The Backbone of Many Low-Rated Providers
First American Payment Systems is a merchant account provider based in Fort Worth, Texas, that claims to have been in business since 1990. First American Payment Systems also operates under several other business names and trademarks including FirstAdvantage, FirstFund ACH, Merimac Capital, Secur-Chex, FirstView, and FirstPay.net. It is suggested in numerous merchant reports that the company is under the same ownership as, or operates, the following merchant services companies: Appstar Financial, Eliot Management Group, Trans Tech Merchant Group, Summit Merchant Solutions, Apex Merchant Group, Trinity Merchant Group, Heritage Payment Solutions, GoEmerchant, Certified Payment Processing, iATS Payments, Govolution, and Velocity Payment System. A company representative has stated that First American Payment Systems does not operate Appstar Financial, Trinity Merchant Group, or Heritage Payment Solutions.
It appears that First American Payment Systems offers its own payment gateway and API called 1stPayGateway. 1stPayGateway is a registered LLC located at 800 Cooper St Ste 500, Camden, NJ, and has been registered since 2012 with The Better Business Bureau.
First American Payment Systems Location and Ownership
First American Payment Systems is a registered ISO/MSP of Fifth Third Bank, Wells Fargo Bank, N.A, and MetaBank. First American Payment Systems was acquired in July 2014 by an investment group led by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. In January 2016, First American purchased the entire portfolio of independent sales organization accounts and associated contracts from Chase Commerce Solutions, the payment processing arm of JPMorgan Chase. Neil Randel is the founder and CEO of First American Payment Systems who are headquartered at 100 Throckmorton St Suite 1800, Fort Worth, TX. It is unclear whether Neil Randel is related to Nathan Randel, the principal for Trinity Merchant Group, but it seems likely given the two companies’ geographic proximity.
First American Payment Systems Review Table of Contents
- Costs & Contract: First American Payment Systems offers a three-year contract with an early termination fee of up to $495. The company also provides a platform for e-commerce payments called FirstPay.Net.
- Complaints & Service: First American Payment Systems has received more than 200 public complaints.
- BBB Rating: First American Payment Systems has an “A+” rating and has received 84 complaints and 19 reviews in the past 3 years. The company has been accredited by the Better Business Bureau since 2015.
- Sales & Marketing: First American Payment Systems hires independent sales agents and has received a moderate number of complaints about its sales practices.
- Rates & Fees: How Merchants Got The Best Rates With First American Payment Systems
absolutely terrible and would never ever recommend i dont feel that i need to add to the stuff on here but i can testify that all of the bad stuff is true and wish i would of never done business with them at all……..
to anyone out there thinking this is a great idea its not
Just like many other complaints on here. Based on my experience First American/Their sales organization is run with HIGHLY DECEPTIVE sales practices. There was never any mention of a monthly charge, or a contract length. The sales reps sold us on “lower payment charges vs the competitors” After getting the process started, i was alarmed at how rude their reps/account managers were. This was one of the worst professional experiences i have personally ever experienced. Most importantly they kept charging my account under very deceitful charges called “BankCard” charges. My bank was digging for months b/c their charges made it seem like they were from my bank. When i stopped payments going out. I got a call from First American threatening to keep paying them (for services we never used) or else they would send it to collections and get it reported all credit agencies and ruin my credit”. Keep in mind this is for NEVER using their service.
Their sales reps are full of lies to get to you sign something. This company outsources their sales to they can get away with highly unethical business practices. After lying to get your sale. They send threatening bullying letters to you to extort more money out of you. HORRIBLE business. I will also be reporting to the Attorney General. This company needs to be shut down. Consumer protection agencies and the AG are there to protect the consumer from companies like this. I will follow through with all of them as necessary. Complete scam of a company.
Asim,
Sorry to hear about your trouble with your merchant account. Perhaps this article could be helpful for you: How to Cancel a Merchant Account Without Paying a Fee.
-Phillip
I contact the creditor who performed the inquiry and ask for their proof of authorization but got no useful reponse from them, they kept coming up with excuses and delay tactics, I was so frsutrated and annoyed as I needed to get a home but I was always been denied due to inquiries on my report. I had to make research on my own and I came across this repair with decades of experience whom I got in touch with (tom.lawrence114 at g mail com) he promised he would helped me get my credit fixed asked me for a tips and necessary info. Long story short, all hard inquiries were remoeved, late payment was marked on ontime payment, all debt were been paid off and finally my score increased to 800s(I wish I could show you my New report here but I can’t due to identity theft). I never doubted this great man cus I already read a lot of review and praises thou I’m not asked to share this but I feel it’s high time for we to Know that Credito or credit bureaus won’t get your credit fixed so you have to make a smart move to save yourself in time
Small business owners beware. This company is a complete fraud with very unethical practices. I recently purchased a business from a family member(my first time owning a small business). Going through the process I was informed that I would have to sign an agreement with this processing company or they would apply a cancellation fee to said family member. However, as I learned of their practices and fees I was very concerned. Nobody from their company could explain how the “fees” worked. That was the first strike. The second strike came to me by the PCI compliance department. New to the industry I had no idea what this even was, I would of appreciated the sales rep to inform me of this at the time of the sales call. Long story short F.A. told me that it was my problem and that I would have to hire an IT person to handle the situation. The third strike came about when I had a job that exceeded my processing transaction limit by $800. Instead of the company reaching out to me they contacted the cardholder and basically belittled my customer in a very unprofessional manner. This process took two weeks to be resolved during the time they took all of the fees out of my account without paying me for the transaction. After this, I was done with this company, so I reached out for help. I was informed by 3 different merchant companies that is was unlawful to hold contracts over processing fees. I called in and was informed that they would send a cancellation letter with a fee of $495 to be accessed. I told them they were not allowed to do so and the account rep then got belligerent with me and very agitated stating that they would ruin my credit. Since then I now received a letter with now breakdown on the charges for $675. Wherever they came up with that total is beyond me. I will be fighting this and hopefully someone reads this and stays FAR away from this company.
Ripped us off!!. Salesman promised lower CC fees as well as monthly fees. Sent us an “application” which is actually a CONTRACT for an 18 mo agreement. When we found out their program was not compatible with ours, we were told they would send us a different one but did not tell us the cost was much higher than we originally were told. Once we figured out that with that new cost we would NOT be saving any money, we did NOT download any programs or use their services in any way and were sent a bill for over $800.00. They would not allow us out of our “application/contract” and still had to pay a $450.00 early termination fee. Not a nice way to treat a small family business at all!! Be very careful as their salesmen are apparently not giving the whole story! I would NOT use these guys! Our fault for not reading all these reviews first!! Please, please save yourself the hassle and the money!! These people are a total SCAM!!!
Sales rep incredibly rude and hung up on me when she felt I was not interested in changing. Would never work with this company based on this experience.
This post will help: Top-Rated Merchant Accounts
-Phillip
The worst company I have ever dealt with – please look at any service company other than Ist American – this is only my opinion but I have found them to dishonest and I will leave it at that.
This post will help: Top-Rated Merchant Accounts
-Phillip
First American payment is out of line with there policies and the way they conduct business. First I have never signed Whatever it is they are claiming I signed especially for some kind of contract that requires to be committed to there hidden terms. They have agents that solicit services from all barber shops to salons in the Orlando area as well. This company First American payment system also known as “Cypress Bay Solutions” 100 throckmorton St. Suite 1800 fort worth tx, 76102 same address has charged my personal credit two separate accounts for $753 and $934 trying to resolve this issue is impossible deal with this companies very rude collection manager (Jeryd H) who has also threatened me as well stating that “I don’t pay my bills anyway that’s and that I should have read the fine print. Fedelity creditors services carries one of the collection and completely lied saying I admitted to me signing a document in a previous complaint with the consumer protection bureau. I did not sign documents for no contract with this company nor have I received any supporting documents showing otherwise as I requested from both agencies. How can a company continue to operate like this? The agent clearly recognizes the fact that I was never committing to any contact with this company. I now have two debt collections on my credit that has hindered me and my business from any future credit relationships. Bottom line deceptive, rude customer service, unaccountable, and a thuggish approach to rectify any wrong doing against small business owners alike.
This post will help: Cancelling a Merchant Account Without Paying a Fee
-Phillip
My employee found out that Merimac broke in our two cash accounts and took -$879.41 from each of the accounts, under the name :Merimac lease collection.
My complain is based on the fact that Both of these two transactions were unauthorized and unscheduled since we have never have leased anything and or request a service from Merimac. I am struck and shocked beyond normal: How much power they have sweep our business accounts without prior authorization or consent. I never expected that something could exist legally in the world of business.
My bank investigated the transaction and from the internet search, we found that they were associated with AppStar and/or 1st American payment processing. BE CAREFUL NEVER DO BUSINESS WITH ANY OF THESE COMPANIES.
I initially blocked the merchant services from getting to my accounts. It caused me so much pain and anger that they take a lot of fees. In fact, I was tired knowing they were taking bankcard fees twice under the pretext that we have two bank accounts on the same terminal. The terminal that we have used was our own property and cost us about $20 only from Ebay. They broke into my account using a different name. They used this time the name of Merimac lease Collection. I never heard of this company before. It has the worst reviews all over the net.This is Fraud and it is a SCAM. How many businesses could legally take money from accounts just because they could break in the account?!
Now, as a result of this fraud, both of my accounts are overdrawn and won’t be able to pay my business bills, not even my utilities and fuel.
This post will help: Cancelling a Merchant Account Without Paying a Fee
-Phillip
This is a rip off company. Do not sign a contract with them. There are many, many other cc providers you can use. This company will not stop taking fees from our bank account even though we have not used their services in over a year and have sent them multiple certified requests per their instructions to close the account. Fortunately, their sales representative signed the contract in our market, so the local courts will be able to handle our case.
This post will help: Cancelling a Merchant Account Without Paying a Fee
-Phillip