TransFirst Overall Rating

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TransFirst Overview

TransFirst Logo

TransFirst Merchant Services (transfirst.com) is a one of the largest privately held direct processors in the credit card processing industry. They boast processing volume upwards of $30 billion thanks to a relatively large merchant customer base. TransFirst not only markets merchant services under its own brand but also under an Independent Sales Organization (ISO) they own called Merchant Accounts Express, and possibly others.

The company was founded in 1995 and its corporate headquarters is based in Hauppauge, NY. TransFirst is sponsored by Wells Fargo Bank of Walnut Creek, CA and Columbus Bank and Trust Co., Columbus, GA as its Acquiring Banks.

TransFirst Sales & Marketing Tactics | C-

TransFirst does not appear to use any deceptive rate advertising on its website or any obvious misleading rate quoting tactics. Evidence suggests that the company does, however, rely heavily on recruiting independent agents in a “hiring mill” type fashion. Additionally, a few agents have reported receiving poor training. This is a common marketing strategy among merchant account providers and often results in a high number of complaints from merchants. In the case of TransFirst, the company appears to be suffering from the typical complaints associated with the practice.

TransFirst also appears to use alternate business names (DBAs) in order to apparently sell its services under unsoiled brand names. As mentioned earlier, one of these companies is “Merchant Accounts Express” and another has been reported as “US Merchant Services.” This practice negatively impacts TransFirst’s rating because it is our opinion that using alternate DBAs is a deceptive marketing tactic. Aside from the use of alternate DBAs, TransFirst’s services are also marketed by other independent companies (sub-ISOs) that operate under their own brand names.

TransFirst Fees, Costs & Contract Terms | D

The pricing, rates and contract terms of a TransFirst merchant account will vary based on several factors including a merchant’s business type, processing volume, agent setting up the account, and the sub-ISO reselling the account.

TransFirst is receiving a low grade in this section for a couple of reasons. First, the company’s policies appear to make it possible for merchants to be set up with expensive accounts and long-term service agreements, whether or not the practice of doing so is condoned by TransFirst’s management. Secondly, merchants are reporting that TransFirst’s standard contract has a 36 month service agreement that automatically renews for successive one year terms if not cancelled within a slim window of opportunity. Additionally, the fee for cancelling service early is $495 but may also vary in cost in some circumstances. Some merchants even reported what sounds like a “Liquidated Damages” cancellation fee. Normally, a Liquidated Damages clause in combination with an automatically renewing contract would earn a provider an “F” in this section; however, this reviewer was unable to verify it prior to publishing this update.

TransFirst Complaints & Service | C

TransFirst has a moderate amount of complaints for a provider of its size and time in business. The common themes in the complaints are merchants reporting unexpected and hidden fees, expensive terminal leases, poor customer service, and that an agent didn’t verbally disclose important contract terms such as the service length agreement and cancellation fees prior to setting up the account. As mentioned earlier, these are the types of complaints often found with providers that use independent agents and resellers to market their services. However, the ultimate responsibility rests with TransFirst since its policies allow resellers to set up accounts that cause problems for some merchants.

TransFirst BBB Report | C

As of this update, the Better Business Bureau is reporting that TransFirst has been “BBB accredited” since 2009 and is awarding the company an “A+” rating despite 132 complaints filed within the last 36 months, which is up from 106 complaints as of the last update. Of the complaints, 60 are due to problems with service, 45 with billing/collection, 25 with advertising and sales issues, and two with delivery issues. 109 of the complaints were resolved to the merchants’ satisfaction while 23 were not.

It is our philosophy that “A+” ratings should be reserved for companies with zero complaints. Therefore, we have adjusted the rating of this section to a “C” for the purposes of this review. You can learn more about why we adjust BBB ratings in our rating criteria.

Bottom Line

TransFirst is an average merchant account provider in credit card processing the industry. Many of its business practices and policies are common and can be found among several of its competitors. The company can improve its rating by removing policies that allow merchants to be set up in expensive account, removing its cancellation penalty and eliminating future complaints.

Also sometimes called a “PCI DSS Compliance Fee,” the “PCI Compliance Fee” is a fee that is imposed by the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards Counsel (PCI DSS).  This organization is an internally created and controlled entity of the card processing industry, and is responsible for overseeing and enacting data security policies.

The original PCI Compliance costs are actually incurred by merchant account providers and are the sum total of fines, audit costs and internal costs of maintaining compliance.  Some of the collected fees go to PCI DSS Counsel to fund on-going security and fraud fighting activities.  Merchant account providers usually pass these costs onto merchants as annual or monthly “PCI Compliance Fees.”

Generally speaking, PCI Compliance fees are often believed to be a scam of the payment card industry because the fees incurred by merchants are marked up at enormous profits.  Additionally, most processors provide no added value or services in exchange for the PCI Compliance fee and even charge it to merchants you have validated compliance.  Critics of PCI Compliance fees accuse the cost as a form of taxation without representation.

High volume merchants may be able to negotiate out the PCI Compliance Fee from their processing costs because of the high amount of fees they generate in transaction fees.

Global Payments

Review Updated: 2/13/2012

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Global Payments Overview

Global Payments Logo

Global Payments Inc. (globalpaymentsinc.com) is one of the largest credit card processors in the merchant services industry and has been in business since the 1960s. It’s also one of the few credit processing companies to be publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: GPN). Global Payments supplies near every service a merchant would need from setting up the merchant account to supplying the processing hardware. The only service that this processor doesn’t supply itself is an online payment gateway for ecommerce transactions. Instead, it partners with other providers that can offer the service such as Authorize.net. Even though Global Payments does not have its own payment gateway, it does have its own virtual terminal called “Global Transport.”

In addition to offering credit card processing services, Global Payments also supplies various business financial services including electronic check processing, gift card services, loyalty card programs and a variety of financial data services.

Global Payments Sales & Marketing Tactics | B

The only strike against Global Payments in this section is how the company acquires new merchant customers. Global relies heavily on partnered independent sales organizations (ISOs) and independent sales agents (ISAs) (both are also called “resellers”) to market and sell its merchant accounts. Although a common marketing practice among the larger processors, it can result in numerous merchant complaints because the resellers’ sales tactics are hard to control. In Global Payments’ case, it appears that most of the complaints against the company can be traced back to resellers; however, the number of complaints is low (details covered below).

Global Payments Fees, Costs & Contract Terms | B-

Pricing and fees of a Global Payments merchant account will vary based on several factors including a merchant’s business type, processing volume and the reseller setting up the account. Additionally, it appears that the service length agreement and early termination fee can also vary by reseller. Merchants are encouraged to aggressively negotiate pricing and contract terms under this type of scenario because it usually means that fees and terms are highly flexible. Learn everything you need to know about rates and fees as well as how to negotiate merchant account contracts in “Fee Sweep.”

Global Payments Complaints & Service | A-

Global Payments has a very low complaint count for a processor of its size and time in business. Additionally, the only common theme among the complaints is merchants reporting that Global Payments placed holds on funds. It is unclear in the complaints why the funds were held but holds are often happen because of  suspicious transactions or transactions that exceeded a merchant’s processing limit. Since most of these complaints appear to be isolated incidents, they will not count heavily against the company’s rating in this section.

Other than the hold complaints, the rest of the complaints appear to be based in either merchant confusion or a reseller issue. Among these type of complaints there does not appear to be any worrisome trends that would indicate larger problems.

Global Payments BBB Report | B-

As of this review, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) maintains separate profiles for the U.S. and Canada Global Payments. The U.S. profile shows that the company has been “BBB accredited” since 2011 and is awarding Global Payments an “A+” rating based on 18 complaints, which are evenly split between problems with service and billing/collection.

The Canadian profile also shows that accreditation was attained in 2011 and has an “A+” rating; however, the Canadian report has 27 complaints with the majority matching the same areas as the U.S. report. In total, the BBB has 45 complaints registered against Global Payments with 10 showing as not resolved to the merchants’ satisfaction.

It is our philosophy that “A+” ratings should be reserved for processors with zero complaints. Due to this, and that Global Payments has a fairly low resolution ratio, we are adjusting the rating of this section to a “B-“ for the purposes of this review. To learn more about why we adjust BBB ratings, see are rating criteria.

Bottom Line

Overall, Global Payments scores well for a provider of its size and time in business. Many of Global Payments merchant accounts are set up by resellers that can set their own pricing and contract terms, so merchants are encouraged to negotiate aggressively and to thoroughly review contracts before signing.

Leave your Global Payments review in the comment section below.

Dwolla Overall Rating

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Dwolla Overview

Dwolla Logo

Dwolla (dwolla.com) is a Des Moines, Iowa based startup that is on a mission to radically change the electronic payments industry. The company was founded in 2008 on the premise of bypassing credit card Interchange fees (aka: swipe fees) and providing a low cost payment service to businesses and consumers. Dwolla has created a proprietary payment network similar to that of VISA and MasterCard, and Dwolla’s network does not charge a percentage fee for the transaction like a traditional merchant account does (costs will be covered below). Instead, the company eliminates credit card use altogether by linking consumers’ Dwolla accounts with their checking accounts. The service may sound similar to PayPal, and in some ways it is, but Dwolla is approaching the concept from a very different angle.

Although Dwolla’s payment concept is not exactly a new one, its marketing and business strategy is completely unique. With help from a few banking and financial institution investors, Dwolla has created a payment network that eliminates all of the common fees that merchants incur from accepting card payments. Additionally, the company’s network eliminates the common transfer delays and fraud that plagues similar networks such as the ACH network that most banks utilize. Essentially, Dwolla is a global system for instant cash transfers.

Dwolla can be used for payments between individuals, businesses, or both, but the focus of this review will be the consumer-to-merchant acceptance side. Merchants can accept payments the same way individuals can pay each other, or they can use features that are better suited for their needs. These include website integration and plug-ins for shopping carts as well as tools that can be used to accept payments at the merchant’s location. The company has made major headway in the payments market and has reported that it is processing $30 to $50 million in transactions every month.

Dwolla Sales & Marketing Tactics | A+

Dwolla uses no deceptive advertising or marketing tactics that are apparent to this reviewer.

Dwolla Fees, Costs & Contract Terms | A+

Dwolla probably has the most attractive pricing of any electronic payment service on the market. The company charges no fees for transactions under $10 and only 25 cents per transaction for any amount over $10. There are no additional fees whatsoever (including no PCI Compliance fees) and no service agreement or cancellation fees. Dwolla’s pricing makes it especially cost effective for merchants who deal in low dollar sales as well as merchants that typically have high dollar sales.

Dwolla Complaints & Service | A+

Dwolla has only one complaint filed in the usual online forums; however, the content of the complaint appears to have nothing to do with a problem caused by the company. Therefore, it will not be factored into the rating of this section. The company has both a dedicated customer support number as well as email support and help articles published on its website.

Dwolla BBB Report | A-

As of this review, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) is not showing Dwolla as not “BBB Accredited” and awarding the company an “A-“ rating based on four (4) complaints filed in the last 36 months. Of the complaints, three are due to problems with service and one regarding advertising or sales issues. Three of the complaints were resolved to the customers’ satisfaction while one was not, even though the BBB is reporting that Dwolla made a “good faith” effort to resolve it.

Bottom Line

Dwolla is making waves in the credit card processing industry. The company offers a low cost, low risk payment alternative for merchants. The only drawback to the service is that both the merchant and customer need to have Dwolla accounts. Therefore, the service is best used as a supplement to a traditional credit card processing service. The service is especially useful for business-to-business payments and rent payments.

Inner Fence Overall Rating

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Inner Fence Overview

Inner Fence Logo

Sometimes referred to as “InnerFence” as one word, Inner Fence, LLC. (innerfence.com) is a Seattle based company that focuses on building credit card processing software for mobile devices such as the Android and iPhone. Similar to that of Pay Anywhere, GoPayment and Square, Inner Fence allows merchants to accept credit card payments on their smartphones and tablets. Merchants should note that only iPhone users will be able to take advantage of swiped transactions using an attached card reader. Android users can only key-in the transactions as of this review.

Inner Fence was founded in 2007 and operates in an apparent joint venture with Merchant Focus, which supplies the actual credit card processing. The companies also acquired AppNinjas (Swipe), another mobile processor, in 2010.

Inner Fence Sales & Marketing Tactics | A+

Inner Fence uses no deceptive advertising or rate quoting that is apparent to this reviewer. In fact, the company’s website has the most transparent pricing of any previously reviewed provider (covered below). It appears that Inner Fence primarily markets it service through online marketing, referral partnerships, and referrals from Merchant Focus.

Inner Fence Fees, Costs & Contract Terms | A-

Inner Fence splits its pricing into three categories: U.S. Merchants, Canadian Merchants and Non-Profits. All three are month-to-month agreements with no cancellation fees, no setup fees, no minimum fees, no annual fees, no AVS fees, no batch header fees and no leasing or PCI Compliance fees. All types also include Discover credit card acceptance while requiring a separate American Express merchant account. As for pricing, each has slightly different rates and fees.

US based merchants will pay $25 per month and the following rates: Swipe/retail accounts have three tiers: 1.74% Qualified, 2.29% Mid-Qualified, and 3.79% Non-Qualified plus $0.24 per transaction for all tiers. Keyed/e-commerce accounts have two tiers: 2.09% Qualified, 3.79% Non-Qualified plus $0.24 per transaction. Inner Fence does not bundle the Dues & Assessments fees charged by the card associations, so this will add an additional 0.11% for VISA and MasterCard transactions and 0.925% for Discover. American Express rates will vary by merchant.

Canadian based merchants will have their processing handled by BeanStream and will be charged $0.99(CAD) for the iPhone app and $35(CAD) per month. Canadians also have a simple flat rate transaction fee of 2.95% + $0.25 per transaction, regardless of card or transaction type.

Non-Profit companies based in the U.S. get a slight break in pricing with a $20 monthly service fee and rates of 1.74% Qualified, 2.29% Mid-Qualified, 3.09% Non-Qualified plus $0.24 per transaction. These rate tiers appear to apply to both keyed and swiped transactions, but merchants are encouraged to double check with Inner Fence before applying. Be sure to read “Fee Sweep” to get a full understanding of how rates and fees are assessed in the credit card processing industry.

Aside from processing costs, merchants who wish to take advantage of the lower swipe rates will need to purchase a card reader from Inner Fence for $79. Check the Inner Fence website and service agreement for full rate and fee disclosure.

Inner Fence Complaints & Service | A+

Inner Fence has no complaints filed in the usual forums and the app has received high ratings in the iTunes store. Additionally, the company has a dedicated customer support phone number as well as email support.

Inner Fence BBB Report | N/A

As of this review, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) does not have a report for Inner Fence. The lack of a (BBB) report will not be factored into the overall rating of the company for the purposes of this review. Merchants may want to check the Merchant Focus BBB report since it’s the company that handles the processing.

Bottom Line

Overall, Inner Fence scores well in most of the important areas of merchant credit card acceptance. The service has a few drawbacks including an expensive card reader (where many competitors offer it for free), lack of Android card reader support, and pricing that, in some cases, will be more expensive than its competitors.

iPayment Overall Rating

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iPayment Overview

iPayment Logo

iPayment (ipaymentinc.com) is a direct credit card processor that boasts that it provides merchant accounts to approximately 145,000 small businesses nationwide. Founded in 2006, the company is headquartered in Nashville, TN but maintains its main operations center in Los Angeles, CA. iPayment is sponsored by Wells Fargo of Walnut Creek, CA as its Acquiring Bank.

Besides processing credit and debit cards, iPayment offers a wide variety of electronic payment processing services including gift and loyalty card programs, fuel services, paper and electronic check processing, merchant cash advances and ecommerce acceptance methods.

iPayment Sales & Marketing Tactics | C

While iPayment is an actual credit card processor, it relies heavily upon third-party independent sales organizations (ISOs) and independently contracted agents to bring in new customers. This is a common practice among large processors and often results in merchant complaints because the sales tactics of the ISOs and agents are very hard to control. It appears that iPayment is suffering from the usual complaints regarding this strategy, which negatively affects its rating in this section.

iPayment does not appear to directly utilize any deceptive marketing or rate quoting tactics; however, some of its ISOs and agents appear to be doing so. Merchants are encouraged to research any company offering iPayment merchant accounts before signing up.

iPayment Fees, Costs & Contract Terms | C-

Pricing and contract terms of an iPayment merchant account can vary based on several factors including a merchant’s business type, processing volume and the agent or ISO setting up the account. Under most circumstances it looks like the standard contracts have service agreements of 36 months with early termination fees that range from $300 to $500. Depending on the ISO or agent, the terms of an iPayment merchant account contract are likely to be very negotiable. Be sure to read “Fee Sweep” before engaging any merchant account provider in contract negotiation.

iPayment Complaints & Service | D

iPayment has a moderate-to-high number of complaints filed online, many of which can be found in the comment section below. There are two types of complaints that dominate the reports; In the first type, the obvious sources of the merchants’ problems originate with the agents or ISOs that set up the accounts. In these complaints the common theme among merchants are reports of hidden fees, high monthly fees, non-disclosure of the service length agreement/cancellation fees, and high PCI Compliance fees. In the second type, iPayment is the source of the complaints and merchants report receiving poor service and unprofessional customer support.

Since it is our philosophy that the actual credit card processor is ultimately responsible for the agents and ISOs which represent it, we are awarding iPayment a low rating in this section.

iPayment BBB Report | N/A

As of this update, iPayment still does not have a full report or rating with the Better Business Bureau (BBB). Since it has been over 12 months since our last update we suspect that there might be some “behind the scenes” dealings going on between the companies which would keep a potentially poor rating from showing; however, there is no direct evidence to support this belief.

Bottom Line

iPayment is suffering from numerous complaints mostly due to its marketing strategy of hiring independent agents and partnering with ISOs. The company can improve its rating by significantly reducing its future complaint count, and improving its pricing and contract policies so that merchants cannot be set up in expensive long-term contracts.

Leave your review of iPayment in the comment section below.

Charge Anywhere

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Charge Anywhere Overview

Charge Anywhere Logo

Although Charge Anywhere (chargeanywhere.com) offers several electronic processing solutions, the focus of this review will be about its mobile processing app dubbed “Charge Anywhere Direct” (chargeanywheredirect.com).

It’s important to understand that Charge Anywhere Direct only supplies a smartphone app that makes accepting mobile payments possible on Android, iPhone and some Blackberry devices. The company does not actually process payments or supply a merchant account. Merchants who wish to use the Charge Anywhere app will need to establish a separate merchant account with an actual processor. The app is compatible with virtually every major credit card processor and merchants can select a provider of their choice.

Although the information is somewhat hard to come by, it appears that Charge Anywhere, LLC. was established in 1998 and is based in South Plainfield, New Jersey. The company also acquired Comstar Interactive Corp. in 2004.

Charge Anywhere Sales Tactics & Marketing Strategy | A+

Charge Anywhere does not utilize any deceptive marketing or price quoting tactics that are immediately apparent. The company appears to rely primarily on advertising and partnerships to market its service.

Charge Anywhere Fees, Costs & Contract Terms | A+

Charge Anywhere assesses only one required fee of $9.99 per month as the gateway fee for using the app. Other than that, the only other costs come in the form of optional card swiping hardware. The card readers range from $49 for simple readers to $249 for readers that include receipt printers.

Aside from the monthly service fee and hardware costs, the app has no service length commitment and no cancellation fees or other hidden fees. Keep in mind that your processor will have its own set of fees that are separate from Charge Anywhere’s and may have other important contract terms that you need to understand. Be sure to check out “Fee Sweep” to keep from getting scammed by a dubious processor or sales agent.

Charge Anywhere Complaints & Service | A+

Charge Anywhere does not have any complaints filed in the usual forums. The company also supplies a dedicated toll-free customer support line (800-404-2014), email support, and live chat support.

Charge Anywhere BBB Report | N/A

The Better Business Bureau (BBB) does not have a report for Charge Anywhere as of this review and will not be factored into the company’s overall rating.

Bottom Line

Charge Anywhere appears to be a great processing application for smartphones. Unlike Square, GoPayment and Pay Anywhere, Charge Anywhere offers a wide range of flexibility when it come to processing hardware and merchant account provider choices. Because of this, merchants can better customize Charge Anywhere to suit their businesses processing needs over many of its competitors.  Merchants will just need to be careful when selecting processors since they will have their own set of fees and agreements.

As of this review, the Charge Anywhere app is compatible with all iPhones/iPads, all Android Devices, Blackberry 4.1 or higher, Windows Mobile 5.0 or higher, most versions of J2ME/Java phones and any web enabled phone with a browser.

LevelUp Logo

LevelUp has eliminated it’s monthly service fee and expanded its electronic payment service nationwide in tandem with the launch of a custom hardware line for merchants. In a partnership with T-Mobile, the company can now supply any merchant in the U.S. with a plug-and-play smartphone and docking station that allows for quick access into the LevelUp payment network.

LevelUp’s hardware is not required to use its service and any merchant with an Android smartphone or iPhone can download the app and join immediately. Retailers who want to speed up their checkout line can lease a docking station and phone for $25 per month, or $250 per year. The lease does not lock merchants into a contract and can be cancelled anytime without penalties.

Along with this announcement, LevelUp is running a promotion to help merchants save money on the hardware cost. Currently, merchants in Philadelphia, San Francisco, New York City, and Boston can eliminate their monthly lease fee by getting at least two customers a day to pay using the LevelUp app. Merchants in other cities can get a two month lease credit for each new merchant they refer.

LevelUp is a service that facilitates electronics payments between merchants and consumers through the use of QR Codes and smartphones. In addition to conducting payments, LevelUp also includes purchase analytics and a rewards & loyalty program. You can learn more about the company in our LevelUp review.

TSYS Merchant Solutions

Review Updated: 1/24/2012
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TSYS Merchant Solutions Overview

TSYS Logo

TSYS is one of the largest credit card processors in the United States and the company has two primary areas of business. The first, which will be the focus of this review, is its direct sales channel called “TSYS Merchant Solutions.” The second is its processing platform referred to as “TSYS Acquiring Solutions.” It’s important to understand the difference between these two because your relationship with the company is different depending on the channel with which you are dealing. First we’ll cover the acquiring side.

TSYS Acquiring Solutions (tsys.com/acquiring/) is an Omaha, Nebraska, based merchant acquirer (aka: Acquiring Bank). As an acquirer, TSYS specializes in acting as a backend credit card processor for non-acquiring banks, Independent Sales Organizations (ISOs) and companies that create and sell credit card processing technology. In other words, it supplies the credit card processing for other companies that sell merchant services. As a merchant in this scenario, you would have a third party company between you and TSYS that would be setting up and managing your merchant account.

On the direct sales side, TSYS has its own sales offices with dedicated sales staff that can set up a merchant directly with credit card processing services. This channel is called “TSYS Merchant Solutions” (tsysmerchantsolutions.com). In this scenario, there is no third party company between you and TSYS and you will be dealing with TSYS directly for account setup and management.

TSYS has been processing credit card payments since the 1970s and is one of one of the few processors listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: TSS). TSYS has acquired several other processors in its history including First National Merchant Services (FNMS), Clarity Payment Solutions, Card Tech Ltd., and TermNet Merchant Services. Some of these companies have remained independently branded while others have been absorbed into the TSYS brand name.

It is important to understand that a very large part of TSYS’s business is supplying credit card processing services to other companies that resell and manage the merchant account customers. In many cases, TSYS does not supply merchant accounts directly to merchants although the TSYS brand name may appear on the merchant account agreement. The banks, subsidiaries and partners that resell TSYS credit card processing can often set the terms of their own contracts, and markup the processing rates and fees as they please. This fact can cause confusion with merchants as TSYS may have had nothing to do with the terms and pricing of the account. To add to the confusion, some partners manage the customer service of their accounts in-house while others outsource it to TSYS’s Back Office Support program. Depending on the partner, a merchant may either deal with the partner’s customer service or TSYS’s customer service. For the purposes of this review, we’ll focus on TSYS’s back office support and direct sales channel.

TSYS Merchant Solutions Sales & Marketing Tactics | B

TSYS appears to use a variety of marketing tactics including employed outside sales agents, telemarketing, advertising and strategic partnerships. It is unclear, as of this review, if TSYS Merchant Solutions utilizes independent sales agents. Therefore, we will be holding this section to a “B” rating until the facts can be obtained. Otherwise, TSYS does not appear to utilize any deceptive marketing tactics that are apparent this reviewer.

TSYS Merchant Solutions Fees, Costs & Contract Terms | C-

Costs and fees of a TSYS merchant account will vary based on a merchant’s business type, processing volume and the agent setting up the account. Generally, this means that pricing is highly flexible. Merchants are encouraged read “Fee Sweep” to learn how to negotiate the best rates and fees.

The reason for the company’s low score in this section is due to its merchant account contract terms. As of this review, TSYS Merchant Solutions’ standard contract includes a three (3) year service agreement that automatically renews for one year terms unless the merchant cancels during a small window of opportunity. In addition to this, merchants that cancel outside of the grace period will be subject to a $250 early termination fee (ETF). The ETF is lower than average, but combined with an automatically renewing contract these provisions greatly reduce the company’s rating in this section.

Keep in mind that these terms can often be negotiated. If you are dealing with a partner or subsidiary the terms may be drastically different. As always, be sure to read the contract in its entirety.

TSYS Merchant Solutions Complaints & Service | B

The majority of complaints filed against TSYS can be traced back to the partner or subsidiary that sold and managed the merchant account. As mentioned earlier, these entities resell TSYS accounts and can set their own terms and pricing as well as have their own in-house customer service. Several complaints seemed to target TSYS when the partner was truly the root of the problem.

There are only a handful of complaints that appear to be a direct result of a TSYS action or policy. In these complaints, the common theme is merchants reporting non-disclosure of the three year service agreement, auto-renewing contract and cancellation fee. Considering TSYS Merchant Solutions’ size and time in business, some of these complaints should be expected; however, the company scores well in this section because there are only a few.

It should be noted that there were many more complaints filed for the recently acquired First National Merchant Services (FNMS).

TSYS Merchant Solutions BBB Report | A- (CPO Adjusted)

As of this review, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) is showing that TSYS Merchant Solutions has been accredited since September of 2010. The BBB is awarding the company an “A+” rating and reporting 19 complaints in the last 36 months. The majority are regarding problems with service and billing/collection. All but two of the complaints have been resolved to the merchants’ satisfaction.

We believe “A+” ratings should be reserved for companies with zero complaints so we have adjusted the rating of this section to an “A-“ for the purposes of this review.

Bottom Line

As one of the largest processors, TSYS Merchant Solutions scores well in most sections of this review. The company can raise its rating by removing its three year service agreement, auto-renewing contract and early termination fee. Merchants considering TSYS as their processor are encouraged to negotiate pricing and terms aggressively.

Leave your TSYS Merchant Solutions review in the comment section below.

Pay Anywhere Overall Rating

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Pay Anywhere Overview

Pay Anywhere Logo

Pay Anywhere is a mobile credit card processing service of North American Bancard; however, Pay Anywhere warrants its own review because the service is a departure of North American Bancard’s typical merchant account setup. It should be noted that even though Pay Anywhere is powered by North American Bancard, the actual processor of the credit card transactions is Global Payments.

Much like Inuit’s GoPayment, Pay Anywhere is North American Bancard’s answer to Square’s mobile credit card processing service. The service appears to have launched in 2010, so it is still relatively new to the merchant services arena and has not enjoyed the same kind of buzz and popularity of Square and GoPayment. Even so, Pay Anywhere has been garnering a lot more media attention lately and could become a solid competitor in the wireless credit card processing industry.

Pay Anywhere Sales & Marketing Tactics | A+

Pay Anywhere does not use any deceptive marketing or sales tactics that are apparent to this reviewer. It appears that the company primarily markets its service through advertising, public relations, strategic partnerships and referrals from North American Bancard.

Pay Anywhere Fees, Costs & Contract Terms | A

Pay Anywhere’s pricing resembles Square’s more than it does GoPayment’s. Like the other two, Pay Anywhere has no setup fees, no monthly fees, no cancellation fee and comes with a free credit card reader. The processing rate is similar to the others except that Pay Anywhere includes a transaction rate of $0.19 for each swiped transaction, which can make it the more expensive service for merchants that have mostly low dollar transactions. The full fee for swiped transactions is 2.69% + $0.19 and 3.49% + $0.19 for keyed transactions. As of this review, Pay Anywhere is only compatible with the Apple iPhone (3G, 3GS, 4 with iOS 3 or later), Android (2.1 or later), iPad (iOS 3.23 or later) and will be adding the Blackberry in the near future.

Pay Anywhere Complaints & Service | A

Pay Anywhere has very few complaints and the ones that it does have seem to be based in merchant confusion rather than faults of the Pay Anywhere service. There are a couple of complaints stating that Pay Anywhere is charging a monthly fee even though it is not supposed to have one. Again, these may also be cases of merchant confusion. As of this update, this reviewer is not seeing any common themes in complaints that could indicate potential problems for merchants. Like GoPayment, Pay Anywhere has an edge on Square by having a dedicated 800 number customer support line.

Pay Anywhere BBB Report | A (CPO Adjusted)

As of this update, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) is showing that Pay Anywhere is not accredited and awarding the company an “A+” rating. The report shows four (4) complaints filed in the last 36 months split between billing & collection and problems with products/services. Of the complaints, all have been resolved to the merchants’ satisfaction.  Since we believe “A+” ratings should be reserved for companies that have zero complaints, we have adjusted Pay Anywhere’s rating to an “A” for the purposes of this review.

Bottom Line

Pay Anywhere is beginning to gain ground in the mobile processing market. Overall, the service is scoring well and showing that it can compete with the top players. The main drawback is that Pay Anywhere charges a $0.19 transaction fee in addition to the percentage fee (aka: Discount Rate) which can make it the more expensive option among its competitors for merchants dealing in low dollar sales.

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