AmeriBanc National Review

As of this review, we are able to locate over 40 AmeriBanc complaints, several of which accuse the company of being a ripoff or a scam. As noted above, many of these complaints have been filed by the company’s former employees, and a good portion of these have received rebuttals from current and former AmeriBanc sales agents. At this time, it is difficult to determine the veracity of most of the specific claims made by agents, but the persistent pattern of agent complaints is enough to indicate that there is some sort of problem with this department. Among the company’s merchant complaints, the prevailing themes are misrepresentation and nondisclosure by agents as well as aggressive and impolite telemarketing practices. Overall, this complaint rate is moderate for the company’s size and time in business; we are therefore assigning the company a “B” in this category.

Note: We have adjusted this company’s BBB rating according to our own standards. To better understand why we adjust BBB ratings, please see our Rating Criteria.

AmeriBanc National has been an accredited business of the Better Business Bureau since 2006, and the company is currently showing a “A+” rating based on 15 complaints filed in the last three years. Of these complaints, seven are related to advertising or sales issues, five are due to problems with the product or service, two are related to billing and collection, and one is related to a delivery issue. Eight complaints have been resolved with BBB assistance, while the remaining seven either were resolved to the dissatisfaction of the merchant or did not receive a final response from the merchant. In this case, we disagree with the BBB’s rating due to the company’s complaint total and resolution ratio. We have therefore adjusted it to a “B” according to our own rating criteria.

According to one sample AmeriBanc merchant agreement (available below), the standard AmeriBanc contract signs the merchant up for month-to-month processing through Global Payments with no termination fee upon cancellation. Most merchant complaints about the company, however, tell a different story. These complaints suggest that the company’s standard contract is actually a three-year agreement with automatic renewal and a cancellation fee of $195 or more. This termination fee may actually be related to the return of equipment upon cancellation. Additional reported figures include a $25 monthly minimum, a $99 annual PCI compliance fee, a statement fee of approximately $8, and variable monthly equipment costs. A company representative has contacted us to say that AmeriBanc National offers month-to-month agreements, does not lease equipment, does not charge termination fees, and can offer tiered pricing or interchange-plus pricing.

We are currently inclined to believe multiple merchant reports over the one document we found or the word of a company representative. For what it’s worth, the linked document does indicate that the company is potentially capable of offering a competitive contract with Global Payments. Merchants should therefore plan to negotiate aggressively for optimal pricing. If you have any concrete knowledge of this company’s standard contract, please leave that information in the comment section of this review. See the AmeriBanc National Merchant Agreement.

AmeriBanc National rates as a slightly better-than-average merchant account provider according to our system. The company’s overall rating suffers from its use of independent sales agents, the nature of the complaints filed against it, and the steady increase in complaints it has received since our last review. As always, merchants are encouraged to carefully examine any contract they are given.