BankCard USA Review
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- Date Established
- 1993
- Location
- Westlake Village, CA
Pros
- Accepts some high-risk merchants
- Full line of Clover terminals and POS systems
Cons
- Very basic product lineup
- No pricing disclosures on website
- Three-year standard contract with early termination fee
- Inadequate customer service
Overview
BankCard USA Merchant Services is a mid-sized processor headquartered in Westlake Village, California. Established in 1993, the company is not a direct processor itself, using Fiserv (formerly First Data) and a number of other backend processors to process transactions and provide merchant services. The company provides basic services for both retail and eCommerce businesses, and can also accommodate some high-risk industries.
The company claims to have provided services to over 100,000 merchants since its founding 27 years ago, though it’s unclear how many are currently using its services or what its turnover rate is. What’s more, this “100,000 merchants” claim has remained unchanged for the past several years. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as some of our favorite providers are also small companies that re-sell the processing services of larger organizations.
In past reviews, we’ve criticized BankCard USA pretty heavily for misleading and sometimes downright deceptive advertising and marketing, both on its website and from its sales agents. Misleading rate quotes, possible false testimonials, and an inaccurate BBB rating all caused the company to receive a below-average overall score. The good news? Many of the misleading claims on the company’s website have been removed. The bad news? BankCard USA continues to present itself on its website as being a “bank,” and promising to save you money by “eliminating the middleman.” In truth, the company is a middleman. It even discloses that it’s a registered independent sales organization (ISO) of Wells Fargo Bank and Westamerica Bank on its website. Of course, this legally required disclosure is in fine print at the very bottom of the company’s home page, where most merchants either won’t see it or won’t understand its significance. Only the very largest organizations have the resources to function as direct processors, and BankCard USA is nowhere near being in their league.
That said, small ISOs actually can save you money – sometimes. ISOs have a lot of leeway to set their own contract terms, account fees, and processing rates. Some of our favorite providers offer a tremendous savings over what you, as a small business owner, would receive from a large, direct processor. They can also offer higher quality, more individualized customer service than what you’ll get with a huge corporation. However, there’s no evidence that BankCard USA actually delivers on either of these two possible benefits. The company’s rates and fees appear to conform pretty closely to industry averages, and they’ve received too many complaints about customer service to score high in this area, either.
For most small business owners, BankCard USA will not be a good choice.
The company’s standard contract provisions, coupled with pricey account fees and expensive tiered processing rate plans, make it a relatively poor choice for any business with a low or highly variable monthly processing volume. Larger businesses that have the leverage to negotiate a more flexible contract and interchange-plus processing rates might be able to secure a more favorable overall deal. However, the company might not be able to offer you some of the specialized services that other providers do. It’s probably also worth at least obtaining a quote if you’re a high-risk business. However, we’d highly encourage you to obtain multiple quotes from other providers as well before making a final choice.
For now, BankCard USA earns a mediocre score of 3.0 out of 5 stars. While that’s not terrible, the fact is that there are plenty of other providers out there who offer more competitive rates and terms, even in the high-risk category where it might feel like there are far fewer options. If this applies to you, our article on the best high-risk merchant account providers can help. Low-risk merchants can compare our best all-around providers using our Merchant Account Comparison Chart.
Read on for more details!
Table of Contents
Products & Services
BankCard USA offers all of the industry-standard services and features you’ll need to run a business and accept credit and debit cards. However, they don’t provide very much detailed information about these offerings. Also, their product line-up appears to be very basic in comparison to what other providers have to offer. Here’s a list of what you can get:
- Merchant Accounts: BankCard USA is not itself a direct processor, and most merchant accounts are issued through Fiserv (formerly First Data). Keep in mind that if you’re a high-risk merchant, BankCard USA, like all other high-risk providers, works with several banks to get you approved.
- Countertop Credit Card Terminals: The company offers a limited, but perfectly adequate, selection in this area. The ever-popular Verifone VX520 and the wireless Verifone VX680 are the only traditional terminals advertised. Still, either one is an excellent choice for most small business retailers, as they support both EMV and NFC-based payment methods. You can also pair the VX520 terminal with the Verifone VX805 PIN Pad to help guard against fraud and take advantage of lower PIN debit processing rates. BankCard USA doesn’t advertise pricing on their terminals, but you should now have the option to purchase your equipment outright. Terminal leases, even if they’re still being offered, should be avoided under all circumstances. You can also bring your existing compatible terminal and have it reprogrammed to work with BankCard USA’s processing system.
- Point-Of-Sale (POS) Systems: As a Fiserv (formerly First Data) reseller, BankCard USA also sells the popular line of Clover POS systems and smart terminals. Products available include the Clover Station (see our review), Clover Flex (see our review), and Clover Mini (see our review). The company also offers a full line of Clover accessories, such as cash drawers, barcode scanners, and much more. If you’re primarily interested in using Clover products in your business, check out our recommendations for the best Clover resellers. While it pays to shop around, you’ll also want to avoid buying a lower-priced Clover product from a third party that will be incompatible with your merchant account.
- Mobile Processing: BankCard USA offers the Clover Go (see our review) card reader as a mobile payment option. This reader supports EMV and NFC-based payment methods and uses Bluetooth to connect to your smartphone or tablet, rather than relying on a headphone jack.
- Payment Gateway: The company doesn’t offer the robust support for eCommerce that many other merchant account providers do today, but they do cover the basics fairly well. While they don’t have a proprietary gateway of their own, they do offer several of the more popular third-party gateways on the market, including Authorize.Net (see our review) and Fiserv’s proprietary Payeezy gateway. Gateways from USAePay and eProcessing Network are also supported.
- Virtual Terminal: Old-school mail order and telephone order businesses that don’t have a website can use a virtual terminal program on their laptop or desktop computer to manually key in their customers’ card information when accepting orders. BankCard USA uses the Authorize.Net virtual terminal for this purpose but may support other programs as well. You can also add the ability to process in-person transactions by adding a compatible Bluetooth or USB-connected card reader.
- eCheck/ACH Processing: The company also supports eCheck processing, including the ability to convert a paper check into an eCheck with a desktop check scanner. Pricing is not disclosed for this optional service.
Fees & Rates
We’ve criticized BankCard USA in the past for advertising deceptively low rates on its website – specifically a rate quote of “rates as low as 0.23%.” This is a common misleading gimmick in the processing industry: advertise the lowest possible rate that a transaction might process at, but fail to mention that almost all of a merchant’s transactions won’t actually qualify for this rate. In fact, most transactions will be processed at a much higher rate. I’m glad to see that BankCard USA has quietly dropped all mention of this teaser rate from their main website. Of course, there’s now no mention at all on the site about processing rates. You’ll have to talk to a sales rep and negotiate the best rates and terms that you can.
BankCard USA also used to advertise a “$1,000 low rate guarantee,” promising to pay you $1,000 if you could find a lower rate at one of its competitors. This is another common gimmick in the processing industry, as the company had plenty of caveats that it didn’t disclose – all virtually guaranteed to ensure that it wouldn’t have to pay you the $1,000 under any circumstances. Thankfully, this “offer” has been dropped from the website.
Although BankCard USA doesn’t advertise its processing rates on its website, the company appears to offer both tiered and interchange-plus pricing. Interestingly, in the educational materials it offers in the Resources section of its website, it advises you to look for interchange-plus pricing and to avoid processors that only offer tiered pricing. We couldn’t agree more. Unfortunately, a lot of the company’s sales agents will probably try to steer you into the more expensive tiered pricing plans. If you want interchange-plus pricing, you’ll have to ask for it. Even then, you might be told that it’s not available to you. Remember that this company is marketing to high-risk merchants who’ve been turned down for merchant accounts by other processing companies.
What about account fees? Again, there’s no mention of these on the website, but you can rest assured that they’ll be included in your contract. Based on the data we’ve been able to acquire, most of the fees the company charges are near or slightly above the industry average. You should expect to pay a monthly account fee, have a monthly minimum requirement, and pay annual fees for PCI compliance (possibly as high as $200 per year). There’s also an early termination fee (ranging from $95 to $295) if you break your contract. High-risk merchants can expect a lot more variation due to the nature of high-risk merchant accounts. BankCard USA uses several providers, so there may not be a lot of consistency from one account to the next.
Contract Length & Early Termination Fee
BankCard USA offers a standard contract that runs for an initial term of three years. Unlike most traditional processors, however, there is no automatic renewal clause that extends your contract for additional one-year (or even two-year) periods at the end of the initial term. Instead, your account will remain open indefinitely, and you will continue to be billed every month until you provide the requisite 30 days’ notice to close your account. The standard contract also includes an early termination fee (ETF) that you will have to pay if you close your account within the initial three-year term. This fee can range from $95 to as high as $295 and will be specified in your contract documents. Note that once you’ve completed the initial three-year term, the ETF no longer applies and you can close your account without penalty.
We’ve heard reports – not spelled out in BankCard USA’s standard contract – that the company will now waive the early termination fee entirely for new accounts. The only caveat is that merchants who elect to include a “free” credit card terminal with their account and then cancel within the first year of their contract will be charged an ETF of $99.00. While this is a better deal than the industry standard, we’d really like to see this informal policy spelled out in the company’s standard contract documents.
If you’re wondering why BankCard USA is so flexible with their contract terms, the simple answer is competition from other providers who don’t require long-term contracts or early termination fees at all. Many of our favorite providers will offer you a true month-to-month account with no long-term contract and no early termination penalty without the need to negotiate for it. You’ll have to buy your own processing equipment, but that’s something that we recommend you do anyway. “Free” terminal offers are simply a way to keep you on the hook a little longer, and there will always be a condition attached to this type of offer that prevents it from truly being “free.”
As always, you’ll want to get any waiver to the standard contract terms in writing for your own protection. It’s also critically important that you thoroughly review your entire contract before you sign up. Fortunately, BankCard USA’s standard Merchant Account Terms and Conditions are available online for you to review before you even contact the company.
Sales & Advertising Transparency
As we’ve noted already, BankCard USA has taken a small step in the right direction by removing the “teaser rate” information and “$1,000 low rate guarantee” from its main website. Unfortunately, this leaves the company with essentially no information about rates or fees on its site at all. Traditional merchant account providers like BankCard USA often appear to regard their websites as merely another form of advertising, and nothing more. The goal of the site is not to educate consumers or help them make an informed decision, but rather to lure them into picking up the phone and calling one of the company’s sales agents, where they’ll be subjected to an annoying, high-pressure sales pitch.
Since our last review update, BankCard USA has made some noticeable changes to the content and layout of its website. Site navigation has notably improved, making it much easier to find information about important subjects. The company has also added numerous explainer-type articles that help explain the basics of credit card processing to a struggling new business owner. Detailed information about the company’s products and services is also included, although it’s not as extensive as we’ve seen with many other providers. Missing, of course, is any mention of what any of these things will actually cost you.
For answers to that important question, you’ll have to contact the company’s sales department. BankCard USA now employs an in-house team, some of whom have been with the company for many years. Unfortunately, the company also uses independent sales agents, many of whom are poorly trained and are notorious for failing to disclose relevant terms in the contracts they’re trying to sell to you. If you’re going to talk to a BankCard USA sales agent, our advice is to check the company website and make sure you’re talking to one of their in-house sales representatives. In most cases, they’ll be able to provide better service than the independent agents.
Customer Service & Technical Support
BankCard USA previously claimed on its website that it utilized a “100% US-based call center staff,” but with the recent redesign of the site, this claim has disappeared. The company supposedly offers 24/7 customer support via telephone and email, but this isn’t explicitly stated on the website.
BankCard USA’s website includes an “About Us” page, complete with the names and photos of all the company’s employees. While this is a nice personal touch in an often very impersonal industry, we can’t help but notice that there are only four customer service representatives listed. The sales department, in contrast, has 24 employees. This should give you an idea of how little emphasis the company places on supporting its merchants after they’ve signed their contracts. Four full-time employees are barely enough to adequately staff a call center during normal business hours, let alone around the clock. We suspect that BankCard USA is relying on outsourced representatives (who may or may not be adequately trained to resolve problems) to cover the off-hours.
The company’s website also lacks a dedicated support page with contact information. There is a contact form for email support, but that’s about it. You also won’t find an online knowledgebase for self-help or even a way to log into your account.
Of course, the quality of the support you receive is the most important consideration. Unfortunately, BankCard USA comes up short in this area as well. Many of the complaints about the company that we’ve found across the internet cite poor customer service, particularly the company’s telephone support. Long waits, un-returned calls, and downright rude customer service representatives seem to be common problems. This certainly seems like an area that needs improvement. If you’ve had any personal experience with BankCard USA’s customer service, let us know in the Comments section below.
User Reviews
Negative Reviews & Complaints
BankCard USA has been accredited by the BBB since 2002, and currently has an A+ rating. Like virtually all merchant services providers, the company has its share of complaints – currently 12 formal complaints filed within the past three years, with none of those complaints being filed within the past 12 months. It’s actually fairly impressive that the company has been able to go over a year without receiving any new complaints from its merchants. Unfortunately, complaint details are unavailable for all but the most recent complaint, so we’re relying on information from previous review updates to identify issues where there have been problems in the past.
You’ll also find complaints about the company elsewhere on the web. Ripoff Report, ComplaintsBoard.com, TrustLink, and others all feature a litany of woes from unhappy merchants. In fairness, however, the majority of these complaints are several years old at this point. Additionally, keep in mind that dissatisfied customers often copy and paste their complaints onto multiple websites, including our own Comments section. While there’s nothing wrong with doing this, it does artificially inflate the overall number of complaints against a company.
Common complaints against BankCard USA include:
- Failure to disclose important contract terms: This is a common complaint with all processing companies that use independent sales agents. Terms regarding processing rates and early termination fees are frequently not disclosed unless the merchant presses the agent for more information. You can protect yourself from this by (1) not relying on your sales agent’s verbal assurances for anything, and (2) carefully reading your entire contract and application before signing up. Pay special attention to the fee schedule, which is included as part of the application.
- Withholding of funds/termination of accounts: This can happen for a number of reasons. Chargebacks and suspicious charges can easily raise a red flag that will either get you suspended or shut down. Fiserv (formerly First Data) (the main back-end processor used by the company) has been known to be a bit trigger-happy when it comes to holding funds or terminating accounts. You’re going to want to learn how to avoid holds and minimize chargebacks if you sign up with them (or anyone really).
- Expensive terminal leases: There are still a lot of older complaints out there from merchants who have gotten stuck in lengthy terminal leases, which are very expensive to get out of. Most terminal leases run a minimum of four years (i.e., longer than your merchant account contract), so you can imagine what the cost will be if you decide you want to break the contract early. My recommendation is that you never lease a terminal under any circumstances. Terminals are very cheap to purchase these days, and BankCard USA now recommends that you buy your terminals on its website.
Positive Reviews & Testimonials
In past review updates, we’ve taken BankCard USA to task over their use of stock photos and brief, one-sentence testimonials from supposedly happy customers – all warning flags that the “review” is probably fabricated. Interestingly enough, in our last update, we noted that BankCard USA’s website had been updated to feature full paragraph-length testimonials from actual clients, complete with links to their websites.
The testimonials seemed authentic, which is why we’re baffled to report that these testimonials have all been removed from the website. One can only imagine why. For a company that claims to have over 100,000 satisfied customers since 1993, it’s curious that the company seems uninterested in presenting positive stories from any of them.
Final Verdict
While it may indeed be possible – with some negotiation – to get a decent contract and quality service from BankCard USA, it’s hard for me to recommend them when there are so many processors out there that can offer you a better deal. As a reseller for Fiserv (formerly First Data), they offer little or no value beyond what you’d get by signing up with First Data directly, and that’s saying something.
In recent years, BankCard USA has taken some baby steps towards improving its service, such as dropping some misleading sales gimmicks from its website and also achieving a lower complaint volume with the BBB. The company’s policy of waiving the early termination fee for merchants who purchase their own processing hardware is also a step in the right direction. However, its “free” terminal offer seems to us to be a way to lock in cash-strapped merchants who can’t afford to buy their equipment outright.
For now, BankCard USA continues to earn an overall score of 3 out of 5 stars. This is an average (at best) score, and there’s plenty of room for improvement. We’d like to see the company be more transparent about their rates and fees on their website, and we’d particularly like to see it advertise the availability of interchange-plus pricing. Switching to true month-to-month contracts with no early termination fee and ditching terminal leases altogether would also improve the company’s score. Also, it wouldn’t hurt BankCard USA if it could present even a single testimonial from a merchant pleased with the company’s services. The fact that it doesn’t currently bother to do so isn’t the most promising sign.
Of course, if you’re a high-risk merchant who’s having trouble being approved for an account with other providers, you will, unfortunately, have fewer options. If you do consider BankCard USA, you can improve the odds of getting a fair deal by (1) ensuring that you talk to one of the company’s in-house sales agents, and (2) buying your own processing hardware rather than leasing them or accepting a “free” terminal. Be sure to ask for interchange-plus pricing, and try to get the early termination fee waived entirely. However, before you decide that BankCard USA is your best option, you should check out our article profiling the best high-risk merchant account providers.
If you don’t need a high-risk account, please check out our Merchant Account Comparison Chart to see some of our favorite providers as an alternative. Again, if you’ve had any experience with BankCard USA, please leave a comment and tell us all about it!
Frank Kehl
Frank Kehl has been writing about merchant services, payment gateways, and international money transfer services since 2015. He has a Bachelor of Science degree from Penn State and a Juris Doctorate from the Ventura College of Law. After a long and enjoyable career of traveling around the world as an Air Force navigator, he’s comfortably settled down in the wine country town of Paso Robles in California’s scenic Central Coast region. He enjoys reading, photography, hiking, and numerous other outdoor pursuits.
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Organization Name: Real Flavors
We are a food flavoring company and for some reason they treat us like a tobacco company. They tried to charge us bogus fees and we have had to report them to Master Card for this. I highly recommend staying away from this company. VERY SHADY.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: printboys digital printing
Bankcard usa potential customer beware. I was a customer with bankcard usa for 5 years before my first experience with a chargeback (A term use by CC industry requiring the retailer to pay back to the customers the total amount of sales over any disputed transaction made, right or wrong by his customer.) Bankcard feels they have the right to reach into your bank account and remove without notice the total sum of a disputed sale, and return it back to a customers bank without research or fact, solely on the direction of a lone bank executive? I strongly disagree therefore I took my business else where.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Hi,
I don’t see many comments by readers with complaints in 2016, does this mean they have cleaned up their act? Or are people just not leaving negative comments anymore?
Thanks…
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
I wish you could leave negative stars because Bank Card USA deserves a negative 100 star. I opened an account with bank card USA March 2016. Things were going smoothly for about 3 weeks then out of nowhere they held me payments. I didn’t get a notice or anything I just noticed that they stopped depositing my payments into my account. I waited about 3 days before I called to see if I would get any type of correspondence from them. On the 4th day I called to see what was going on. I was told by someone that my account was placed on a temporary hold and I needed to speak with Ryan Khuel in the “risk department”. I was transferred to his line and it rang with no answer. I left a voicemail. Two days later still no return call. I called back. No answer, so I called and asked for an email. I emailed Ryan and finally got a response a week later and he told me they were holding my payments because they wanted to verify that my customers were receiving their products. He requested that I provide Proof of shipping (tracking numbers) for about 10 orders. I thought this was fair so I gathered the necessary documents and forwarded them over. I was assured once they received that information they would release my money. Two weeks went by still no update or words as to when my funds would be released but they continued to debit my account for fees and drained my checking account. They repeatedly debited my account causing overdraft fees and causing my account to go into a negative status. They were drawing fees on payments they had not paid out to me. Smh. When I finally got Ryan on the phone 3 weeks later he tells me they were closing my account because they could not withdraw any fees from my account. I told them my account was negative because they had been pulling money out of my account and NOT been depositing my payments. At this time BANK CARD USA had over $2,500 in a reserve account for me and I asked him why wouldn’t they take their fees from that money and withdraw money from my bank account. He had no reason or explanation. At this point I was glad they were closing my account. I asked when would they release my funds. He lied to me and told me they would release half of my reserve funds in the next business day. The next day came and still no money. But there was an attempt to withdraw money from my checking account. At that moment I called my bank and issued a stop payment on BANK CARD USA. I guess this only pissed them off because they stopped responding to my emails s d calls. I finally googled the company and got the owner and other upper management email address and cc”d everyone I could find on an email. Here it is 3 months later and they still have not released my funds. This company is a scam. They will steal your money. I wish I had did a search on this company before I trusted my business to them. They almost destroyed my business. A business I worked hard to build. They tried to steal my dream. I beg anyone if you care about your business please find another payment processor.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
This company is full of crap. They are in California which means for me being in Georgia it makes it very difficult to get anyone on the phone. Ryan in there risk department is one of the rudest CSR ever. They will hold your money without so much as an email as to why. When they do get you through to Ryan he gives very indirect answers and no reason for the hold up but his personal feelings. PLEASE STAY AWAY! I only ended up with this company through a mistake from my processing company Shopkeep. You can’t do any research on these people because they seem to be new. They hold your money in any account that gets interest for them so they continually make money off of you but can’t return a phone call.BEWARE OF BANKCARD USA AND THEIR RISK MANGER RYAN KUEHI. They have $700 of my money with no word on it being released. Left three messages for Todd Duplain with no return call in a week sine he is the person who opened this account incorrectly from what his manager says
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
I will try to be very brief. I experienced HORRIBLE customer service today (11/19/15) by Bank Card USA. After ten days of not hearing back from the representative who was handling my account at Bank Card USA I called their main office to find out whats going on. There I spoke to a lady with a PISS POOR attitude who worked in customer service named Alex. This lady was extremely unhelpful and couldn’t provide me with any information on why I haven’t heard from my representative at Bank Card USA. Then she rudely transferred me to my representatives voicemail in the middle of me asking her another question. I left a voicemail and called back and spoke to the supervisor in Customer Service named Corrie and this gentlemen seemed to no care one bit about my situation. He informed me that my account had been forwarded to another processor (in which no one had told me about at Bank Card USA) and made no mention of remorse in the way I was treated by the poor customer service rep named Alex. Needless to say as a business owner I hate “poor” customer service and I will never do business with Bank Card USA going forward. I highly recommend you look elsewhere as well. God Bless!
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Well it won’t let me leave Zero stars! These guys are pathetic! they will double triple and over charge you in a heart beat.Running a business is stressful enough the last thing you need is a greedy company taking the same money more than once then LYING to you on when it will be returned. Still Has Not BEEN Returned.I have now had to file Unauthorized charges with my bank.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
First off, I doubt if they are legitimate. Their processing is fraudalent, they hold our customers money after we refunded it back to our customer. Apparently, they keep all refunds rather than deposit it back into the proper account. Their customer service is very threatening; if you do not do it according to the legal terms of banking they will take your deposit and hold it for security. They owe my company so much money and I doubt if we will ever be able to get it back. I suggest you stay away from this bank.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
this outfit is full of thievery and its a total ripoff, when i tried to do the pci compliance i get a “this web site is not available” i ve been ripped off by the friggin awipes way too long. and the head con is a guy named “kieth” BEWARE STAY AWAY FROM THESE RIPOFFS….. JOE FROM VIDEO BLUE II @ 206 499 3069 i hope this elevates this review to a credible one.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
I just recieved a call from them over the phone.. 1) they refused to tell me their name over the phone2) they claimed they could do swipe/mobile transactions like square.3) they said their rates were lower than square (they said 4.5%, which square’s rates are 2.75%)4) they said you can buy square at walmart (no you cant)5) sales rep actively argued with me instead of answering my questions.6) also lied about startup fees. overall? not impressed.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
I appreciate your reviews. Instrumental in helping me choose a processor.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
They are such a big liar’sI don’t recommend anybody doing business with bank card usa They told me the monthly fee is five dollars and they charge me $30 the rates are highest on the market big liars don’t trust them
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
I cancelled service in February and they continue to charge my bank account the $24 fee! They are stealing my money!
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
So today I decided to look around to see if I was the only person in their dishonest and abused list. So I had a few bad transactions go south but I was completely aware of and I didn’t take steps since I spoke to their Agent over the phone and she said she would take care of it I responded to their emails but never got a respond from them. I keep getting bills and my account is being terminated and fund placed on hold because they have a awful way of communicating with people. Worst mistake I’ve done to hire these guys to processes my payments now I’m in a thin line of going bankrupt and out of business do to not having my funds. I well be talking to a lawyer since these damages are very hard to repair due to their bad service. I even hired a third-party for fraud right after that they cancelled the account. Fishy!
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
I have been with this company 1 year and I have been having major problems with their administartion corospondense people they have poor people skills and are very greedy , our company would rather pay more then pay less for credit card transaction than deal with their neglegence.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Just by talking to a sales Rep over the phone,To see if i want to use their service,I did not like his attitude at all,He told me,He felt like i was wasting his time,So i say,I know i will not use their merchant services.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
The worst customer service I have ever experienced. I have been on hold for 26 minutes and counting and still do not have my issue resolved. Unbelievable!!!!!
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
I had been processing all my credit cards through a different credit card processing company for the last 3 years and decided to switch to BankCard USA. This was probably the biggest mistake I ever made. We had only 1 dispute come through on our account due to a client who received services, but didn’t want to pay for it. The lady in Risk Management required we send over all documentation of current sales so she can call and verify if services were rendered. Every sale checked out perfectly. Then she calls back up and requires we send over all past sales so she can verify those. This all over 1 dispute. This was a horrible experience and this is a horrible company. Never use them.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
I decided to start a little business of merchant processing and contacted BankCard to handle the processing. WHAT A MISTAKE. Everything worked great for a while. Then they held the merchants money. I tried to handle it for my merchants. They quit taking my calls. Then they sold my accounts, never told me, and I quit receiving checks. I do not recommend this company. I would also be careful, because I suspect they will only close down and start up a new company under a different name. I feel so bad for my merchants as they were small businesses and needed every dime to stay in business. That is why they switched to me, because I could get their charges lowered. Humph!!!
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Now here I am joining the ranks of the unimpressed. After having nightmares with Sams Club/First Data,I don’t know quite what to do so I call my bank. They tell me that some of their costumers were trying Bankcard USA so hesitantly I called them and they assured me that I would love their program.They agreed to sell me one of their processing machines so I chanced it and said yes I would try them. The first few months went by.the charges were high and I kept contacting them as to what was the problem. Now for the third time in a row I am being charged for not being pmi compliant and when I correct this problem for 2 months I am still being charged 19.95 for none compliance. This was supposed to have been done ins 2011 but three months into2012 I’m being charged. Now my machine suddenly quits working, and all they can tell me is something is wrong will my internet service. They finally send me a different machine and guess what it won’t work either, but it will work on my phone line which is not satisfactory with me as I only have one phone line as I am a small business, but all I’m getting is bs that it is a problem at my end and the phone company says that shouldn’t be the case .So now in order to get card machine service I will be forced to pay a cancellation fee which is bogus when their machine is the thing not communicating with the internet.Is it interesting that as soon as I am compliant my machine quits working Be careful.
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Any advice as to how to get rid of these people without being hung up to dry or am I asking for alot? We are getting ready to change from BankcardUSA to a local bank which will be cheaper for us in the long run but by these reviews, I see alot of people are being charged any “early” cancellation fee of $295 dollars. I already recieved a BS charge from them already. Something about some government stuff and a monthly charge of $3.95. Also, they stated that I provided them with an invalid TIN and in checking with them they had our business name wrong. So, they intend to charge me $10.00 a month until I straighten that out in their system online which I cannot find access to. I think that is their fault to begin with. What is wrong with these people. I don’t know how they sleep at night. We also recieved an obsolete card reader that we paid $249.00 for. Our bank says it cannot be reprogrammed. I guess we should have rented one first but we didn’t know we would start having these problems. You can’t trust any of the bankcard services. There should be government regulations on all of them.
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I just want to say thank you to all of the reviews I have just read. I actually just called them today because of a post card I received in the mail from them. I was told $10 monthly fee and % of each transaction processed each month. Said that is ALL the charges I would have. I didn’t sign up with them or anything yet but they were lower than the prices I received from the bank and QuickBooks which made me like them more. After thinking about it and how I found out about them I felt a little weiry with all of the fraud and scams out there. Thought to myself that I would look them up tonight and see what I find out. Well, here I am and I found out a lot of valuable information. We all work too hard for them to take our money for doing NOTHING. I really don’t know how people can live day by day knowing what they are doing to other innocent hard working people. Anyway, thanks everyone for the information, it’s greatly appreciated.
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I was a customer of Bankcard USA for about 10 years (although it’s hard to tell because they keep switching names or selling their list). I had finally had enough of their excessive charges and switched to a new provider. And then the headaches started!!! I faxed over their cancellation form and they told me they would close the account but still charge me $45 for the month even though I wasn’t using the account. Ok. I’m happy to pay $45 to get rid of them. But in March I find out that they haven’t closed the account and I’m about to get another $45 charge. After numerous (unreturned calls), I finally speak to a supervisor who tells me that he’ll close the account after I fax him the form (again), but this time, I have to pay an additional $295 because it’s now March and there’s an early cancellation fee!! Now I know why they’re saying they didn’t receive the fax. IMO these guys are nothing but scammers. DO NOT LET THEM GET THEIR HANDS ON YOUR CHECKING ACCOUNT!
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I have a new business and Bankcard USA was the first merchant service company I used. When talking to the salesman he ade it seem like everything worked very easily. I told the salesman exactly how much my very first transaction would be run for and how it would be run. They tied up my funds in risk management because the salesman lied to me about how things worked. As of this morning they keeping 10% of the sale as a “reserve”, yet they closed my account after the first transaction because of “contract viaolations”. If my account is closed why do they need to keep my money? I would NEVER deal with this company. If a salesman tells you anything you should definately double check it.
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BankCard USA just (as of 4/1/2010) raised my standard monthly fees from $5/month to $40 and also added a $99 annual fee that is to be charged on the anniversary date.
These changes came with no advanced notice: they were printed in my statement dated 3/31/2010 to go into effect on 4/1, with the note that “Continued processing will be deemed acceptance of the new changes…”
At the end of last month, I had an email conversation with my service representative (about a different matter), and he did not mention at all that these changes were coming.
I have to say, up until now, I haven’t had any problems with them (since June of last year), but this increase is rather large and not one that I am set to absorb. (I found this site in the process of searching for a new provider.)
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This company just upped my monthly fee in Ca. from 11.53 to 43.17. No notice nothing. I have complained to Attorney generals office. This can’t be legal without notice.
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I can confirm your review, you can even take it down to a one! When the rep had me on the phone it was all milk and honey. All was well until I starting make money, I had a week were we did 35K in sales in my furniture store. ( just a note furniture stores are now on the high risk list for many merchant account providers) Bankcard USA held all of the funds! I thought it was an error, nope the sales were under review. They even called my customers and harassed a old lady ( she did not know about the dining room set it was a suppose to be a surprise.) she freaked! I had to make a personal visit to ease her mind.
Then their other evil side came out, the woman in risk management even yell at me! ” Well you know with volume like that we need to check you out!” Hello, didn’t you do that before you approved the account? It got so bad she hung up on me and would not answer the phone!
After beating my head against the wall, I did a quick search and was appalled at my error in merchant accounts! I knew I had to do something quick or sue them. I ran one of my cards through the account and waited a day. The I did a refund, it work so a plan was born!
I called up each customer and explained what happened. I told them I would refund their money and recharge to another system. I did that waited a week for the refunds to be credited and charged the cards again. I was lucky no on walked. Thank GOD I did not close my other merchant account. I lost money, the money I could have made running my business versus dealing with those idiots! This was over 3 years ago and it still pisses me off!
Their customer service is no existent!
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Glendon,
Thanks for posting, and very sorry to hear about your experience with Bankcard USA. Although it’s unfortunate that you had a rough time with them, your comment will definitely help prevent another business owner from going down the same path that you did.
My reviews are always being updated, so I will definitely lower their score if I continue seeing negative comments like yours.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.