your hometown.
Warm regards,
Heather Lindaman
heather.lindaman@e-hps.com
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
I will never do business with them again in any capacity. When we changed vendors we notified them. They continued to charge us even though no processing occurred. We called again and they said they could not credit us for months past even though there were no processes however they would stop the charges. We got another round of charges and they said it was because we called in the middle of the cycle. They are scam artists and it is a wonder they are allowed to do business at all. I will tell everyone I know not to do business with B of A in any capacity.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Very crooked business pracitices! Dont ever sign up with them! I had a merchant account with Bank of America for several years. Over that time, I received notices constantly that my rates were increasing. When I called to try to have them lowered, they were rude and not helpful. It took several phone calls to close my account. Three months after closing my account, I am still being charged very high fees. They conveniently don’t have record of my requests to close my account and will not credit my account for these charges. NEVER NEVER get involved with this company!!!
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
I spoke with Barry, a representative from BoA Merchant Services about switching over to them and specifically asked him about contract obligations, early termination fees, etc. and he said that this was not the case. There was a one-time initiation fee of ~$180 that would waive this and allow me to cancel at any time. After speaking with him, I did a quick Google search for reviews and found this site. When I pointed him to this article to confirm/deny some of the points raised he became belligerent in his tone and tried to switch the tables and talk about how my company was not worth his time.Based on this experience alone and tone I will not do business with BoA Merchant services even though I have a business and personal account with them.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
We are a small mobile cafts business and only choose Bank of America because in 2013 we traveled from the west coast to Michigan and back in the RV and quickly discovered that while buying local is something that has helped us grow our business, our customers seek out that quality, banking local is a problem. How does one deposit a $5000 check when your bank is two or three time zones over and their out of network ATM fee is a %. (Before the days of mobile deposit capabilities). Having a national Bank became a clear necessity. With the only other available being US Bank, Chase and Wells Fargo, we found there was just no way we could afford to have accounts at any of them, as a small business they wanted five or ten thousand min balance, or electronic deposits or have a $50 (some cases higher) monthly fee. Bank of America however, offered an option of a waiver of monthly fee if use their merchant services. Hence, they became the only national bank we can realistically afford else we’d find aother option. We are semi seasonal, and there are a few months during the year that we do not run cards, and only that month does Bank of America charge the monthly fee. Though one transactions, no min amount, waives that. When we catch it we’ve charged our own Bank of America business debit card one dollar near the end of the month. Yes, we loose the credit card processing fees on our own money, however, part of that dollar goes back into the account, and even a dollar is far less than the monthly service fee. By no means is Bank of America easy to work with customer service on accounts or merchant services via the phone. However, if you can find a branch with good customer service, sometimes that means the drive outside the major metropolitan city to the town of 5-10 thousand people they will work with you and make the phone calls right there in the branch. If you know what it is you should have or be getting you can get it. Getting there is far more work than I’ve ever experienced with any other merchant services company or bank. They are very vague and try to dodge their guarantees at all cost. When our mobile card reader quit working after over a year they wanted me to purchase a new one. After many days of phone calls and faxing both squares and intuits policies on ordering card readers and how often they’d replace the reader did we not have to pay $50 plus shipping. Because as they said , “they are very fragile devices and not expected to last a year.”However, the biggest scam I’ve seen is the overdraft charges based on pending/processing items. You can have the same item show as processing for 4 days, and if any of those days if it were to clear would overdraft the account the nail you. However, if you don’t check every day it looks like day 1 the money was subtracted from the account, so when the deposit goes in on day two, and more items clear, on day three you don’t realize that there were less deposits on day two then withdraws, so on day 3or 4 when the $600 one clears it overdrafts the account. Top that with , on day 4 a $7. $20. And $15 all also hit and now show as process/pending, because that $600 one processes first, all 4 trigger overdraft fees. I shouldn’t have to call them and debate it very time when the bottom line was the actual balance never dropped below $1,000.Other than small local banks I can’t say that I’ve experienced any bank that you don’t have to figure out how to navigate and what the correct phraseology is to obtain the desired outcome.BankofAmericas ability to find ways to charge fees is astounding. Nearly always if you’re willing to take/have the time to debate them they will recredit the account. Seriously though, I shouldn’t have to do that with someone I’m letting borrow my money, even if it is a relatively small amount. 100 bills under the mattress are still a good option until I need to process money.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Tom,
I am currently looking for a respectfully Merchant Credit Card Company. I was thinking of BOA since I have all my accounts with them but after reading the reviews, I’m going to hold off.
Based on your experience, can you tell me which companies out there that you can trust. I have a Consulting Business that is currently transacting between 50K-100K a month. The Merchant Service that I am currently with is holding 20K on my money for security deposit. I have been with this Merchant for 3 years and they have never asked for a security deposit until now.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Hi Gwen,
I would try Durango Merchant Services, Payline Data, or Instabill.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
which bank is the best to give merchant facility
for website designing business where should i go to apply merchant account online payment if someone knows please let me know on my email. sonybains2411@gmail.com
i’m very thankful
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
My company has used BAMS for the past 10 years. We process approx $300,000/yr in cc. Four weeks ago an international scam artist was running test cc #s thru our online terminal. We secured the site and fixed the problem.BAMS risk department, located in Suffolk County, NY, froze our account. That was FOUR WEEKS ago. The account is still processing payments daily, but we are not being paid for this. The risk dept has no way of communicating with the customer service dept. They NEVER return calls. The only way to contact them is to call cust serv, have them send an email to the managers, then wait 2-4 biz days for a manager to email the risk dept. This is a NIGHTMARE!!!We have had to hire an attorney and plan on suing BAMS. We are also getting a new merchant account with a different bank. The business has $0 now and we can’t pay our operating expenses.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
2.7% per transaction. Sweet deal, right? Here’s the catch.Term of contract : 36 monthsEarly termination fee: $500Annual maintenance fee: $100Those are all written in fine letters. Be aware when you write your initials on their E-file.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
B of A has been our processor for 10+ years and I’m frankly surprised at the 3.5 stars. We have only stuck with them for so long because they, to are also our bank and therefore we get 1-day deposits.
Their tactic is to use third parties for their services (we use a virtual terminal) and then when problems arise – as they do – they point fingers and pass the buck and say there’s nothing they can do. For example, we literally had a 4 month period in which our virtual terminal was unable to accept swiped cards. Both the software provider and B of A did nothing to facilitate a solution (I have a 1-inch stack of notes and emails from both parties to confirm this). We got stuck paying keyed rates for that entire time and B off A refused to refund us any fees.
Customer service is notoriously unresponsive and their ‘help desk’ (for which one pays $15/month) needs to be renamed “I just answer the phone and no matter what you ask me I will be unable to help” desk. Top that off with fee after fee and they are no bargain.
The good news? Thanks to your great reviews, we are in the process of possibly negotiating with Helcim.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Beverly,
Did you end up negotiating with Helcim? If not, I would love to schedule a meeting with you to share the benefits of Heartland. We are the 5th largest direct processor in the country. Our customer service center is open 365/24/7 is located in Indiana where a live representative will answer your call with an average wait time of under 10 seconds.
I saw that your draw for staying with Bank of America merchant service was the next day funding–that is a service that Heartland also provides without additional fees. I would love the opportunity to chat with you if you’re still in the market to make a switch.
Best wishes,
Heather Lindaman
heather.lindaman@e-hps.com
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Hi, I’ve recently been sent an application to initial from BOA Merchant Services. I’m setting up an online WooCommerce site and need to have a gateway in place. I currently have a business checking account already with BOA.
I’m told in my agreement: The Payeezy service has a monthly cost of $16.00, online PCI security for $10.95, and an initial set up cost of $199.00.
I would also be getting a Clover Go Moto which runs $9.95 monthly.
According to the Sales Rep: A qualified debit card will be 1.00% online, Qualified MasterCard Credit card will be 2.56%. These are only for the online payments with payeezy.
A lot of these reviews have me second guessing initialing the application I’ll admit. What are your thoughts on these numbers, and is there any other option available that would make more sense for me? This is for a new record label, and my sales surge and dip depending on release schedules. The Clover unit is for being able to process payments through my phone at shows selling merch.
Thanks for anyone’s help!
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Tom,
We recently set up our Website on Shopify.
There are many things about Shopify that I don’t like, one of which is their payment processing.
It is taking 5-7 days to receive the money from the transactions/Purchases on our site, and as a small business getting starte, we don’t have the reserve to carry us while we wait 5-7 days for payment.
We were looking to switch to BofA for our Mobile POS and a Gateway to Shopify for our Merchant Services, but after your review, I’m very skeptical.
Can you recommend any other options/Providers?
Our main need is to accept mobile POS transactions, and for the online transactions on our website. We were with Amazon Register for the last year until they discontinued service.
Thanks,
Heidi
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Thank you so much for this review, just left the bank today and in NO WAY did they let me know that this is a separate company, I thought she was calling someone’s desk within the branch, something told me to say no, happy I listened.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
BAMS is a giant scam! I signed up to lease my Clover Pos at Bank of America in Houston from a lady named Ashley Sinkowitz. She promised me a great deal and great service. Its been 16 months and im yet to recieve either. They charge me double for my lease every month which was already a huge rip off to begin with and I didnt fully understand what I was signing up for. No matter who I speak to, Ashley, BAMS, First Data, Bams corporate office, NOBODY can fix this for me! Also they took the lease out as a loan against my credit. Im only writing this because if I can stop one person from joining these con artists it would be worth it. -Adam W
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Very frustrating customer service they with-held 2 my transactions for over a week. And only thing they give you is tickets. It takes days just to talk to the head person to understand what’s going on. and 3.5% for a transaction? It’s ridiculous I wish I never signed up for this. Chase is a more better bank
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Thank you so much for this information! I have a call scheduled with one of their sales people and was researching but couldn’t find any information on the BofA website. You just saved me probably an hour of listening to a sales pitch for something that’s not right for me! π
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Hi there, I wish I would have read your review prior to choosing BofA for my merchant services.
I am now hoping to that someone here has some insight on the following. In addition to processing fees Iβm also charge a monthly wireless fee of $15 and a monthly transamor solutions fee of $19.95. Looking back at my statements I was also charged a $94 annual account maintenance fee in 2012 with the rate going up to $134 for 2013 and 2014. The monthly transamor solutions fee of $19.95 was added to my account in march of 2015. Iβm wondering if this fee is in addition to my annual account maintenance fee or in lieuβ¦I was expecting the annual account maintenance fee to be charged to my account today but it was not. All the other fees were. Anyone know about this?
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Hey Tom,
I just wanted to say thank you for such an awesome and informative review. I’d also like to thank those that commented your review. I was really hoping to find at least one positive reviewer, however, that obviously did not happen. I came across this site while studying the products offered by BAMS for an interview I have with the company in two days. I’m unfortunately plagued with a conscience though, and I can’t offer this level of bad service to anyone. I’ll call and cancel my interview tomorrow. I know the frustration felt through similar bad experiences with Verizon and I can’t imagine myself being responsible for coaxing anyone into such a bad deal.
~Steve.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Hi Tom,
I have a freemium business model where you can purchase additional features. The company is online and accepts payments via ecommerce. I looked at your recommended payment processors. I checked with CDGcommerce and they seem great. I also bank with BofA and they offered me a 1.99% + .20 for each transaction. The monthly fee is $16. One thing attracted me to it is that by having a business checking account with them, I am not charged for any additional transactions that are over the monthly transaction limits. Similar to Capital One Spark account. My question is, do you know if this is a good deal for freemium model businesses where you can large number of transactions one month and very minimal the next? Also should I lean towards CDGCommerce instead? Any advice would be appreciated.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Hi Kevin,
I’m not sure what you mean when you say that you are not charged for transactions over your monthly limit with BofA. I haven’t heard of this.
What you need is an account that has no monthly minimum, low monthly fees, and works with your current e-commerce setup. I would also recommend interchange-plus pricing instead of tiered pricing (the 1.99% + $0.20 is part of a tiered plan, and is just one possible rate you could be charged).
As long as you have no monthly minimum, it won’t be a big deal to have some months with lots of transactions and some months with very few. Just be sure that your transaction limits are set to accommodate your highest volume months. I think CDG would be a good option for your business type.
Good luck!
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
While we do not use B of A we did open our restaurant with Clover a year ago. If anybody wants to buy it it is for sale, cheap. Do not listen to B of A or PNC if they try to sell you Clover unless you are a small carry-out or restaurant that does not need much sophistication in order entry, management or reports. Support is almost non-existent. Clover continues to fiddle with the application and make things worse. Try to get a year’s worth of revenue in one report. Some genius decide 90 days was all anybody needed and changed the reporting function. Apps and third party software is expensive, does not work half the time and have little or no support. The bottom line is Clover and First Data have no clue what a restaurant requires or wants. A simple advisory board of experienced restaurantuars could make this POS viable but Clover wants no part of that as they are simply a technical company. My new POS should be installed next week, thank goodness!
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Hey Eric,
We’re opening a new entertainment venue in VT that will include food and beverage services. We were seriously considering Clover as one of our POS finalists, but your review has us second-guessing that decision. We’re curious… What POS solution did you end up changing to?
Thanks in advance!
Shawn Bendig
Stonehedge Indoor Golf – Owner
Rutland, VT
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Card reader no longer works, call for replacement they’re charging $49.99! After paying BAMS monthly and other related fees plus the inconvenience of keying in customer information, i think its time to go back to SQUARE with no hidden costs and fees.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
I wish I had come upon your site before I got the wireless terminal from BofA!!!! Now, it’s costing me more than its worth with fees up my rear and I called them to cancel and they said there is no way to cancel!!!!! I *KNOW* that’s not righr!!!!! I’ve been looking through my paperwork and there is no mention of what to do to cancel the lease. This really sucks because my business is still a baby and I feel like I’m sinking before I even leave the dock!!!! Please help!!!!! I have the hand terminal.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Hey Tom,
I’m the office manager of a small chiropractic business based in a small town. We were looking into the Clover when I came across your review and several others. My sales rep didn’t mention anything about extra costs and etc. They said there would a $ fee for leasing the Clover mini and a $ fee for access to their apps. Right now we are just using an omni through Elevon to process our credit cards. We liked the idea of Clover to have our scheduling, inventory, and trends at our finger tips. And we liked that they offer gift cards as we currently offer only gift certificates. What might you suggest for a small business like ours?
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Hi Katrina,
Did you end up using Clover for your office. The scheduling and inventory tracking seems like a good perk.
Thank you,
Drew
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Wow, I am SO glad I came across these comments! I spoke to BAMS this morning and they offered me a 2.3% fee per transaction vs. the 2.7% that square charges. I was told there was no other fees whatsoever. They emailed me the paperwork to sign and I was reading and seeing red flags so I just googled it and came across all your comments. THANK YOU for your honest feedback!
Tom – I am curious on your opinion about Square? Square is the only company I have ever heard about and it has been working great for me. What company do you suggest over Square, and why?
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Hi Amanda,
There are a lot of mobile processing options, and all have merits and drawbacks. You can see my review of Square here. My first recommendation is usually Flint Mobile, but it depends on the business.
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Hi Tom,
Thank you so much for your response and your reviews. I am a licensed cosmetologist who booth rents. Most of my clients pay with a credit card. My transactions run anywhere from $20 to over $200, just depending what services and/or products they get.
I have had my square a little under a year now and it has worked great for me. I am just open to seeing what else is out there as well.
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Been with them since 99 and never one charge back. Ran a 25K through this month and it has been on hold for over 5 days! Still can’t get an answer.
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BOA Merchant service is a Rip off!!!They first matched the rate I had with another merchant for one of my stores.Then after a year started to increase the fees a little by a little till they DOUBLED the initial percentage fee.Result they overcharged my TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS in one year.When I found out, they just said ” TOO BAD” but if you are willing to stay with us we will bring back the fees as the were initially.They use their name and the trust we have in a big institution as Bank Of America to take advantage.Take this good advice. RUN AWAY from these crooks…
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We recently had to change our store’s checking account to a new checking account due to the old one being compromised. The change was effective 3/30/15 and none of our credit card transactions are reaching the new account (today is 4/03/15). After multiple calls to Merchant Services and Bank of America an account specialist admitted that there was a funding issue that they were responsible for. Their solution – wait another 48 hours to see if the funds make it into the checking account. Why do I get the feeling they wouldn’t have come up with that same solution if my company was called GE or IBM? Still waiting for the funds to come through . . . .
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I would recommend to anyone wanting to open an account in any manner with B of A – DON”T!! After more than 45 years as a customer and 20 as a merchant I have been treated very badly. First they closed my account without giving me an extension for filing a paper they needed – I was out of the country and it proved impossible to do this from afar. I just wanted an extension of a few weeks but it was denied. They closed the account four days before I returned to the States. Then when I closed the Merchant Services I was charged the $500 cancellation fee. I was never told about this fee – I would have gone elsewhere had I known about it. I was lied to by their representatives. And of course there is no recourse for this.
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Hello Tom, I am soon going to be starting a magazine in which the advertisers will be e-faxing their contracts to me with their credit card numbers. Do you think there is a merchant account that would be better for me than the others? Thanks, Frank
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Hi Frank,
I think PayJunction might be a good fit for your needs. Check them out. One thing to consider here is data security. By handling credit card details you open yourself up to security breaches and PCI compliance issues. PayJunction may be able to help you come up with a more secure solution, or at least help you execute it as securely as possible.
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Thank you for getting back to me Tom! I’ll check them out!
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I just spoke to a merchant rep at BofA and offer me 0.50% +5 cents on each transaction then a $10 monthly fee and 5cents close batch fee. This sounds too sweet for what this post is saying. I am asking myself how is this possible. I am an startup sporting good business and currently used square. Are there any hidden fees or something I am missing?
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Hi Diego,
This is an interchange-plus price quote. This means that you pay the .5% + $.05 on top of the actual interchange cost of the transaction. There are likely other fees, such as PCI compliance fees, that you will be charged annually. If the rep you spoke to did not explain interchange-plus to you, I would NOT sign up with them. A lot of dishonest sales people will give you an interchange-plus quote and lead you to believe this is all you’ll pay. You should check out our preferred providers, and if you need more help choosing submit this form and we’ll get back to you.
Hope this helps,
Tom
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Thanks, Tom. Very helpful your input. I almost sign up with BofA. I see in a lot of posts you recommend CDG, and in reality they seem a good way to go with. I currently use square but trying to see who offers a lower fee.
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I am a very unhappy former B of A customer and merchant services customer. When B of A closed the branch on Pine Island I closed my checking account as I do not wish to drive off Island for banking, But the ETF ( $500.00) from Merchant services caused me to open another checking account in another bank to pay the quarterly fees ( $19.95) to keep an unused merchant account alive and well. I just got my statement and the Merchant services charged me an additional $40.00 to certify the card processing equipment which I gave back to the bank in May was compliant ! I do not use the account, I do not process any cards, all I do is pay the bank and they just seem to want more free funds. When can someone in the bank see that they are not gaining customers but losing them forever !!
I will never have an account with B of A for any reason based on what I have seen.
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Lying THIEVES that later tell you the merchant services are NOT affiliated with Bank of America. The reason customers say they did not know they had a lease with First Data is because the sales rep does NOT EVER tell you there is a SECOND contract for FOUR years in addition to the 3 year BAMS contract. It is a purposely unethical method of leaving out important information that they profit VERY well from. The lease is a sham too. You get a demand for equipment insurance from FIrst Data which Is when you initially find out you are involved contractually with another company.
ALSO if there is ever a problem with your surprise annual fee to BOTH BAMS and First Data that you are never told about or given notice of (my rep said there was a $50 annual fee in June which turned out to be a $100 fee in November, but don’t worry there is a $50 fee from First Data too), you get a $50 collection fee immediately, the bank NSF fee PLUS another NSF from the 3rd party payment processing company you didn’t know you were using. A total of $110 in fees in case your account is low and you are not prepared for a surprise $100 deduction which is taken out with your processing fees, but with no breakdown given until your statement comes a week or two AFTER the deduction.
I could write an entire book of additional criminal behavior by BAMS, but to spare the readers I will just say my deposits were held one day for about $400 last December. When I called I was on hold to speak with collections for at least 30 minutes several times, to be hung up on by an unbelievably rude rep that refused to explain how they were entitled to my deposit, and when I finally was given a breakdown of what I supposedly owed 3 calls later, there was still $140 that was never accounted for or returned to me. The BAMS representatives also have a very hard time reaching the collections department, so unless you have a minimum of two hours to spend on the phone (I’m NOT exaggerating), you will get nothing resolved.
Liars, thieves, hidden fees and an extra contract they will not give you a hard copy of EVER…. Please do not EVER sign anything that you cannot have a hard copy of on the spot. They have this pin pad they have you sign and they only show you what they want you to see π My fault I guess. After banking with B of A for 25 years I was not careful. RUN FOR THE HILLS!!!!!
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My experience has been similar.
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I am currently looking for a respectfully Merchant Credit Card Processing company. Based on your experience, can you tell me which companies are out there that you can trust. I am a seasonal small business. I have recently signed a 30 days trial. but after reading the agreement, I told them that I am was not interesting. So they still charged my account and also got hit with two fees of $428.00 for two terminals, one that I signed for it and other that I refuse to sign and return by fedx. I was told that I will get $856.00 minus $75.00 in 7 to 10 business days. The majority of this companies are a bunch of thief, once they have your account, they think they have a right to withdrawal your money. thanks
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Hi Marcos,
That sounds like a headache! I’d suggest trying out any of our top rated processing companies, including Dharma MS, CDGcommerce, Helcim, and Payment Depot. All of these companies have interchange-plus pricing (best value), no early termination fees (cancel whenever you want with no penalty), quality customer support, and ethical business practices.
Good luck, and feel free to get in touch if you need more help. Also let us know how Bank of America does with getting you the refund.
-Tom
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A textbook example of a large corporation preying on smaller businesses. There were hundreds of dollars in hidden fees and a $500 cancelation fee. The customer service is the worst I’ve ever experienced. It took nine months, over fifteen calls and a request to the legal department to just get them to cancel my account. The way that I was billed was also pretty tricky, it stated -39.95 like I wasn’t getting billed at all. There were no other amounts listed on the statement so it appeared as if I wasn’t getting billed because I wasn’t using their services. I was wrong and the got me for at least a thousand dollars.
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This has to be the biggest mistake in leaving a stable, big bulky Point of Sale system that was reliable for a slick, compact, fun piece of inconvenience.DONT LET THE LOOKS FOOL YOU… THIS IS NOT EFFICIENT AT ALLThey need to have a panel with seasoned business owners that have to deal with systems daily
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I called Merchant Services regarding a debit and credit in my account was missing. They said I need to go and apply for Business Track.com
In order for me to see all of the batches and activity on my accounts.
I did all that and I recΓ’β¬β’d an email stating that I was approve to to view the Business Track!!!!!!
I donΓ’β¬β’t understand why I can not get approve to view my own information?? I am not applying for a loan!!! I just want to understand where my money goes when it I can see on my regular statements.
BOA Merchant Service makes this really hard for customers. I talked to many business owners they all said the same thingΓ’β¬Β NOT SATISFIEDΓ’β¬Β. I canΓ’β¬β’t wait to be done with them.
New Business Owner run run run from BOA merchant service. theyΓ’β¬β’ll suck up your bank account and you have no control over it!
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The Dept of Security Manager froze my merchant account after six weeks because I charged the same exact dollar amount to each of my clients. I explained that my service is offered as a daily flat fee as part of the business model. They said it looks suspicious. Then they requested invoices to back up the charges and said they were not good enough because the invoice address did not correlate with the billing address on the credit card. I explained that one AP girl is responsible for many locations and they use one credit card across them for payment.I am still going around in circles, they were rude to my bookkeeper and are basically calling me a crook. They keep on asking for additional information, which is provided and then they say it doesn’t match their records. It is some kind of delay tactic and I have no recourse because there is no direct contact with their Security Department. They have an inexperienced kid on my case who does not understand that each business is different, some use one card for multiple locations and sometime one will process several invoice in one day. This kid keeps asking for different information trying to create some kind of case and sniping for unscrupulous activity, but cannot find it because it simply does not exist. In the meantime my business is in limbo.Avoid BoA like a leper. I have a spotless financial history over 30 years and have assets and were with them over 10 years. They treated me like a criminal.
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Wow..I thought that I was the only one who have a problem with BOA merchant services. No one should go eith them. They are a crook.
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You’re definitely not the only one. Even when they admitted a funding issue was their fault they said I’d have to wait 48 hours for any of the credit card transactions to post to my Bank of America account. Not very convenient when both the rent and payroll are due.
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They called me for a sales position. What’s the catch. I have no blanking experience and they wanted a one day telephone interview and hit the road the next. Something smells fishy here.
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Bank of American is another rogue company as far as card processing is concerned.Their local rep promised, after statement review, that I would save at lease $30 a month if I switched. It turned out their charge was about double what I paid to former processor (Moneris). The total charge surpassed 4% in recent months.I told them if they could not match Moneris, I was going back. The rep said he would check into it but nothing happened. After waiting 2 weeks. I sent the bank the cancellation notice, attaching the two processors’ statements when the card sales were about the same amount.The bank kept charging monthly fees including an annual fee of $98. When I protested, they said I need to call to cancel and I would be subject to the $500 cancellation fee, although I protested that the contract was based on false representation.
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You take the words out of my mouth. I can’T wait to cancel with Bank of America merchant services. Everthing you said are true. I am in process of openings another stores. Definitely will not deal with this company sgain.
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Worst service you can get is this one, and plus, cames with First Data to complete. I sold my business, Bank of America opens a new account with the new owners at the same location. Bank of America keeps the machine from my contract for more than a year and only when I got notified by a colect company (from First Data) and I when to Bank of America to know what was going on, they finally gave me the machine so I could send it back to First Data…. gess what? I still have to pay for almost 2 years more for a service that I am not having with First Data because Bank Of America and First Data are reciving payments from 2 business on the same location. I really call this TO ROB. There is a no concelation fee on my contract. Be carefull with these Bank of America, I really advise you to read every single line and if possible DO NOT SIGN ANYTHING WITH THEM. And of course, NO STARS
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They asked me to send the bad terminal back to them so they will reimburse me $300.00 already charged in my business account. But it has never happened. They are totally lie and all B.S. customer services. If I am a CEO I will terminate all of them. No Star for rating.
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worst merchant service still fighting with fees account closed in june ,don’t do business with
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worst merchant service i ever had i used my merchant account for 1 month in june,and in august i still paying fees,do not recommend bank of america merchant service to no one,they will charge you so many fees you wont believe it.
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Agree!!
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