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Is CardWorks a Trustworthy Payment Processor? Review + Complaints: Find Out Here

Name: CardWorks
Item: CardWorks
Rating: 4.3
Author: Phillip Parker

Author: Phillip Parker

Updated: September 28, 2025

Maintained Since: April 18, 2012

+ Advertising Notice

We take our role in providing guidance and education regarding the card payment industry very seriously. At our own expense, we have vigorously defended our right to continue expose unethical and predatory practices in the industry, successfully defeating every attempt to silence us. However, fending off frivolous lawsuits is costly. To sustain these efforts, one of the ways we generate revenue is through affiliate partnerships with ethical providers. This means that some of our outgoing links connect business owners to trustworthy, low-cost payment processors, which is what most of our readers seek. We see this revenue channel as a win-win-win for everyone involved. Business owners find good processors, processors get good clients, and we are able to continue to provide a valuable service to the small business community. We also recommend and link to many services that do not compensate us. Our priority is to guide you to the best solutions for your needs, regardless of potential revenue. If you have questions, please feel free to contact us.

All mentions of rate and fee costs are estimations based on publicly available information and client feedback. Actual costs may vary based on a variety of factors unique to your business.

CardWorks

Rating

4.3/5

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Pros

Good customer support

Efficient transaction processing

Reliable security measures

User-friendly interface

Multiple payment options

Cons

Specific industry restrictions

Potential hidden fees

Limited international capabilities

Requires hardware investment

Contractual commitment needed

Overview

In this CardWorks review, we’ll take a closer look at their credit card processing services, including point-of-sale (POS) systems, mobile payment options, and e-commerce tools. We’ll highlight which businesses are most likely to benefit, while also examining customer reviews to reveal common praise and concerns. In addition to services, we’ll cover pricing, contract terms, and key features so you know what to expect. By the end, you’ll have the insights you need to decide whether CardWorks is the right choice for your business’s payment processing needs.

About CardWorks

Screen Capture of CardWorks Homepage — Card Works Homepage

CardWorks, is a merchant account provider for businesses located within the United States. CardWorks Acquiring is the merchant services division of Cardworks Inc. and a sister company of Merrick Bank, so CardWorks Acquiring should also be regarded as a division of Merrick Bank Merchant Services. The company’s primary focus at this time is on offering consumer lending and investment products, which may include alternate funding such as merchant cash advances.

In 2023, CardWorks Payment acquired Dataline Systems, a company that provides business process outsourcing and financial services operations support.

Products & Merchant Services

Payment Processing

CardWorks facilitates transactions for all major debit and credit cards, catering to various business types. Their services include EMV card readers and swipers, mobile payments, gift cards, EBT, and more.

E-commerce Payment Processing

CardWorks offers online payment processing capabilities, addressing the increasing trend of online shopping. Their secure online payment gateway enables businesses to accept and process payments efficiently.

Mobile Payment Solutions

To accommodate the rise in mobile commerce, CardWorks provides mobile payment processing solutions. These services enable businesses to accept credit and debit card payments via mobile devices.

Point of Sale Systems

CardWorks’ Point of Sale (POS) systems are designed to integrate seamlessly with business operations. Beyond payment processing, these systems assist with inventory management, sales tracking, and generating detailed reports.

Gift and Loyalty Card Programs

Recognizing the value of customer retention and brand loyalty, CardWorks offers customized gift and loyalty card programs.

Security and Fraud Prevention

Security is a key focus at CardWorks. Their payment processing solutions comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) and include robust fraud prevention measures.

Customer Reviews & Sentiment

Understanding CardWorks Reviews

Most CardWorks reviews online predominantly focus on frustrations with the company’s non-merchant services, specifically in consumer credit card services. CardWorks has assumed responsibility for collecting debts from customers of defunct businesses under “CardWorks Servicing.” We encourage individuals with experiences related to CardWorks’ consumer credit or merchant services to share their CardWorks reviews in the comments below.

CardWorks Reviews by Consumers

The bulk of public CardWorks reviews come from consumers dealing with the company’s collections division, which operates separately from its merchant services. Many complaints highlight confusion over the entity with which customers are interacting, possibly due to communication gaps from CardWorks.

Lawsuits Involving CardWorks

Regarding legal actions, a class-action lawsuit against “CardWorks Services LLC” was settled for $100,000, although details and its connection to CardWorks Servicing LLC are limited. In March 2020, CardWorks faced a lawsuit from Card Processing Systems over alleged client-stealing schemes. Additionally, in July 2020, a class-action lawsuit was filed against CardWorks Servicing by a former employee concerning unpaid telephone worker time. Clients looking for non-litigious dispute resolution methods can consider reporting to relevant supervisory organizations.

Industry Scores & User Ratings

Online Ratings Summary
PaymentPop	1
BBB Rating	1
Average Rating	1

PaymentPop Rating for CardWorks

Negative Feedback

Would not recommend this company at all. Extremely unprofessional customer service and miserably rude attitude. Russell should rethink his conversation technique when discussing ANYTHING with a paying customer. ESPECIALLY during a pandemic where small businesses are suffering and closing down left and right.

Positive Feedback

There are no positive reviews published about CardWorks on the PaymentPop website.

CardWorks BBB Rating

The BBB maintains separate profiles for CardWorks Serving and CardWorks Acquiring.

CardWorks Servicing is not an accredited business of the Better Business Bureau but has an “A-” rating at this time. The BBB shows a total of 69 complaints filed in the last 36 months. Only 18 of these 69 complaints were resolved by the company to the satisfaction of the merchant. The remaining 51 were resolved to the dissatisfaction of the merchant or received no final response. CardWorks Servicing has a 1 out of 5 star rating based on 4 user reviews on the Better Business Bureau website.

CardWorks Acquiring also received an “A+” rating from the BBB, who have accredited the company since 2018. This division of CardWorks has had 0 complaints filed against it.

What Merchants Say

In addition to the 69 complaints, CardWorks has also received 3 informal reviews to its profile. The most recent CardWorks Processing’s informal review through the BBB describes an unexpected account closure:

Simply closed my account without reasoning, and have yet to return my money.

Clients in this situation should look into how to make their payment processor release their money.

A “B” Performance Overall

In light of the company’s complaint total and resolution efforts, we are awarding CardWorks a “B” in this category.

Processing Rates & Fees

Three-Year Contract

The CardWorks Terms and Conditions detail a three-year agreement that automatically renews for additional two-year terms. An early termination fee of $350 or Liquidated Damages, whichever is greater, is applied. Feedback from a CardWorks customer mentions a $10 monthly customer service fee and a $20 monthly minimum fee. An annual PCI Compliance fee of $180 is also reported on various websites.

Virtual Terminal and Payment Gateway Pricing

CardWorks promotes its virtual terminal and payment gateway services on its website, partnering with providers like Authorize.Net, Braintree, BridgePay, CyberSource, NETePay, and NMI, among others. The fees for using CardWorks’ services will vary depending on the chosen payment gateway, with additional charges such as gateway fees, technical support fees, batch fees, and transaction rates often applying to these e-commerce solutions.

CWA Select

CardWorks offers a pricing plan known as “CWA Select,” which consolidates all monthly charges into a fixed monthly fee. This fee starts at $49.99 and is determined by each merchant’s processing volume and average ticket size. It does not cover ACH and ACH return fees, change fees, American Express transaction and chargeback fees, gateway fees, or additional value-added services like wireless carrier, check services, or gift cards. This plan is suited for businesses seeking consistent monthly billing.

Middle-Of-The-Road Pricing

CardWorks’ contract terms, which are considered average within the industry, are offset by a low volume of complaints regarding pricing and fees, indicating general customer satisfaction with the cost of services. Nevertheless, CardWorks does not currently compete with the most affordable merchant accounts available. If you have detailed information about CardWorks’ standard contract, sharing it in the comments section below would be invaluable. Business owners are also encouraged to explore our selection of the best merchant account providers.

Employee Reviews & Sales Practices

Mixed Sales Approach

CardWorks appears to utilize an in-house sales team as well as independently contracted sales agents to market its services. We are only able to locate one CardWorks review reporting nondisclosure of contract terms by a sales agent, which suggests that this may have been an isolated incident. This compares favorably to our list of best credit card processors. CardWorks also operates a large number of sub-ISOs and resellers under its Merrick Bank brand, but these businesses do not appear to be serviced by CardWorks Acquiring.

No Red Flags

CardWorks does not appear to engage in any deceptive advertising on its website or elsewhere. In general, the company appears to divide its sales efforts across a number of sectors within the finance industry. If you suspect that you are being charged unexpected CardWorks fees, we recommend seeking a third-party statement audit to find and eliminate hidden charges.

CardWorks Competitors

Compare CardWorks to competitors that earned top marks.

Pricing

Bottom Line

CardWorks Merchant Services rates as an above-average credit card processing provider according to our standards. While the company has a rather high complaint rate, it is important to note that most of these complaints are directed at its collections arm, which operates separately from its merchant services division. This distinction is crucial for potential clients to understand, as the issues reported may not directly reflect the quality of CardWorks’ merchant services.

However, due to a lack of verifiable information about the standard CardWorks contract, we advise clients to exercise caution. It is essential for businesses to carefully examine the terms of any contract offered by CardWorks and to compare them with those of top-rated merchant account providers. This due diligence can help ensure that businesses are getting the best possible deal and avoiding potential pitfalls associated with unfavorable contract terms.

Read Actual User Reviews

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All user reviews have been moved to our partner, PaymentPop.com

Contact CardWorks

Contact & Customer Support
President and CEO	Dan Pillemer
Headquarters	6900 Jericho Turnpike, Suite 208, Syosset, New York 11791
Toll-Free Customer Support	(866) 210-4625
Additional Support Channels	Online Contact Form
Website	cwamerchantservices.com

About Us

CardPaymentOptions.com

Established 2009

My name is Phillip Parker, and I started this website back in 2009 as a simple blog to call out shady credit card processors that were taking advantage of small business owners. At the time, I had no idea this side project would grow into a leading voice pushing for transparency and integrity in the payment processing industry. I also didn't anticipate just how far some of these companies' owners would go to try to silence me.

I was recruited out of college for a sales role with a credit card processor. At the time, I didn't realize the “training” was really about tricking me... into selling business owners expensive processing with hidden fees and long-term service agreements. In my first few sales, I unknowingly cost friends and family thousands of dollars after they trusted me to switch their services. When it finally clicked that something was seriously wrong, I was furious. I quit immediately and made a promise to expose that company and any others operating the same way. That promise is what led to the creation of this website.

As I wrote about these processors, their tactics, and the people behind them, the articles started to spread among business owners. News organizations picked up the stories, readers shared them online, and traffic to the blog took off. Unsurprisingly, that also caught the attention of the companies and individuals I was exposing.

Over the last 17 years, I've received several anonymous death threats and defeated four lawsuits meant to intimidate me into taking my blog down. Their efforts to muzzle me only made my determination to expose them even stronger, leading me to work with state authorities to help shutdown some of the worst offenders.

I'm proud to say that of the millions of people who have read my work, thousands have taken the time to write and thank me for helping them narrowly avoid a very costly mistake. This blog has played a small role in pushing the industry toward more ethical practices - but there are still bad actors out there, which means the work isn't done.

If I can offer one piece of advice, it's this: get every promise in writing, and take the time to review contracts carefully. Tools like ChatGPT can help surface red flags and uncover expensive surprises buried in the fine print.

If you've made it this far, thank you for reading. I truly appreciate you being here, and I wish you every success with your business.

Our Research Methodology

Pricing & Fees

We analyze all costs including rate structures (interchange-plus, tiered, flat-rate, etc), monthly fees, equipment costs, early termination fees, and hidden charges. This data is gathered from service agreements, statements and client feedback.

Features & Technology

Evaluation of POS systems, e-commerce integrations, mobile capabilities, reporting tools, recurring billing..., and developer resources. When possible, we directly test services and hardware. Otherwise, we rely on client feedback and public information.

Customer Support

We evaluate availability across phone, email, chat, and social channels. Measuring hold times, night and weekend availability, and client feedback regarding effectiveness, professionalism, and resolution rates.

Contract Terms & Conditions

We review service agreements and equipment contracts for reasonability, transparency, and fairness. We focus on uncovering any predatory clauses, such as unjustified early termination fees, hidden costs, and unclear cancellation policies.

User Experience

We comb the internet and interview current and former clients to evaluate the overall user experience and identify any common pain points that may impact the user experience.

Sales & Marketing Practices

We evaluate sales tactics, marketing materials, and client feedback to determine the level of transparency and ethical nature of the provider's approach. Does the provider publicly disclose pricing? Do they use teaser rates? We score based on these and other factors.

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