Bank of America Merchant Services Overall Rating
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Bank of America Merchant Services Overview
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Bank of America Merchant Services (bankofamerica.com), also called BA Merchant Services, is one of the largest merchant services providers in the United States. Surprisingly, Bank of America uses First Data as its credit card processor; though, First Data primarily plays a back-end processing role in the relationship. It is claimed that this partnership has resulted in one out of five of all U.S. credit card sales being transacted through a First Data merchant account that was provided by Bank of America Merchant Services. A main benefit of having your business checking account and merchant account through Bank of America is that your credit card sales will usually be deposited a full day sooner than if you were with a third party processor. Due to Bank of America’s and First Data’s sheer size, there are quite a few complaints; however, as a percentage, the majority of merchant customers are likely satisfied with BA Merchant Services. There is no Better Business Bureau (BBB) profile specifically for Bank of America Merchant Services.
Bank of America Merchant Services offers a full range of credit card processing services and equipment.
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8 comments
Amanda says:
January 23, 2012 at 11:52 am (UTC -8 )
Yes, I canceled my merchant acct with you guys back in Dec. I didn not breach my contract. Tuesday the 17th, you guys took $500.00 out my personal checking acct. I called and thought i had all squared away with you guys and i was told i would recieve it back with in 48-72 hrs. I did not receive it. I called again on the 20th and actally talked to an Acct Specailist (Adam) and he told me that nothing was ever processed and it was an early termination fee. He looked into it more and saw that my contract was not breached. No one could tell me why it actually happened, that it just did. So he told me that he would put a rush on it because i was givin the run around by several different people and to call and check on Mon which is today Jan 23rd. I called, got throught to a customer representative named (Tasha), she called the acct specailists for me to try and connect me and she then got back to me and said the sometimes don’t like taking phone calls. I said i was told to call them and i need to talk to someone on the status of my refund and she said she would try and call them back. So I was on hold for awhile this time, she got back to me and talked so fast that i couldn’t understand her and I said “what?” she then quietly said “Oh my god” and then repeated herself. Very extremely RUDE considering the whole situation. You guys take $500.00 from me for no reason, so im out that money for a week now when I have to pay bills and you guys have been giving the run around and then a very rude customer service representative tells me i should get it by later today or tomorrow morning. I will be reporting you guys to the Better Businsess Bureau.
Neil Horsfall says:
November 1, 2011 at 7:02 pm (UTC -8 )
Bank of America cost my business thousands of dollars! When we were first opening PNS we decided that we were going to use BOA as our credit card processor. Like alot of people when they start a small business our credit wasn’t excellent, but not terrible either, so we were told that we should do a credit exception, which would take 24-48hrs to be approved. At which point i explained to the representitive (Vijay Givens) that we were in a rush and had already been approved with a third party processor, she assured me that it could be done quickly.
48 hours later i had received no phone calls from her, so after leaving 5-6 messages for her i finally got a return call, at which point she told me that the credit exception had been approved and that i now had to fill out the application and it would be 5 days to process, I again explained that we were in a big rush now and that 5 days would be close, she again assured me that it had already been approved and that it would be 5 days maximum. So we filled out the application and faxed it back and waited 5 days, again no phone calls. I left 10 messages a day for the next 6 days and got no response. Finally 15 days after i filed the application i got a phone call telling me that our application was denied!
I then spent the next 2 days trying to get in contact of any executive that could help me, I finally get a hold and executive and explain that my advertising is running but i have no way of taking peoples money!
She tells me that it is not denied that i just need to send them a business plan and in 24hrs everything will be ready and assures me that we will be compensated for our loss of advertising. So we send them the business plan, and again, no phone calls. after calling again all day, i finally get a phone call telling me again that our application is denied!
So we ended up telling them that we didnt want the merchant account through them and moved to a different processor! We are yet to see any compensation for the thousands of dollars we lost in advertising.
This is the worst customer service i have ever dealt with in my life!
Mark says:
August 21, 2011 at 5:19 pm (UTC -8 )
Horrible pricing. That minimum discount rate, plus the account fees, plus the service charges had me running more than 5% per month. When you ask for a rate review, you’re told that you’re at 1.6% – but almost NO CARDS EVER QUALIFY for that rate. There’s always some excuse why they have to charge more. Plus $400 upgrade to equipment.
Customer service was always good, and processing times reasonable, just not very competitive on the pricing for a small business. If you’re a large business who can routinely meet the minimums and are willing to pay top dollar for good service, then they’re a good fit.
Ivan says:
August 17, 2011 at 9:20 pm (UTC -8 )
BOA has the worse merchant service at least it is not a good one. The customer service rep tried to push away all the problems made by boa system error, and they claimed it was all our fault.
It was because of the system error causing the duplicated transaction and my company did not get paid from the duplication error. However, boa took the money out of my account for the money i never received. They insisted the duplication money went into my account, but there was no extra money at all except the actual sale amount. I told them I could show them the bank statement and all the credit card sale record for the date and anything else they wanted. But they said they could not do anything because their system showed the duplication money ( second-time charge) was summited to my account. But I only get paid for what i sold. I did not get double paid even the transactions were duplicated. I requested to see an supervisor and the supervisor told me I got the duplication money and they could not do nothing else. i called the BOA Merchant guy who sold me the merchant service. He was nice at the beginning, but he lost his patient as things go complicated and told me he was not able to help me anymore and also claimed i got the duplication money. I mean BOA should not treat their customers like this. I have business accounts and personal accounts with BOA and it is the time to cancel them now.
Mark says:
August 9, 2011 at 7:24 am (UTC -8 )
I have used BOA for 2 years with no problems. The customer support has exceeded other third party processors. The rates are competetive, and the money hits my account the next business day.
ivan says:
August 17, 2011 at 9:01 pm (UTC -8 )
I have been using boa for 1 year now and, yes, you are right about boa merchant service and I totally agree with you only when not hurting their benefits. They treat business owners like us very well until things really happen. I cant believe what they did to me. They took my money out of my account with no permission or notice for the mistake they made because of the system error. I tried to explain what was going on and they insisted they were right about their decision and refused to talk to me. The sale guy who sold me the service told me not to call him because it is not his business. I am not gonna use their services anymore. Worse after-sale service ever.
Dave says:
July 21, 2011 at 6:24 pm (UTC -8 )
This is a marketing gimmick and even an outright lie, “A main benefit of having your business checking account and merchant account through Bank of America is that your credit card sales will usually be deposited a full day sooner than if you were with a third party processor”.
It takes 3-4 business days to get the money deposited into the bank account after the transaction is approved.
There are a lot of hidden fees that are not explained during the signup process, which always happen over the phone.
Contracts are faxed, and have poor quality (even if you receive it via email), small prints are hard to read, and hidden fees are placed in small prints.
There’s a $495 early termination charge, if you decide to discontinue the service before 3 years.
If you have less than the agreed montly transaction, then a flat fee of $30-40 will be applied to your monthly bill. REALLY BAD for startup business.
Do not use Bank of America Merchant Services, its the worst business decision I ever made in my life.
Phillip Parker says:
August 2, 2011 at 5:15 pm (UTC -8 )
Hi Dave,
Thank you for the comment. The benefit I mentioned may be a marketing gimmick, as you have suggested, but it is definitely not a lie. I know many merchants who use Bank of America Merchant Services just because they get their credit card sales deposited into their BofA checking accounts the next business day. From what I understand, it’s done by means of a “memo post” which is a notation posted to the checking account which indicates a credit has been received from the merchant account, but has not yet been posted to the checking account. It allows the merchant to go on about their business as if the money has actually been deposited.