National Payment Processing
Last Updated: June 27, 2014
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National Payment Processing Overview
National Payment Processing Logo
National Payment Processing (nationalpaymentprocessing.com) is a merchant account provider located in Stockton, California. The company looks to have begun operations in 2003, but other details about its operations are difficult to obtain.
Based on phone calls to agents and online research, it appears that National Payment Processing may be affiliated with, or connected to, a few other credit card processing companies about which details are unclear. The company may also have once been called 1st National Payment Processing, but there are at least two other companies that continue to use this name. Additionally, National Payment Processing may have a business relationship with Titan Merchant Services and Spectrum Merchant Services, but the exact details of these relationships are also unclear. An agent of the company claimed that Titan was National Payment Processing’s processor but upon closer inspection it looks as though Titan is an agent or sub-ISO of the company.
Based on its relationship with Wells Fargo as its Acquiring Bank and the fact that the company supplies First Data processing equipment, it appears that National Payment Processing uses First Data for its payment processing network. More accurately, multiple merchants are reporting that the company is a reseller of iPayment, which is itself an ISO of First Data.
The company may also be affiliated with the following websites, some of which are no longer active:
- credit-cardmachine.com
- chargeonphone.com
- virtual-terminal.com
- phonecreditcardprocessing.com
- merchantsvcs.com
In addition to providing credit card processing services, National Payment Processing also supplies electronic check processing and gift card programs.
National Payment Sales & Marketing Tactics | B-
| Key Points – Sales & Marketing | |
| Uses independent resellers? | Yes |
| Promotes deceptive rate quotes? | No |
| Discloses all important terms? | No |
National Payment Processing does not use any misleading advertising or sales tactics in its official materials that are apparent to this reviewer. The company appears to rely heavily on recruiting independent sales agents, resellers, and referral partners. There are also a couple reports from merchants claiming to have received telemarketing calls from the company, but it is unclear if these calls came from the company itself, or from a reseller.
Generally, heavy reliance on independent agents and resellers results in problems regarding deceptive sales tactics. Although National Payment Processing has a lower-than-usual number of complaints regarding this practice, there is a consistent theme among National Payment Processing negative reviews of nondisclosure of contract terms and misrepresentation of rates. Merchants especially mention the company’s large PCI Compliance fee (also called an “annual fee”) as a term that is inconsistently disclosed.
National Payment Costs & Contract Terms | C-
| Key Points – Costs & Contract Terms | |
| Swiped rate: | Variable |
| Keyed-in rate: | Variable |
| Termination fee: | $250-$350 or none |
| PCI compliance fee: | $129 per year |
| Equipment lease: | Variable |
Pricing of a National Payment Processing merchant account appears to vary based on a number of factors, including a merchant’s business type, processing volume, and the agent setting up the account. A representative of the company claimed that the service contract is month-to-month with no cancellation fee; however, we located more than one merchant complaint stating that the company charges a $250-$350 termination fee for cancelling service. National Payment Processing also appears to charge a $129 annual PCI Compliance fee in addition to several other monthly fees. These costs are consistent with those reported for other iPayment accounts and an older copy of the company’s merchant application (available below). Merchants are strongly encouraged to read their contract to uncover possible annual service agreements, early termination penalties, and additional service charges.
National Payment Processing Merchant Application
National Payment Complaints & Service | B-
| Key Points – Complaints & Service | |
| Total complaints: | 20+ |
| Live customer support: | Yes |
| Most common complaint: | Hidden fees |
There are a low-to-moderate number of National Payment Processing reviews filed on this and other consumer protection websites. Most of the complaints from merchants report unexpected and hidden fees, having fees increased without notice, and discontent over the $129 annual PCI Compliance fee. A couple reports also indicated difficulty in cancelling accounts. Although the company’s complaint total is not especially large for its size and time in business, the consistent reports of nondisclosure and rate increases have lowered its score to a “B-” in this category.
National Payment BBB Report | B (CPO Adjusted)
| Key Points – BBB Report | |
| Product/service: | 15 |
| Billing/collection: | 18 |
| Advertising/sales: | 3 |
| Guarantee/warranty: | 0 |
| Delivery: | 0 |
As of this review, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) is awarding National Payment Processing an “A+” rating and reporting that the company earned accreditation in May of 2011. As of this update, the report states that National Payment Processing has received 36 complaints in the last 36 months. Of the total, 15 are regarding problems with products and services, 18 due to billing and collection disputes, and three for advertising or sales issues. National Payment Processing has successfully resolved all but seven of the complaints to the merchant’s satisfaction. We have adjusted the company’s rating to a “B” for our scoring purposes based on our Rating Criteria.
Bottom Line
Although National Payment Processing rates better than its apparent backend processor, iPayment, the company’s rating still suffers from expensive contract terms and complaints about deceptive sales practices. NPP can improve its rating by eliminating its PCI Compliance fee and reducing complaints regarding confusion over pricing and fees.
Leave your review of National Payment Processing in the comment section below:
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I started doing business with National Payment Processing in May 2011. My business closed 8/30/14. I called them to cancel my account. During my going out of business sale, NPP decided to hold over $5,000 of my money to make sure 1) that there was no funny business going on with my account becsuse of the extra business I was doing and 2) to make sure they had the funds to cover any chargebacks, even though I had never had a chargeback ever. I finally got my $5K 60 days later, and they tried to make me feel grateful for that by telling me that they could have held it for 180 days!
I have now been charged for six months of fees of $34.95 because I didn’t report the closing of my business to the “correct department.” I also just got dinged $250 for an account cancellation fee although I had gone to a month to month contract. I have asked for my money to be refunded three times at various levels throughout the company with no success.
It’s funny how you’re a valued customer, a valued business partner, until you need to close your business. Then it’s “Let’s see how much we can screw this person over!”
My experience involves an agent who unknown to me was a convicted felon ( forgery and theft of course) who filed for a merchant account in my name using bogus information and forging my signature. The company was less than concerned and I have fought to try to get the account closed for over a week now. Even after filing a complaint with my local police department, they showed no concern and have put me through hoops to try to get it all shut down. I can’t even begin to imagen actually being a customer of their company. No accountability and no souls to be damned.
Here is the deal. Are they doing something illegal? Probably not but rest assured that this company does not give one damn about your business. This is evident in the difficulties in accessing a human for support, services or billing related questions. If you leave them early that will charge you a ridiculous amount for early termination. If you leave them after your contract has expired they will still hit you for another month in billing. I had charges of 76.90 every month even though I did not process a single credit card. If your looking for Merchant Services I would not look at them.
The worst company that u could use, they charge you a monthly fee that you could see then they pull money out of your account without you noticing. their is more their statement never match the daily batches that you print out every day, and when you ask their answer is unclear. i’ve had them for a year now and i cant tell how much money they stole from me. finally i closed the account with them and they still pulling $59 from my account every month, I call the closing department the answer machine is the only thing that picks up, it looks like i need to call my lawyer and see what we can do about that.
Plus since i was new in this whole business with no experience i signed the contract thinking it’s one year agreement it turned out to be 3, i know it’s my fault there but i was mislead by the rep.
I had an account with NPP. The person who signed me up, never gave me a contract. I found out later he had signed my name (mispelled) and never returned it to me. this company held a sale of over $18,000. They said I didn’t have that much in my account to COVER it. Well, if they had deposited the money, it would have been there. They argued with me for almost a month and finally responded (paid 2-27) not in my bank on 3-7 yet!
I told them, at that time, about the man who and signed me into the company. They asked if I wanted the account stopped. NO ! I did not …until I had the money that was supposed to be in my account. I found a new credit card company and stopped doing business wiwth this one. BUT of course they still charged me at least $82.00 a month until I had returned their printer etc..(rightfully so) But they just closed my account on January 3rd 2013….Do not trust this company.
DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!!!! I cannot stress this enough. I used them for 4 years and every month I had to go through the statement with a fine tooth comb for erroneous charges. Then you have to take your time to call the company to have the charges credited. In the meantime, they have been using your money. Their fees pop up from nowhere. Even after cancelling their service 2 months ago, they continue to charge my bank account. I am in the process of filing a BBB complaint against them. And I’m not the first. Check out BBB…they have A LOT of complaints filed against them. Do your due diligence…check them out. The have a huge PCI compliance fee that they charge every year and even if they agree to reduce it for you, you have to call them every time. Warning: STAY AWAY. There are much better cc processing companies out there!
I used National Payment Processing for about a year through a local rep. Charges that were not supposed to show up (ie $24.90 per month for not meeting my minimum) were charged consistently. My rep would try to get them off my statement but if I did not constantly monitor the statemenst they were back again, and were never refunded in the first place. They also charged about $50 a month in compliance fees and “batch header” charges, even when no statement was sent. I finally cancelled them $250 “cancellation charge” which was never disclosed to me. It took me 6 weeks to get them to close my account national office said to call local office, local office never answered phones and would not return my call. Finally after six weeks I receive notification that account has been closed. Ohhh but not really, it takes 30 days to close the account, so add that onto the 6 weeks it took to get my account closed. I am now charged $79.40 for two months that I never used the processing and my account was “closed” plus a “standard” $250 closing fee. A total of $408 to get rid of them and over 13 hours on the phone. Run don’t walk away from them or any rep who reps this company. It would be easier and more ethical to deal with a loan shark. I called my local rep and asked her to do the right thing by refunding the $79.40 for the months no processing was done and the $250 for the “standard” fee which she never disclosed to me. Basically she said have a good life and I am out $400. Read the fine print, don’t take anything as standard..
I have a small business I use square, which I love, no contract, no compliance fee, I can take AmEx and I can use it on my phone when I am out of the office.
These people add stuff in fine print, make false promises. and you lose money. You are the biggest fool on earth if you use them
Hi Marshall, it would be great if you could add some more detail about your experience so that other merchants can learn from it.
Yes. Ok.
It seems to me this company signs you up for a somewhat decent deal, and then adds fees as you go along hoping you won’t notice. I was apparently slapped with a non-compliance fee for failing on some requirement, that was not in place when I signed up. When I called I was told that my refund request would be reviewed. I get the sense there was no review, as I was told today that there “is no guarantee of money back” Where that money went is is somewhat unclear. Additionally I was charged for webservice I never wanted or used. They stopped charging me for that…but I never got any refund on a service I never signed up for (and was told I would get refunded)
I have dealt with these kind of people before. These people are greedy parasites who set up a business model that takes advantage of people who are not paying close enough attention. I am definitely forwarding all complaints about them I read online to the Attorney Generals office. New laws and regulations may be necessary.
Meantime, I ask for suggestions on means to get my money back, perhaps by legal means.
Thanks Marshall,
As for getting your money back, the method I’ve seen work for many merchants is to file a complaint with the BBB and remain courteous, yet persistent, and continually follow up with the same person at (NPP) until they relent. Be sure to log everything you were told throughout the process. If any new information arises about this, I would appreciate it if you would update us on this thread. Good luck!
I have been a independant contractor tor NPP / formerly 1st National Merchant Services.
As an agent I have not be paid residuals on my accounts, management has refused to even provide complete reports on the processing of my merchants, I brought to NPP, I have hired a attorney. I don”t know what is going on with this company, I cannot recommend a merchant or agent to get involved, until they repent.
Sincerly,
Larry Vasques
I retract the above statement perhaps we all should be more carefull in our own Judgements. Npp/ formerly 1st National Merchant Services, has paid be on ALL past merchant accounts to me, that I could find the merchant id # s, this payment repersented going back several years close to 30k, Alex Talamantes, and Casey McCoy, worked on this for a long time, THEY ARE HONEST! It was painstaking going back in old records, and talking to past merchants, some of which have gone out of business, or are operating new ones.
In Truth,
Larry Vasques
Hey, my husband is currently working for npp and is not getting paid, any suggestions? They have given him the run around for 4 and a half weeks now, its not residuals yet, commissions on 4 accounts that have been up and running for a few months .Casey has been no help.
This is greed. Everything is a fee. They had the audacity to call to see if I wanted to continue to do business with them. When I called to inquire about yet another fee after the account was closed, they indicated my account was is still open and they so I incurred another fee. I will absolutely stop taking credit cards before I deal with them again. Greed is known to eventually breed corruption. Watch out everybody.
They are the worst company you can do business with. All the complains on this website I experienced somehow. I feel bad that they are not on Yelp or other popular sites so other consumers can be warned. Even you closed your account, they still charges you. I think some attorneys should get a case together and protect the consumers.
I would suggest not going with this company. I had their services for close to 4 years and it seems every other month there was an increase for this or that. I finally got fed up because of a $129 “compliance fee” that has been charged both in 2009 and 2010. I finally packed up the equipment, sent it back and canceled as of Jan. 31st. I still got charged for the month of February and officially was canceled as of Mar. 3rd. Unfortunately, I forgot that they had access to my bank account for automatic withdrawal. On March 31st they withdrew that $129 “compliance fee” and are trying to tell me that it was for 2010. These people need to be reported—-I would suggest that anyone currently doing business with them to watch their statements and bank account very closely!
I would warn everyone who is looking for a credit card processing company, not to use this company. I never had a company who was so unethical as these people. You will find yourself being hit with all kinds of fees that have never been disclosed. They have no problem taking the money out of your account and then they tell you how you signed the contract. My business is 22 years old and I started using this company a year ago. Even after I cancelled, I still recieve bogus charges. Leaving me no choice but to close my account and reopen a new account.
I agree they are the worst on the field, they put a $129 fee after I closed my account and they called it an annual fee which it was not on the contract. But they say we have the right to change the contract any time. There team well trained to scam customers stay away from them.