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(833) 287-6722
Company Overview
Aurora Payments is a full-service merchant account provider based in Tempe, Arizona. According to their website, Aurora Payments has existed since around 2005, operating most of that time as Applied Merchant Services. AMS was a smaller payment provider that was able to secure large volumes of merchant accounts with their acquisitions of Entrust Bankcard and Bancard Systems, Inc around 2015.
In 2018, Sabin Burrell of BlueSquare Resolutions and Jeff Brodsly of Chosen Payments joined with Brian Goudie (formerly of First Data, which is now Fiserv) to become partners under a new parent company, Aurora Solutions. BlueSquare Resolutions had already added large amounts of clients to their portfolio through prolific acquisitions including Electronic Processing Solutions LLC, Merchant Select Services, Discount Payment Services, e-Pay Commerce, Data One Payment Solutions, Secure Choice Merchant Solutions, ProPoint Card Services, and Diverse Payment Solutions.
Aurora has continued to acquire small to medium-sized payment providers to grow its client portfolio. Since the rebrand, they have acquired Harmony Pay, Altiras, and FMPS, and rebranded Chosen Payments as “an Aurora Company”, but the Chosen Payments brand has been allowed to continue operating for the time being. Aurora boasts that it serves over 23,000 merchant accounts and $8 billion in yearly processing volume.
In 2022, private equity firm Corsair purchased a majority stake in Aurora Payments. Aurora also bought One Payments in 2022 and NailSoft in 2023.
Aurora Payments Payment Processing
Aurora Payments processes most major debit and credit cards for most business types. Their services include POS systems, EMV/PIN card readers, employee and inventory management tools, data reporting and analysis, business funding, cash discounts, gift and loyalty programs, and mobile solutions.
Online Payment Gateway from Aurora Payments
Aurora Payments offers an online payment gateway to businesses. This service enables businesses to accept and process payments through their websites, providing a secure and efficient method for handling online transactions.
Point of Sale Systems by Aurora Payments
The company also provides point of sale (POS) systems. These systems are used in physical retail locations to process credit card transactions, track sales, manage inventory, and handle other retail-related tasks.
Mobile Payment Solutions by Aurora Payments
Aurora Payments delivers mobile payment solutions. These allow businesses to process credit card transactions using mobile devices, making it easier for businesses with mobile or remote operations to accept card payments.
Aurora Payments’ Fraud Protection Services
To enhance the security of transactions, Aurora Payments offers fraud protection services. These services aim to detect and prevent fraudulent transactions, providing an additional layer of security to businesses and their customers.
Location & Ownership
Aurora Payments is a registered ISO and FSP of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., Concord, CA; Esquire Bank, Jericho, NY; Elavon, Inc., N.A., Atlanta, Georgia; Evolve Bank & Trust, Memphis, TN.; Merrick Bank, South Jordan, UT; and Deutsche Bank AG, New York, NY. Aurora Payments Bank is headquartered at 1095 W Rio Salado Pkwy Ste 104, Tempe, AZ 85281. Brian Goudie is listed as the company’s CEO.
Table of Contents
- Costs & Contract: We have been unable to locate…
- Complaints & Service: Aurora Payments complaints number few to none…
- BBB Rating: Aurora Payments has an “A-” rating with the Better Business Bureau and is not…
- Sales & Marketing: Aurora Payments does not hire independent sales agents and has received…
Aurora Payments offers most standard payment processing services
Aurora Payments Reviews and Complaints
Here's What Their Clients Say
Complaint Summary
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Total Online Complaints
Few
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Live Customer Support
Yes
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Most Common Complaint (As AMS)
Unauthorized Charges
|
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Recent Lawsuits
No
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Few Online Complaints
Aurora appears to still be consolidating some of its recent acquisitions, so it’s difficult to find Aurora Payments reviews. We have received a few on this profile recently, some of which mention concerning behavior. There are many more Aurora Payments reviews related to companies acquired by Aurora, but we will not factor those into our review. If any of our readers have an Aurora Payments review to make, we encourage them to comment below.
As Applied Merchant Systems
We did find several complaints related to Applied Merchant Systems, all concerning AMS continuing to bill clients after service cancellation. The complaints also detailed very poor customer service interactions.
Aurora Payments Lawsuits and Fines
We have not found any outstanding class-action lawsuits or FTC complaints filed against Aurora Payments. However, it appears that a former employee named Sabon Burrell has been sued by the company in what may be a concerning situation. Details are still unclear, but it seems that Burrell has a history of being sued over alleged cons and worked for Aurora for a while. Dissatisfied clients who wish to pursue a non-litigious course of action against the company should consider reporting it to the relevant supervisory organizations and by leaving a review of your own in the comment section of this article below.
Aurora Payments Customer Support Options
Aurora Payments offers 24/7 phone support to all of its merchant accounts, which is standard practice for companies of their size.
Aurora Payments Customer Service Numbers
- (833) 287-6722 – General Customer Service
Other Support Options
- Customer support form
- Live chat
We have not seen any indication that Aurora Payments goes above and beyond standard customer support options and will grade them “B” at this time.
Aurora Payments BBB Rating and Report
Our Better Business Bureau Profile Assessment
BBB Summary
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BBB Reports
7
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Profile Being Updated
Aurora Payments has been in business for 18 years according to The Better Business Bureau, primarily under the name Applied Payment Systems. The company has an “A-” rating with the BBB, with 6 complaints in the last 3 years.
What Merchants Say
Aurora Payments has received 1 review through the BBB, which is negative. The most recent negative review describes poor customer service and issues with payments:
Worst Company Ever! Do NOT use them! In 3 months they have wasted hours of my time and cost my thousands of dollars!I can’t process payments properly, their customer service is terrible…please save yourself the headache and NEVER work with this company!
A “B” Performance Overall
Taking into consideration the company’s low complaint total and high resolution rate, we have slightly adjusted the BBB’s grade to a “B” at this time.
Aurora Payments Fees and Rates
A Closer Look at the Contract
Cost Summary
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Cancellation Penalties
Yes
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Monthly & Annual Fees
Likely
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Processing Rates
Variable
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Equipment Leasing
Yes
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Partnered with Elavon, Fiserv, and TSYS
Aurora Payments has partnered with many of the larger payment backend providers such as Elavon, Fiserv (formerly First Data), and TSYS. The Aurora Payments contracts could potentially include some of the standards we find in those companies’ contracts, like a $295 early termination fee and locked 4-year equipment agreements. If you have more information on Aurora Payments rates or fees, please contribute to this article by leaving a comment below.
Variable Contract Terms
Like many payment providers, Aurora Payments does not publicly list its rates. With the plethora of partnerships that Aurora has with other major service providers like Fiserv, Elavon, and TSYS, we will assume that some of their contracts could include rates familiar with these other companies. These companies utilize variable contract rates based on company size, type, and volume processed.
Negotiate Contract Pricing
We have not been able to find an Aurora Payments contract at this time. Businesses that have recently signed up for payment services through Aurora Payments are encouraged to leave a comment below describing their experience. Business owners are again encouraged to negotiate pricing and contract terms and to read all contracts thoroughly before signing in these cases. We also encourage businesses to check out our list of the providers of the best merchant accounts.
Aurora Payments Jobs and Employment
Hiring Standards and Ethical Marketing Assessment
Key Points
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Uses Independent Resellers
No
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Telemarketing
No
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Misleading Marketing
No
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Discloses All Important Provisions
No
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No Independent Sales Teams
We have found no indication that Aurora Payments utilizes independent agents. This compares favorably to our list of best credit card processors. Job postings listed online have been for in-house and dedicated sales professionals.
Aurora Payments Contract Terms
Aurora Payments has openly announced their partnerships with Fiserv, Elavon, and TSYS. For more information on their particular contract details, we invite our readers to review the individual payment provider profiles.
Aurora Payments Review Summary
Our Final Thoughts and Opinions
Aurora Payments is among several new large full-service credit card processing providers that have formed out of mass acquisitions and mergers of mid to small-sized payment companies. Aurora’s precursor companies didn’t have an overwhelming amount of complaints or lawsuits associated, and they did not have bad reputations overall. However, Aurora Payments will have to work to provide more clarity for contract details to receive any higher rating than 4-stars at this time. We look forward to reviewing them again once the brand has solidified.
If you found this article helpful, please share it!
Shirley
The credit card company is not professional. They treak you into some shady contracts and then make you pay them monthly fee without even having a contract with them. If you would like to choose a payment system, go dirrectly to first data, Clover is the best pos you can find in us. This people buying merchant accounts from them and resell. Customers believe they are getting best deal from them but is is not so. If you want to lose your money you can proceed with them.
Kipp Webb
Our small LLC has a fishing lodge in The Bahamas purchased in 2019, so it’s a new business. We signed on with Aurora for bookings credit card processing. We also receive revenue from fishing bookings companies that don’t go through our credit card account. It’s been a hell of a start up with a Hurricane and then the pandemic. We had to refund some bookings as travel was not possible for awhile.
In Feb. 2021 Aurora blocked our account. They allege they sent us an email saying they wanted info on a refund. We never received that email. However we continued to get reports from them showing transactions and their charges but no mention our account had been blocked. In the reports is a page highlighted in red with the caption “Important Information about your account” and none of the reports state our account had been blocked.
For a variety of reasons including the fact the Credit card receipts are not the main source of our revenue it wasn’t discovered until last week we weren’t getting paid by Aurora.
It took me 17 hours to finally get a rep after calls, emails, and chat requests.
Finally I got a courtesy response and initially the rep. didn’t know why we weren’t receiving our revenue. As we sorted this out we discovered since Feb. our revenue was going to an investment account in CA. We both thought someone had hacked our account.
Several hours later the rep. emails me back informing me of the block as a cause.
I was referred to the “risk department” and their emails despite using words like I found this and that is signed risk department with no person’s name. I was told the reason our account was blocked this long is because we failed to respond to an email to us from Feb.
As I said we never received an email. I asked for the email and was sent an email with no header or date. I asked for the metadata on that email in the form of the emails native format. Thus far they haven’t complied.
So currently it appears our account was blocked without informing us and they seemed to have no intention of informing on the monthly reports, while they still processed our credit card charges and sent those funds to their investment account in another state.
I have asked for answers from Aurora about this activity but they are stonewalling.
Interestingly once I raised this issues I was told our account would be unblocked immediately.
So this activity begs the question, was this company blocking our account without notifying us and depositing that revenue over the last 7 months in an investment account in another state to profit from blocking our account? I certainly hope not but I’m worried it might be true and the company is stonewalling. If this is true how wide spread might it be?
C. Tang
In November of 2020, our restaurant Boiling Cajun Shrimp stopped processing with Aurora Payments, and suspended use of the account. At that time one of our associates had contacted Aurora Payments regarding issues with our bill and the lack of customer service support. We received an email from customer service manager Charles stating that Aurora Payments had taken over our accounts from Pearl Payments which is who we signed
up with back in 2018. Charles also went on to tell us in his email he would be researching for us why our Clover Service Fee was so high ($273 a month for 3 Clover Stations, one of which wasn’t even working). He also let us know that he could handle all of our needs including cancellation if we so chose. After switching to another provider (who is saving us hundreds a month), we sent Charles an email saying we wanted to cancel. We continued to get billed for8 months of inactivity costing us $3,990.12 in fees. We were paying $450 to $650 a month despite not using their service. Avoid Aurora Payments!
JHynes
Well Sabin Burell Has been fired from Aurora and is Currently being sued from them for over 50m for being con man. Just as he was accused as being a con man for his felony conviction in 2021. https://unicourt.com/case/ca-ora-aurora-solutions-llc-vs-sabin-burrell-1099327
JJohnston
Sabin Burrell leaves a court record trail in Arizona, involved in at least 21 civil lawsuits since 2002 in Maricopa County.
https://www.superiorcourt.maricopa.gov/docket/CivilCourtCases/caseSearchResults.asp?lastName=Burrell&FirstName=Sabin&bName=