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Heartland Payment Systems Review

  • Credit Card Processors
  • November 17, 2020
  • 161 User Reviews
Phillip Parker
By Phillip Parker
Phillip Parker

I was tired of watching unethical merchant services companies take advantage of unsuspecting business owners, so I built this website and wrote hundreds of reviews to expose their shady business practices.

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Heartland Payment Systems Overview

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Rating

 4.3/5
Heartland Payment Systems Logo
Website
(888) 963-3600

Most Recent Comment

  • Teri: says:
    January 14, 2021
    "Heartland now charges $33.50 a month. TSYS and Heartland merged under Global. They are not small merchant friendly and their program for merc..." Read More
    Reply Leave Your Own Comment
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Rating:
 4.3/5
Heartland Payment Systems Logo
View Rates & Fees
(888) 963-3600

Most Recent Comment

  • Teri: says:
    January 14, 2021
    "Heartland now charges $33.50 a month. TSYS and Heartland merged under Global. They are not small merchant friendly and their program for merc..." Read More
    Reply Leave Your Own Comment
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Owned By Global Payments

Heartland Payment Systems is a very large merchant account provider headquartered in Edmond, Oklahoma. The company was founded in 1997 and, according to several reports, ranks as the fifth-largest processor in the United States and processes over $80 billion in credit card transactions annually. Heartland was acquired for $4.3 billion by Global Payments in December 2015. It is unclear whether the merged companies intend to absorb the Heartland brand into Global Payments Inc. over time, but for now, Heartland still appears to operate under the Heartland name.

A Commitment to Data Security

The company made national headlines in 2008 when Heartland’s computer systems were infiltrated by a computer hacker named Albert Gonzalez, who subsequently stole the data of more than 130 million credit cards. While this could have spelled doom for such a prominent company, Heartland responded very quickly to repair the damages and prevent future security breaches. Heartland now regularly updates its security systems and, understandably, takes data security very seriously. Additionally, Heartland seems to have a strongly embedded philosophy of educating merchants about payment processing, even going so far as to dedicate an entire website dubbed the “Merchant Bill of Rights” to fulfilling this purpose.

Heartland Payment Systems Headquarters and Leadership

Heartland Payment Systems Inc. is a registered ISO of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., Concord, CA, and The Bancorp Bank, Philadelphia, PA. The company’s headquarters are located at 3932 S Blvd, Edmond, Oklahoma 73013. Jeffrey S. Sloan is the CEO and Cameron Bready is the president of Global Payments.

Heartland Payment Systems Review Table of Contents

  • Costs & Contract: Heartland Payment Systems offers a three-year contract through Global Payments with a $295 early termination fee.
  • Complaints & Service: Heartland Payment Systems has received more than 150 public complaints.
  • BBB Rating: Heartland Payment Systems has an “A+” rating with the Better Business Bureau and has received 53 complaints and 5 reviews in the past 3 years.
  • Sales & Marketing: Heartland Payment Systems does not appear to hire independent sales representatives but has received some complaints about its sales practices.
  • Rates & Fees: How Merchants Got The Best Rates With Heartland Payment Systems
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Heartland Payment Systems Rates, Fees, and Costs

Heartland Payment Systems Rates, Fees, and Costs

Cost Summary

Swiped Rate Interchange-Plus
Keyed-in Rate Interchange-Plus
Virtual Terminal Rate 1.00% - 4.99%
Payment Gateway Fee Undisclosed
Monthly Fee $25
Early Termination Fee $295
PCI Compliance Fee None
Equipment Lease Terms Variable

Heartland Payment Systems Pricing

Pricing of Heartland merchant accounts appears to vary based on a variety of factors including business needs, sales volume, and the agent setting up the account. The company’s standard contract has a 3-year service agreement with a $295 cancellation fee, both of which appear to be negotiable. It also appears that Heartland is willing to waive cancellation fees in numerous circumstances.

Heartland’s website claims that the company offers all of its merchants interchange-plus pricing, which is the most transparent pricing model available. The company does not appear to charge an annual PCI Compliance fee but it does charge a $25 monthly “service and regulatory mandate fee.” A representative has stated that agents have the option not to charge this fee. Heartland also adds a few basis points to its rate for merchants who request monthly rather than daily billing.

According to the company’s merchant agreement, businesses can lease or purchase hardware from Heartland. Equipment leases lasting the term of a contract often result in fees exceeding the price of equipment which can be purchased for under $500.

Virtual Terminal and Payment Gateway Pricing

In addition to its storefront payment processing services, Heartland Payment Systems also dedicates a portion of its website that advertises its virtual terminal and payment gateway services. However, pricing on either of those services is not disclosed. Additional rates and fees, including gateway fees, technical support fees, batch fees, and additional transaction rates typically apply to these e-commerce services.

Fee Increases

Over the last year, we have seen merchants and agents report fee increases and unexpected fees. One former agent claimed that Heartland was planning to raise its rates in February 2018, and a company representative later confirmed this. However, this rate increase only affects merchants whose initial three-year contracts have expired and who have seen significant reductions in their sales volume. Multiple merchants also claimed that they were charged $299 without any advance notification because they had not yet upgraded their terminals to be EMV-compatible.

Slightly Better Than Average Terms

In general, Heartland’s contract terms are better than industry averages but less competitive than a month-to-month contract with no termination fees. If you can add any more details about the company’s pricing, please leave them in the comment section below.

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Heartland Payment Systems Complaints & Customer Reviews

Complaint Summary

Total Online Complaints 150+
Live Customer Support Yes
Most Common Complaint Hidden Fees

Low-to-Moderate Complaint Volume

For a processor of Heartland’s size, the company has a low-to-moderate number of complaints posted in the normal channels and forums, and only a handful of these complaints accuse the company of being a scam or a ripoff. Nearly all of the negative Heartland reviews mention fees that were not properly disclosed before signup. In fact, the sales agent appears to be a major factor in determining a merchant’s future satisfaction with Heartland, so merchants are encouraged to work with someone they trust.

Specific Merchant Complaints

Aside from complaints about agents, there are a handful of reports (and at least one lawsuit) from merchants indicating that their fees were suddenly raised without notification. Complaints such as this one are representative. In this particular case, the merchant “told [the sales agent] I would try his company but I would not sign a 3 year contract. [The agent] said no problem.” Later, however, “they told me I signed a 3 year non cancellable contract and I would be charged $295. I asked them to send me a copy of the contract and it was a obvious forgery.”

Heartland Payment Systems Lawsuits

In October 2017, a judge preliminarily approved a settlement of $2.5 million in a proposed class action lawsuit against Heartland. The plaintiffs in the case alleged that Heartland initially told merchants in June 2014 that it would charge them the same rates for American Express that it charges for Visa and MasterCard. They further alleged that Heartland proceeded to bill them in October 2014 for an “American Express Fee Adjustment” that contradicted the company’s earlier statement as well as the terms of its contract. The settlement has not yet been fully approved.

In July 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit against ex-Heartland CEO Robert Carr and his romantic partner, Katherine M. Hanratty, alleging that the pair engaged in insider trading at the time of Heartland Payment Systems’ sale to Global Payments. In October 2018, the lawsuit reached a settlement, requiring Hanratty to disgorge funds and pay a civil penalty. The SEC case against Robert Carr is ongoing.

Heartland Payment Systems Customer Service Options

The remaining negative reviews generally mention poor customer service and withheld funds, although these are varied in their details and severity. Generally speaking, Heartland appears to offer above average customer service that is somewhat undercut by its billing practices. Heartland offers a variety of support contact options on its website, which is what we expect of top-rated payment processors for customer service.

Heartland Payment Systems BBB Rating Summary

BBB Summary

Product & Service Complaints 15
Billing & Collection Complaints 33
Advertising & Sales Complaints 3
Guarantee & Warranty Complaints 1
Delivery Complaints 1

Over 40 Complaints

As of this update, the Better Business Bureau is showing that Heartland had been accredited since 2004 but no longer holds that distinction. The BBB is awarding Heartland an “A+” rating and reporting 53 complaints filed in the last 36 months. All things considered, the total is a low complaint count for such a large processor. Of the complaints, 15 were due to problems with service, 33 had to do with billing, 3 were related to advertising/sales, 1 concerning guarantee or warranties, as well as 1 delivery complaint. Heartland resolved 26 complaints to the merchants’ satisfaction while the remaining 27 either were not resolved to the satisfaction of the merchant or did not receive a final response from the merchant.

What Merchants Say

In addition to those 53 complaints, Heartland Payment Systems has received 3 informal reviews. All 5 of these reviews are negative. The most recent of them mentions a case in which Heartland’s customer service was unable to resolve a recurring billing issue:

Horrible business DO NOT sign up with them. When we signed up we were told that it was a year contract, needless to say it is actually a 3 year contract. They are trying to have us pay $300 to cancel. Their fees are way more than they claim when they sell you the product. The CC processing machine does not work properly and they do not update the machine to work with new updates for the phone or computer. We have stopped using them, but haven’t canceled yet since we do not have the extra money laying around. I called today because I was having issues getting into my account to compete the compliance and was charged $250. They said it has to do with the compliance fee and my monthly fee. My monthly fee is $70 plus the compliance fee of $125 should equal $195 but that is not what we were charged. I called to figure this out and they said since we did not actively process payments that we were not customers and would not help to resolve any issues.

Large providers like Heartland often struggle to provide quality customer service to their high volume of merchants. Businesses should review their options for a merchant account provider that is able to tend to their issues.

An “A” Rating

Given the company’s low complaint total for its size and time in business, we agree with the BBB’s rating.

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Truth In Marketing & Advertising

Key Points

Employs Independent Resellers No
Advertises Deceptive Rates No
Discloses All Important Terms No

Inside Sales Team

Heartland does not use any deceptive advertising or rate quoting practices that are apparent to this reviewer. Additionally, representatives of Heartland have stated that all of the company’s sales staff are internal W2 employees who undergo background checks. Heartland never outsources its products and services to other companies and never uses independent contractors, sub-ISOs, or reseller organizations.

Nondisclosure of Early Termination Fee

Although the company claims to go to great lengths to fully disclose its contract terms to merchants, the most consistently reported complaint about the company is nondisclosure of its $295 early termination fee (ETF). It appears that Heartland’s standard practice is to provide merchants with two documents at the point of signing. One is a short summary of the pricing and contract length, commonly referred to as a “merchant agreement.” According to merchant complaints, this agreement does not clearly mention the early termination fee (ETF), although company representatives state that this fee is disclosed directly above the signature line. The second piece of documentation is a large handbook of user guidelines, often referred to in the industry as a “program guide.” The early termination fee is mentioned somewhere in this larger document.

Some Cause For Concern

We do not consider this disclosure method to be very transparent, although there seems to be some variation among the company’s agents when it comes to verbally disclosing the ETF. The consistency of Heartland complaints emerging about nondisclosure of the company’s ETF has prompted us to lower Heartland’s rating in this category to a “B.” If you suspect that Heartland is charging you undisclosed fees, we recommend seeking a third-party statement audit to find and eliminate hidden charges.

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Our Opinion Of Heartland Payment Systems

Heartland Payment Systems Logo

A Large, Competent Credit Card Processor

Heartland scores relatively well in this review despite its large size. In the wake of the data breach it experienced in 2008, the company has thrived and become an advocate for data security and merchant education. The company could improve its rating in this review by lowering its three-year service agreement to a shorter term, or by giving all merchants the ability to cancel service any time without a penalty. Heartland rates particularly well for merchant seeking the best providers for online PIN debit transactions. Other merchants considering Heartland for service should still compare its pricing and terms to top overall merchant services providers.

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About Phillip Parker

Why I'm Qualified to Write About Credit Card Processing

I’m a small business owner who previously worked in the credit card processing industry. I started this blog in 2009 to help other business owners by exposing credit card processors that engage in unethical marketing, rate and fee trickery, and fine-print-contract schemes. Over the last decade, I’ve reviewed hundreds of merchant services providers which has helped to educate over 5 million businesses on the nuances of credit and debit card acceptance. I’ve appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Inc. Magazine and a host of other publications to offer insight on the subject of card acceptance. 

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I offer merchant account and credit card processing consultation for the following needs:

  • Selecting the right credit card processing services for your business.
  • Reducing credit card processing fees with your current merchant account provider.
  • Negotiating credit card processing fees when changing merchant accounts.
  • Strategies for reducing and recovering funding holds and chargebacks.

 

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Leave Your Review For Heartland Payment Systems

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Teri
6 days ago

Heartland now charges $33.50 a month. TSYS and Heartland merged under Global. They are not small merchant friendly and their program for merchants that do less than 50,000. a year in processing is 2.9% and 35 cents. They also pay the $33.50 on top of that. You will want to shop them if you are given a quote as their rates are usually much higher than the competition. The “plus” part of the Interchange plus is usually .70% and higher as their sales people are 100% commission and have to charge a higher fee to make any money. Use caution

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Benny Haas
2 months ago

Garbage company, got off the phone with customer service and was told that covid has really effected the company’s bottom line and that they are sorry that they did not have the staffing to let us know we could apply to have our monthly fee’s waived. Our businesses has been closed and has not had a single credit card transaction in 6 months.

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Jose Rivero
4 months ago

Simply disappointed. After more than five years with Heartland, our volunteer-run community non-profit with a 50k budget gets hit with a $625 PCI non-compliance fee and their reps won’t even consider mercy.

It seems like a perfect storm lead to this extraordinary and disproportionate fee. Our account no longer had an assigned manager, the email address on the account was not current and many of our members are considered high risk for Covid, so we have been meeting virtually and only collecting mail from our PO box on a limited basis. I realized what was going when reviewing our mail and immediately corrected the wrong information and completed the needed survey.

Our processing machine has been locked up without any transactions for many months, so I think it’s reasonable to conclude that our delaying completion of the PCI survey did not result in any additional risk and exposure for Heartland.

This situation seems like a perfect opportunity to align action with the words in their 2020 Global Responsibility Report? Those $’s were intended to support our community’s children and seniors :(

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David Ross
5 months ago

Its interesting to me to “hear” the complaints here. The Termination Fee is waived at the clients Request, but you have to ask and you shall receive, because they don’t want to further irritate and irritated client and keep a chance to win them back in the future.

The 3 year contract? That is for the client not Heartland. It locks in pricing for 3 years as opposed to the typically twice a year increases of the vast majority of “processors” or the really low teaser rates that I have found usually go up in 60-90 days.

As far as non-compliance fees? Simple answer is stay in compliance. Heartland is one of only 5 Tier 1 Processors meaning they actually have relationships with the actual card issuers and actually process. The other “3,000” processors are, well, not…you simply pay them so they can pay the Tier 1’s and, of the 5 Tier 1’s….Heartland is the only one who’s salespeople actually work for Heartland and their compensation is designed in such a way that the only way they do well is for the client to do well as opposed to “sell, take a commission and be gone”…ask yourself; “When was the last time you actually talked to the person who sold you let alone the last time they helped you with anything?” A questions worth asking. Literally, the rest of the industry is populated with sales people who just sell and really have no incentive to care…..I mean Costco is a reseller of payment processing…seriously? Payment Processing and a $1.50 hot dog and drink….such expertise.

Yes, I did my homework before choosing to become part of the Heartland world and it has been a great experience. I love to partner with professionals who not only don’t mind push back but encourage it…challenge Heartland and you will get great things.

Online complaints are rarely fully accurate….so, take it with a grain of salt and do your due diligence. Not saying work with Heartland but, in my opinion, you could do much worse….I know of a “processor” whose monthly statement included both a PCI Compliance AND PCI Non Compliance fee……on the same statement. How can you be both.

Someone told me; “Shame on me. I will have to start looking more closely at my statements.” My reply was; “Pick a processor for whom character, integrity and principle are foundational tenets and not punchlines to make a sale and you won’t have to…”

That has been my experience with Heartland.

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Phillip Parker
Author
Reply to  David Ross
5 months ago

Sorry David, but the three year contract is definitely not in the clients favor. If Heartland wouldn’t raise its rates like most processors do, there would be no need to “lock in” rates. Cancellation fees exist to keep the client from switching. None of the processors in my top picks have them because they clearly are not necessary.

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Jill Nystrom
1 year ago

i did business with this company and eventually found that i was being ripped off with their “non” compliant BS!!
If you do business with them..i would get out..most other companies help you with this not charge you $125 a month non compliance BS !!

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JOHN HEGEDUS
1 year ago

I called to inquire about cancellation. I wasn’t aware I was in a three year contract. The customer service woman asks me questions then tells me my fee will be 300.00… and my contract expires in 3 weeks.. I told her that I want to cancel the cancellation of the contract and wait the three weeks.. She says.. “too late I have already sent the request” WOW!!!

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Tim Berry
1 year ago

This place is full of clowns !!!!!! As most places do, this place will tell you anything to sign up with them even slide in the 36 month contract. Promised me services they didnt even offer then after canceling they charged me almost $300 in fees $125 for not taking their survey even with me having emails from their salesman telling me all the empty promises. SAY CLEAR !!!!!!!!!!! . Save your time and money for another company.

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Joe Skiba
1 year ago

worst customer service in history,very rude did not want to do their job…will speak to owner of my company to discuss termination of heartland payroll systems tomorrow morning.

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Reeva Luecke
1 year ago

Do not use Heartland. They charged my businesses over $800 each for non compliant fees. When I inquired they said they had emailed me numerous times and it’s my fault I did not do the non compliant questionaire. I said I never rec’d the email. On further investigation they never gave my email to the third party who is doing the non compliance process. They said too bad we notified you on page 2 of merchant statement. That does me no good if you notify me, but when I ask how to resolve you say you emailed me. And when I say you didn’t email me they say that’s your fault if we don’t have the correct email. I said you do have correct email, you never gave my email to the third party company to contact me. They say oh well, read page 2 where we notified you. They also had someone else’s email on my other business account. When I asked them to look into this they said they got the email address for me. I said no you didn’t, I don’t even know what email that is so can you please look into the security of my account? Who are you emailing my business information too? The lady said you. I said oh my, that is not my email. How can I get this account straight? She said she can escalate it which will take 7-10 business days to return my call. When I asked for my money back they said no. There are so many options out there today, why hassle with this company?

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David Ross
Reply to  Reeva Luecke
5 months ago

Were you compliant? Heartland has a responsibility to the card companies to insure compliance. It ain’t Heartland making the rules. Its about liability…..

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IFETA DZIDZOVIC
1 year ago

I think that ppl out needs to know that if you have any CHARGEBACK , there will be no chance for you to dispute do to careless Heartland ppl in that department , they will leave you no time to respond or reach to you making sure you received msg, today I had to deal with 2 ppl Rhonda and Kris , both no help and totally did not help at all, looks like they just hate even talking, not say doing anything to help , the fact that they did not care to reach to me and gave me chance to dispute chargeback for service received by person disputing ( $340.00), they help system which aloud ppl to leave , disputing charges after receive svc. Thankfully In this company all are not like this and Miles , from sales did all he can to help and respond to mine emails and questions even was not his department. Thank you Miles , but hope that someone in Heartland will question what for you pay Rhonda and Kris in this case ? they did not reach to customer and help ? I care for each customer opinion , hope you to .

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