Aurora Payments 2023: Card Processing Reviews & Complaints

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Aurora Payments
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Aurora Payments

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PhonePhone(833) 287-6722 View Pricing

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

Aurora Payments payment processing

Aurora Payments offers most standard payment processing services

these processors announce that they now sync with quickbooks

Aurora Payments Reviews and Complaints

Here's What Their Clients Say

Complaint Summary

Total Online Complaints
Few
Live Customer Support
Yes
Most Common Complaint (As AMS)
Unauthorized Charges
Recent Lawsuits
No

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

BBB Reports
7

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.

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Aurora Payments Fees and Rates

A Closer Look at the Contract

Don't Fall Into An Expensive Trap. See Who The Worst Processors Are.

Cost Summary

Cancellation Penalties
Yes
Monthly & Annual Fees
Likely
Processing Rates
Variable
Equipment Leasing
Yes

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

Audit Your Current Statement To Find Its Hidden Fees

Processing statements are intentionally complicated so that they can overcharge you. Get clarity before you switch.

Key Points

Uses Independent Resellers
No
Telemarketing
No
Misleading Marketing
No
Discloses All Important Provisions
No

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.


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Customer & Employee Reviews

What Others Are Saying About Aurora Payments

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5 Responses

  • Shirley

    Shirley boyd Inc

    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

    Bonefish Lodge

    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

    Boiling Cajun Shrimp

    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!

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Phillip Parker
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About The Author

Phillip Parker is the creator and author behind this website. He has over 15 years of experience in the credit card processing industry as a journalist, consultant, and former merchant account sales professional. He started this project as a blog to expose merchant services providers that engage in predatory business practices, such as deceptive marketing, misleading pricing, and high-pressure sales tactics. His goal is to help business owners find merchant account providers who serve their industry well while offering fair rates with no junk fees and no long-term commitments.

Phillip has researched over 1,000 payment processors and been quoted in numerous high-profile publications, including the Los Angeles Time, INC Magazine, The Atlantic, and the Miami Herald among others.

Need advice on card acceptance? Schedule a consultation with Phillip.

Phillip’s Top Processor Picks:
Retail, restaurant, e-commerce, mobile, professional services, and invoicing, Phillip recommends Helcim and CDG Commerce.

High-risk businesses, Phillip recommends PaymentCloud and Host Merchant Services.

How Our Ratings Work

Please note that our rating system was overhauled on April 26th, 2023. Reviews dated before this date may not score in accordance with the following.

Star Rating Criteria:

At the start of our research, all processors are awarded five stars. We deduct stars if the processor engages in any of the following:

– One star deduction if the processor has any junk fees.

– One star deduction if the processor does not post its pricing clearly on its website.

– One Star deduction if the processor is suffering from moderate client complaints.

– Multiple Star deductions if a processor is suffering from severe complaints, imposes unjust cancellation fees, markets non-cancellable equipment leases, engages in predatory rate pricing, or may be engaged in illegal activities.

Get all of the details regarding out rating criteria here.

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