1st National Payment Solutions Review

Two Merchant Account Types

The 1st National Payment Solutions website provides a number of important documents, including the company’s contracts and equipment lease. 1st National offers two kinds of merchant accounts, which can last for one, two, or three-year terms. The first contract (available below), which is an agreement through iPayment, includes an early termination fee that can range from $250-$350, an iAccess fee of $9.95-$14.95, and a variable PCI Compliance fee. The second agreement (also available below), which is through Woodforest National Bank, is an automatically renewing contract with a Liquidated Damages early termination fee. Although neither document lists the company’s specific rates, it is reasonable to assume that these figures may vary based on a merchant’s size, business type, and time in business. Additionally, 1st National’s standard lease agreement is non-cancellable.

Liquidated Damages

The primary factors lowering the company’s grade in this category are its use of iPayment’s services and the inclusion of a Liquidated Damages clause in its Woodforest Bank contract. This clause states that the merchant’s early termination fee will be either $250 per location or a total equal to the merchant’s average monthly fees multiplied by the remaining months in the contract, whichever is greater. This figure has the potential to be very high. Although 1st National scores points for providing these contracts for all merchants to see on its website, the actual terms therein are worthy of a “C” grade at this time and do not compare favorably to the cheapest merchant accounts.

1st National Payment Solutions Contract Terms

A company representative has stated in the comment section of this review that the company’s early termination fee only applies to merchants who receive free equipment upon signup and it can be waived for other merchants. In addition, the same representative stated that the company’s contract through Woodforest only charges a flat $5 monthly fee and does not include any other monthly, annual, or PCI compliance fees. See the 1st National Payment Solutions Woodforest Contract, or see the 1st National Payment Solutions iPayment Contract.

Low Complaint Total

We are currently able to locate a handful of negative 1st National Payment Solutions reviews, two of which accuse the company of being a ripoff or a scam. These complainants report difficulty cancelling service, poor customer service, fund holds, and equipment issues. Two of the complaints are over three years old, while another complaint was posted in 2011 and referred to issues that took place even before then.

Complaint Responses

The president of 1st National was active in responding to several complaints and appeared to resolve the customers’ issues after an extended period of time. He attributed the delay to organizational holdups related to the need to have multiple higher-ups sign off on a refund. He also appears to have posted on numerous other reviews filed against 1st National Processing for the sole purpose of clarifying that his ISO of the company was not the party in question.

Customer Support Channels

The 1st National Payment Solutions website lists a dedicated customer support phone line, but this channel is not sufficient to qualify the company as a top-rated payment processor for customer service. After taking into consideration the age of the complaints, their delayed resolutions, and the effort made by the company’s CEO, we have awarded 1st National a score of “A” in this category.

Under 10 BBB Complaints

1st National Payment Solutions is an accredited business with the Better Business Bureau. As of this review, the company has an “A+” rating with the BBB and has had four complaints filed against it in the last 36 months. All of these complaints were related to billing and collection and were either resolved to the dissatisfaction of the merchant or did not receive a final response from the merchant.

What Merchants Say

One complainant mentions difficulty closing the merchant account:

1st National Payment Solutions (one of numerous names) is a credit card processor. In May of 2016 I completed and faxed a “Close Merchant Account ” form, one of their own forms. As it turns out the previous manager of Mountain Tan missed the fact that this outfit had been charging us $91.99 per month but was not processing any credit card charges. Once discovered I completed and faxed the form. I now discovered that 1st National never closed the account and has continued to charge a new rate of $93.99 per month. I contacted their Traverse City office (###-###-####) and after a long delay expressed my dissatisfaction with their lack of follow through and he had the gull to tell me my May fax must have gotten stuck to another fax. Then he lectures me that “you should always call to confirm the fax was received” (covering his tracks). I told him I wanted a refund of each months charges from the original date of cancellation and he said (oh, that’s not going to happen). I then questioned him why customer service allowed this to continue when they were not processing any charges for our company and he gave me the lame excuse that they process so may customers that they can’t keep track. I’m sure the process is all computerized and they probably get a monthly report of businesses with no activity other than their monthly fee being drafted out of a bank account. This place is a rip off and I’m sure they have their routine down pat. You may wonder why this wasn’t discovered earlier by Mountain Tan and the reason is they have absentee owners who oversee numerous businesses at one location and a charge of $91.99 isn’t going to stick out like a sore thumb.

Merchants in similar situations could benefit from researching how to cancel a merchant account without paying a fee.

An “A” Rating

1st National Payment Solutions also has not received any informal reviews, although it should be noted that these reviews may ore may not be subject to verification by the BBB. Given the company’s complaint total, we agree with the BBB’s rating at this time.

Independent Sales Agents

1st National Payment Solutions appears to utilize a referral program, strategic partnerships, and independent sales entities to market its services. The use of independent sales agents is usually tied to high complaint rates for a company, but we are currently able to locate only one National Payment Solutions complaint that describes misrepresentation of pricing. This review is found in the comment section below and could simply have been a misunderstanding.

No Deceptive Advertising

As an additional point in the company’s favor, it does not appear to engage in deceptive advertising strategies in its official materials. We will therefore assign 1st National Payment Solutions an “A” rating in this category for the time being.  If you suspect that 1st National Payment Solutions is charging you undisclosed fees, however, we recommend seeking a free third-party statement audit.