The Best Credit Card Payment Processing Companies For Small Business
Read More Mar 1, 2023 Filed under: Credit Card Processing
Future Payment Technologies (Crescent Processing Company) Review
-
Expert Analyst & Reviewer
UPDATED
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- Date Established
- 2005
- Location
- Dallas, TX
Future Payment Technologies appears to be out of business. This review is archived and will no longer be updated. Check out our Merchant Account Comparison Chart to find the best credit card processing company for your business.
Overview:
Since we last paid Crescent Processing Company (CPC) a visit, things are not looking good. They have an enormous number of complaints and all the hallmarks of a rip off processor. We had hoped that they would straighten out, get with the times, fire all the scamming agents, and earn an extra star or two from us. Well – what’s the opposite of that?
After accumulating even more complaints – an unforgivable amount at this point – and creating such a convoluted series of company names that even we didn’t know what to call them, they seem to have settled on Future Payment Technologies. If you’ve done business with any of the following companies, you’ve actually done business with Future:
- Future Payment Technologies
- Park Central Company
- Atrium Processing
They have seemingly paired everything down to just Future, so at least they’re getting some focus. But there’s more to being a top processor than just a name change and the current information is far from encouraging.
This company’s Achilles Heel (and keystone) is its use of independent sales agents. These agents are very often poorly trained, desperate, inexperienced salespeople just looking to close a deal and collect their commission. Some of the Crescent/Future agents probably do a great job, but – based on everything I read – most do not. Instead they fail to disclose important contract terms, push expensive agreements, and use overall dishonest sales tactics to produce a service that can only be described as a rip off and a scam.
My advice: Avoid Crescent/Future and all associated companies like the plague. I’m giving them 2.5 stars only because of the few positive reviews I’ve read here and there. If you do choose to do business with this company, be very careful and be sure to read your contract with a magnifying glass. Some of their sales agents feel very strongly that this is a good company to do business with (as evidenced in our comments section). But I think you could do better than Crescent/Future.
Check out the full review for more information, or skip it and take a look at our featured providers instead. Please comment with your thoughts!
Table of Contents
Products and Services:
Since I do not currently have access to Crescent’s/Future’s primary sales material (since the site is not active for the time being), I will keep this list brief.
- Merchant accounts: Last I head, Crescent/Future uses TSYS for its processing. I more or less like TSYS, so this isn’t bad news.
- Terminal leasing: If you’ve read any of my reviews already, you know that terminal leasing has the potential to cost you thousand of dollars when the machine itself is only worth a couple hundred. Check out this article for more information.
Fees and Rates:
Crescent Processing discloses no specific fees or rates. They seem to use tiered pricing models almost exclusively, which usually means a bad deal for merchants because of decreased cost transparency. For the vast majority of businesses, cost-plus pricing plans will give you the most value and most control.
Watch out for expensive monthly minimums and PCI compliance fees when you use Crescent/Future.
Contract Length and Early Termination Fee:
The standard Crescent Processing contract is for four years with a $495 early termination fee. Many merchants have complained about non-disclosure of this fee, and non-disclosure of the auto-renewal clause located in this company’s standard contract. If you do choose to use Crescent/Future, please negotiate this down. Many providers have no early termination fees!
Sales and Advertising Transparency:
While I cannot currently review the Crescent Processing public sales information since their site is inactive, I can tell you what I’ve heard from merchants who used this company’s services. Merchants complain (profusely) about their sales experience with Crescent/Future agents. If you read our comments section, you’ll see a fair number of examples from merchants who did and did not sign up with Crescent/Future.
Since there appears to be a high turnover rate for Crescent Processing agents, you’ve got a good chance of a brand new and highly inexperienced agent who probably doesn’t understand the Crescent/Future products any better than you do. This leads to many important contract terms being left out of the discussion, and a dangerous mixture of lies and mistaken information that leads to very angry merchants down the road. They’ve got some great agents, I’m sure, but not enough to sway me here. If you know and trust your agent, then maybe it’s worth it to you. But be careful.
Customer Service and Technical Support:
Many merchants around the web complain of poor customer support. Our comments section also features a number of business owners who back up this claim. As a reviewer, it’s difficult for me to assess the real-world performance of Crescent’s/Future’s customer support for account-specific and technical issues. So please, if you have insights, leave me a comment!
Negative Reviews and Complaints:
You can find the Future Payment Technologies BBB profile here. It has an A rating, with 355 complaints in the last 36 months. This is way, way too many complaints for an independent sales office of this size. As a point of reference: Chase Paymentech processes exponentially more than Crescent/Future yet has under 60 complaints at the moment.
- Poorly trained independent sales reps: This is probably the number one complaint I read about Crecent, and all other complaints tend to stem from this. But don’t take my word for it…
“The rep was a poorly educated young lady that my wife felt a great deal of empathy for, but she arrived with no printed material to leave behind, no business card, and no training of significance.”
(Link)
“I was contacted by phone a couple of days ago and visited by a rep today. He told me the video presentation on his computer would contain the specifics of the contract. In fact it was an infomercial. He was vague on some terms, and called his supervisor to ask some questions, so I figured he was very new and nervous; I didn’t realized until the end that he was not an employee.”
(Link)
“I just had a salesman meet with me yesterday. I could not wait until he left to look up what I knew would be horrible reviews on this company.”
(Link)
- Undisclosed fees and contract terms: It’s possible that the reps are actually doing this by accident, since many appear to not even understand the contracts they are selling. That fact does little to soothe the wounds of merchants stuck in long-term contracts with early termination fees that sales agents manage to gloss over.
- Poor customer service: While you can find a few merchants across the web who allegedly love the customer service they’ve received from Crescent/Future, the overwhelming majority of reports I read cited sup-par support as a major deterrent.
- Expensive lease contracts: Let me save my breath and just direct you to this article. Terminal leases are almost never a good idea, and can end up costing you thousands of dollars.
Positive Reviews and Testimonials:
You can read a few positive remarks mixed in with the damning reviews on the Google reviews page, but not enough to make much of a difference in my mind. Their Google review rating is currently 2.6 stars.
If these positive reviews are genuine, it means that – at best – Crescent/Future provides extremely inconsistent sales and support experiences. I’m not impressed.
Crescent/Future is a member of The Electronic Transactions Association, The Merchant Acquirers’ Committee, and The International Association of Financial Crime Investigators.
Final Verdict:
I have no doubt that some merchants are satisfied with the service offered by Crescent Processing Company, and that some of this company’s sales agents are honest and knowledgeable. But some isn’t enough to get my seal of approval. I’ve seen far too many reports of unethical sales practices and overall sub-par service from Crescent/Future. Their reselling program seems bad for agents and bad for merchants.
If you’ve had a different experience with Crescent/Future, I invite you to speak up in our comments section. Or if you’ve been burned by Crescent/Future, please comment as well. A company’s reputation is a constantly changing thing, but at the moment I don’t have much hope for the future of this company. 2.5 stars doesn’t cut it for me. If you agree, we can help you find a processor that suits your needs.
Tom DeSimone
Expert Analyst & Reviewer
Based in New York’s Hudson Valley, Tom has written for Merchant Maverick since 2013. His work is cited by publications including TechCrunch, Washington Business Journal, and Bank Advisor. He currently serves as Product Manager.
View Tom DeSimone's professional experience on LinkedIn.
Latest posts by Tom DeSimone (see all)
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We signed up with Crescent Processing who now operates as Future Payment Technologies. I am very unhappy. Long term contract that I am stuck in because of my father who was fooled into signing up. The rates are higher than anywhere else I have seen. It’s always very hard to understand the actual rates being taken out because they vary for each transaction. They also don’t provide very good reports to see the actual fee breakdown. Many times the fee names are very vague and it’s hard to know what they are even for. I was hit with an unexpected $98 corporate fee which I don’t see in the contract and there doesn’t seem to be any good reason that would be added. There are a number of various fees they take out which really make this one of the most expensive payment processors you could choose.Their fees tend to be about 5% taken out of each transaction. Then there is also an additional Merch Fees withdrawal taken each month. Just their Merch fees withdrawal is about the same as the total amount I would pay with other processors. Then add the money that is already being taken out of each transaction and it’s just way too much. The final rate probably ends up being closer to %8 when I add the numbers up.If you are a seasonable business then absolutely do not sign up with this company. If the high rates weren’t bad enough you will also be hit with around $45 of merch fees taken out each month if you have no payments to process that month.If you want to cancel early that also costs a few hundred dollars. If you have more than a year left on your contract it’s definitely worth it just to get out!Stay far away from this company!
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Very unhappy. Long term contract that I am stuck in because of my father who was fooled into signing up. The rates are higher than anywhere else I have seen. It’s always very hard to understand the actual rates being taken out because they vary for each transaction. They also don’t provide very good reports to see the actual fee breakdown.If you are a seasonable business then absolutely do not sign up with this company. If the high rates weren’t bad enough you will also be hit with around $45 of merch fees taken out each month if you have no payments to process that month.Random $98 corporate fee added which were not aware of.If you want to cancel early that also costs a couple hundred dollars.Stay far away from this company.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
These thieves don’t earn 1 Star, A ZERO is much more accurate. I Hate to admit but I worked for this Outfit for 1 day. (08/14/2015) I had 3 so called leads. And I ran 16 (Cold Calls) speaking with Merchants. My 1st lead was a towing company in Nicholasville, KY, 1st Lead didn’t go to well, it was KB Towing owned by kevin that was tied in with his Fathers used car lot. I spoke with kevin and he tells me “I will have to wait for his Father”. I sat in my truck and waited around 30mins, his father arrived and I waited probably another 10 mins before I went inside buisness. I introduced myself to his father and told him why i was there I said “I am here to save you money on credit card processing” His father declined so I called my Boss (LOL) When I was training I was never to use the word BOSS but to refer to him as Customer support team. So I put MR BRANDON on the phone to speak with Father. Phone is handed back to me and he say’s this is (2 buisness) talk with Kevin. I could tell that kevins dad was pulling the springs and he was still in the same small office. I opened my Tablet to show Video (LOL) another word I was never to use. So I asked “Can I show you something” Video gets about half way through and they asked me to leave. I am pretty persistant so I try to show them the different types of terminals and being EMV compliant by Oct 1st 2015 and the repercussions if they are not. That’s when they say “Leave or we will call the police” Well thats good enough for me, so I drive down the street a little ways and call my BOSS (LOL) I Tell him what had transpired and he says just work the area for potential Buisness and call me back in 45mins (Which i didn’t talking to him every 1/2 hr just meant I would not be speaking with buisness owners) being such a GENUIS he should know that is (COUNTER PRODUCTIVE). I worked the area (COLD CALLING) I went to every buisness that was open. I worked 1 whole side of the street, then the opposite side Door to Door. Anyways I did not get a yes from anyone. I talked to owners of 19 buisness from 9:00am to 6:30pm Thank God I never sold a Merchant anything. I have the World at my fingertips as most of us do. The (INTERNET) And I partly blame myself for not doing my Homework. I am 45yrs old and I have made an HONEST living my whole life. In reality I am still Employed by Futurepay Tech, I already have appointments in my E-mail for Monday 08/17/2015. To sum it up 08/14/2015 was my 1st and last day. I will not alter my MORALS for anyone. Reading all these Comments makes me feel ashamed, that I could have potentialy STOLE some buisness owners money for my own gain. **** Futurepay Crescent or whoever the **** you are. There is a special place for all of ya down below. MARK WICKLINE
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
I would give less stars if I could. It would take more time than I have to recount every issue I have with them. Right from the beginning they lied. They told me I had to sign something showing that I was receiving a copy of the rates, but that I could think about our meeting and make a decision later. The rep pulled a bait and switch. After I read the document, I signed where he indicated. A few days later we received the terminal and I found out he had us sign a contract, and we were stuck for 3 years. For three years, I was the person who called. When I tried to cancel, they said I wasn’t on the account and refused to speak to me. When we did a conference call, then I was told the term was now four years. When I asked for a copy of the contract, he told me they couldn’t fax. After we asked for his name and employee ID, he said he could fax. He never did. We tried twice to get a fax. That’s where I’m at now. Wish me luck. They cost us more than we ever made using their service.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Our contract with Crescent ended and we switched to a different processing company about two years ago. Well for those two years they continued to charge us the monthly processing fee. We’ve called countless times and have gotten no where with their terrible customer service. The CSR’s are poorly trained, rude, and entirely unhelpful. Most recently they told us they would be charging us $700 for the machine we leased and have here waiting to be returned to them as soon as they send us the shipping label. Alas we are still awaiting our label and debating closing out our business account to stop them from charging us for services we haven’t used in two years. We’re still hoping to get this resolved so we don’t have to do that and inconvenience our customers but its looking like we won’t have a choice.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
I just tried to cancel my service with crescent processing & was told it would cost me $350 to cancel outside of my renewal month. Since I have fulfilled my original 4 year commitment I feel that this is a very unfriendly way to conduct business. I also think that this was not fully communicated to me at the time I started. I would not recommend doing business with this company.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Crescent Processing deducted $1170.00 from my bank account saying it was duplicate transactions. My customers and their banks have proof that the money was deducted the day the card was swiped in my office and never re-deposited. Crescent Processing will not resolve this issue and I don’t seem to have any recourse.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Crescent is such horrible service, the flash rate fees approximate about 4.0 % weigh higher than any other merchants service that I had known. I changed to bbva compass bank with flash rate fees is 1.92% which saving for my business several thousands dollars yearly. I am very satisfy with bbva compass bank service when ever you are looking for help they will coming to your business without hesitate. ( helping and solving your problem with technical issue, or any question concern)they are the best.Talking about crescent service (omg )Customer service is worst experience that I ever encounter with. I asked them for my last year tax form. You know this month is February we need file the tax for employee and the answer is wait until the April, that sounds are ridiculous to me, because it is too late for the other employees file their own taxing. Think before you stay with them.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.