Chase Paymentech Review

For a company of its size and time in business, Paymentech has a low number of complaints filed online in the usual forums. The common themes among the few Paymentech negative reviews are merchants reporting non-disclosure of a service length agreement and cancellation fee, fund holds, unexpected PCI Compliance fees (these appear to be charged by sub-ISOs and not Paymentech), poor customer service, and difficulty resolving chargebacks.

There has been an uptick in complaints posted to this review in the past year, but these complaints cover a wide range of issues and do not suggest that a specific problem has emerged at Chase. With Paymentech’s huge size, the limited number of complaints seems to indicate that most of its reviews are isolated incidents and not a sign of widespread issues. Chase offers 24/7 phone support to all of its merchants.

As of this update, the Better Business Bureau is not showing accreditation for Chase Paymentech. The BBB has assigned the company a “D-” rating and is showing 36 complaints filed in the last 36 months. Of the reports, 22 are regarding problems with products and services, 11 with billing and collection, and three with advertising and sales issues. Three complaints were successfully resolved. One complaint received a response from Chase Paymentech but not a good faith effort toward resolution, and seven complaints either were resolved to the dissatisfaction of the merchant or did not receive a final response from the merchant. An astonishing 25 complaints, however, did not receive any response whatsoever from Chase. The BBB cites these unaddressed complaints as the primary factor lowering Paymentech’s rating. Taking all of these factors into account, we agree with the BBB’s rating at this time.

Pricing and contract terms of Paymentech merchant accounts may vary based on several factors including a merchant’s processing needs, sales volume, and the agent or sub-ISO setting up the account. In most cases where Paymentech sets up the account directly, the company offers month-to-month contracts, no cancellation fees and no PCI compliance fees. Merchants who accept a “free terminal” may be subject to a 24-month service agreement, which is a common practice when a provider gives away equipment. The cancellation fees under the 24-month agreement may vary based on the type of equipment, so merchants are strongly encouraged to read their contracts before signing any documents.

To learn everything about rates and fees, and how to get the lowest pricing the credit card processing industry offers, check out Fee Sweep.

This reviewer found no uses of deceptive advertising or rate quoting by Chase Paymentech. The company appears to primarily market its services through partnered sub-ISOs and telemarketing. Interestingly, Paymentech does not appear to recruit independent outside agents directly but, instead, forwards applicants to the sub-ISOs who hire independent agents.

The use of independent agents often results in numerous merchant complaints due to a lack of direct control over their marketing and sales tactics. Since Paymentech does not hire its agents directly, it is not suffering the usual complaints that are associated with the practice. It is entirely possible that the sub-ISOs that hire these agents have the typical complaints, but there is no indication of Chase Paymentech itself being the source of any misleading marketing or tactics. In addition, the complaints that do exist are low in number and inconsistent in their content.

Overall, Chase Paymentech scores much better than most processors of its size. Merchants are encouraged to make sure they understand all of the terms of their merchant account contract because most of the company’s complaints can be traced to this problem. Paymentech can improve its rating in this review by eliminating cancellation fees with all of its account types and by responding to complaints through the BBB.