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(877) 840-1952
Company Overview
North American Bancard, in operation since 1992, is a merchant account provider that has grown into one of the largest merchant services providers in the United States. This credit card processor is a large super ISO that specializes in providing credit card processing services supplied by First Data (now Fiserv) and Global Payments but manages its merchant customers directly with in-house customer support. The company also markets a mobile point-of-sale app and card reader called “PayAnywhere” and is the parent company of Electronic Payment Exchange, Humboldt Merchant Services, CDITech, Money Machine, Point & Pay, Velocity, and Argus Payments (now “Inovio“). In May 2017, North American Bancard acquired Total Merchant Services for an undisclosed sum. In September 2020, North American Bancard also acquired SALIDO, a leading hospitality technology provider. March 2022 saw the company acquire B2B payments firm Paytrace.
North American Bancard Payment Processing Services
North American Bancard processes all major debit and credit cards for any size of business. Among their extensive product and solution offerings are storefront web-based payments, EMV and NFC solutions, NAB PCI Plus security, Quickbooks merchant account integration, payment reports, touchless pay, discounts for cash payments, inventory and customer management, employee tools, loans, gift and loyalty programs, check processing, dispute management, and billing tools. In terms of payment options, they offer the Payanywhere family of card readers, smart terminals, smart POS, and pin pads; Igenico pin pads; e-commerce setups; the Authorize.net and USAePay payment gateways; and the NAB virtual terminal.
Location & Ownership
North American Bancard lists The Bancorp Bank, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; BMO Harris N.A., Chicago, Illinois; First Fresno Bank, Fresno, CA. Concord, California; and Citizens Bank N.A., Providence, RI., as its acquiring banks. The company is headquartered at 250 Stephenson Highway, Troy, Michigan 48083. Marc Gardner is the president and CEO of North American Bancard.
Table of Contents
- Costs & Contract: Offers a three-year contract with a liquidated damages clause and…
- Complaints & Service: More than 200 complaints published…
- BBB Rating: “A+” rating despite having received 100 complaints and 40 reviews in…
- Sales & Marketing: Hires independent sales agents and has…
North American Bancard Reviews and Complaints
Here's What Their Clients Say
Complaint Summary
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Total Online Complaints
200+
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Live Customer Support
Yes
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Telemarketing
Yes
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Most Common Complaint
Hidden Fees
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Numerous Costomer Complaints
We have found a moderate-to-high number of negative North American Bancard reviews, many of which are filed in the comment section of this review. The company appears to make some effort to respond to and resolve public complaints; however, North American Bancard would fare much better in this review if it did a better job of preventing the problems that are causing the complaints in the first place. If you have a North American Bancard complaint to make, please do so in the comments below.
Common Complaint Themes
Many of the complainants report difficulty resolving problems and minimal cooperation from North American Bancard prior to filing a public report. The most commonly reported problems are agents using deceptive sales tactics, hidden and surprise fees in the North American Bancard rates, sudden rises in fees shortly after service begins, non-disclosure of the service length agreement, and the cost of the early termination fee. Nearly all of these problems can be traced back to agents who fail to verbally disclose important terms of the contract. These agents are either unaware of the terms or rely on merchants to read the fine print prior to account setup; however, we hold providers responsible for their agent’s actions since the provider enforces the terms and conditions of the contract and sets the policies by which agents can sell their services.
North American Bancard Lawsuits and Fines
In September 2002, the State of Arizona filed a complaint against a merchant that processed through North American Bancard, a Nevada corporation called CP Direct, Inc., alleging violations of the Arizona Racketeering Act. CP Direct ultimately admitted to defrauding tens of thousands of customers by falsely advertising penis enlargement supplements. As a result, the company was ordered to pay restitution of more than $4 million and to forfeit assets totaling over $45 million. In May 2004, the receiver for CP Direct, Lawrence J. Warfield, filed suit against Marc Gardner of North American Bancard alleging violations under the RICO Act, conversion, and unjust enrichment.
Specifically, Warfield’s complaint alleged that Global Payments, the backend processor for North American Bancard, placed CP Direct on its watch list in under a year of processing due to an excessive rate of chargebacks. The complaint further alleges that as a result of this, North American Bancard advised CP Direct to create a new company and reapply for processing under the untarnished name. According to Warfield, CP Direct continued to accept its customers’ credit card payments under the fictitious and fraudulently maintained name of “Nutritional Supplements, Inc.” at the direction of North American Bancard. Warfield further claimed that CP Direct was ordered to pay a monthly consulting fee of $250,000 (plus bonuses of $50,000 for each million dollars over $8 million in monthly sales) directly to Marc Gardner as a condition of North American Bancard processing payments for the company. According to Warfield’s complaint, these payments totaled over $700,000. In July 2006, Marc Gardner was scheduled to be deposed in the case, but Marc Gardner’s counsel terminated his deposition immediately after he was sworn in.
Unfortunately, we are unable to locate any third-party sources or legal documents that explain how this suit was ultimately resolved. However, the parties were known to have reached a settlement amount in April 2006. It is therefore likely that the suit was settled. If you have any knowledge of how this case was resolved, please share that information in the comment section below this review.
In 2016, a number of suits were brought against North American Bancard regarding alleged illegal contacting of numerous parties by phone and fax. Allegedly, North American Bancard violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 by autodialing phone numbers and sending out advertising faxes without consent of the receiver. Many of these suits have reached settlement, including a recent $2.2 million settlement over faxes to a Chicago chiropractor and others.
In April 2020, former employee Teresa Harwood filed suit against Marc Gardner of North American Bancard, alleging that Gardner had created an environment of sexism at the company that was hostile to women. The suit seems to be ongoing at the moment of this writing.
2021 saw a further settlement from North American Bancard in yet another alleged TCPA act violation.
North American Bancard Customer Service Options
North American Bancard offers phone and email customer support to all of its merchants and may also provide support for its subsidiaries’ merchant accounts.
We have located multiple North American Bancard customer service numbers:
- (866) 485-8999 – Toll-Free General Customer Service
- (877) 840-1952 – Sales
- (866) 485-8999, ext 1200 – Tech Support
North American Bancard also offers a customer support form and a support bot on their website and the following customer service email addresses:
- [email protected] – Customer Service
- [email protected] – Sales
- [email protected] – Tech Support
North American Bancard BBB Rating and Report
Our Better Business Bureau Profile Assessment
BBB Summary
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Product & Service Complaints
39
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Billing & Collection Complaints
57
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Advertising & Sales Complaints
3
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Guarantee & Warranty Complaints
0
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Delivery Complaints
1
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Over 100 North American Bancard Complaints
North American Bancard has been an accredited business with the Better Business Bureau since 2001. As of this review, the company has an “A+” rating with the BBB despite having 100 complaints filed against it in the last 36 months. 39 complaints were related to a product or service issue, 57 stemmed from issues with billing or collections, 3 were problems with advertising or sales, and 1 concerned a delivery issue. Only 36 of these 100 complaints were resolved by the company to the satisfaction of the merchant. The remaining 64 were resolved to the dissatisfaction of the merchant or received no final response.
What Business Owners Say
In addition to those 100 complaints, the company has also received 40 informal reviews on its BBB profile. 34 of those reviews were negative, making only 4 positive in tone. The most recent negative review describes issues and a cancellation fee:
NAB was a poor choice by us for credit card processing. We had problems from day 1, NAB did little to resolve the issues. We ended up changing service companies and have been hounded ever since for an early cancellation charge. They take no fault in our need to change providers. I suggest that no one uses this company.
Merchants who find themselves in this situation may benefit from learning how to cancel service without paying a fee.
An “F” Performance Overall
In light of the company’s high complaint total and numerous negative reviews, we have adjusted the BBB’s rating to an “F.” BBB ratings are subject to merchant and user manipulation, especially when it comes to larger companies like North American Bancard. Read our ratings guide to learn more.
North American Bancard Fees and Rates
A Closer Look at the Contract
Cost Summary
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Swiped Rate
2.69%
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Keyed-in Rate
2.69%
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Virtual Terminal Rate
1.00% - 4.99%
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Payment Gateway Fee
Undisclosed
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Early Termination Fee
$295+
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PCI Compliance Fee
$79+
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Equipment Lease Terms
$39+ Per Month
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Variable Merchant Account Contract Terms
North American Bancard’s merchant account rates and fees vary from one merchant to the next based on a variety of factors, including each merchant’s business type, processing volume, and especially the agent setting up the account. The company states its standard contract rate begins at 1.69% while offering a pay-as-you-go rate of 2.69%. Despite this, the company lists their rates as being as low as 0.29% on their website. Merchants should be wary of company advertising deceptive rates as low as this. In addition to deceptive rates, merchant reviews reflect that the company charges an expensive monthly charge to lease point-of-sale equipment through them. It should be noted that most credit card terminals can be purchased for under $500. Non-cancellable, long-term leases mean a merchant can pay thousands for that same equipment making them a contract term to avoid.
Virtual Terminal and Payment Gateway Pricing
In addition to its storefront payment processing services, this processor also dedicates a portion of its website to advertising its virtual terminal and payment gateway services. According to its website, the company offers 8 gateway options, including Authorize.Net and USAePay. Pricing will depend on which gateway a merchant utilizes. Additional rates and fees, including gateway fees, technical support fees, batch fees, and additional transaction rates typically apply to these e-commerce services.
Liquidated Damages Cancellation Fees
North American Bancard’s standard contract (available below) has a service agreement of 36 months with what appears to be a Liquidated Damages Early Termination Fee that is automatically debited from a merchant’s checking account upon cancellation of service. Essentially, merchants who cancel service prior to the expiration of their contract will be expected to pay the remainder of any monthly fees that would have been assessed throughout the entire contract, with the minimum early termination fee costing $295. Due to this policy, merchants have reported cancellation fees totaling thousands of dollars. Additionally, merchants may also be subject to additional fees if they lease equipment and cancel early. Because of policies like this, we encourage merchants to check out our list of the providers of the best merchant accounts.
Other North American Bancard Fees
Based upon merchant reports, North American Bancard also charges a variety of unexpected monthly fees as well as an annual PCI Compliance fee of at least $79 (may vary). See the North American Bancard Terms and Conditions.
North American Bancard offers a variety of e-commerce solutions including access to virtual terminals
North American Bancard Jobs and Employment
Hiring Standards and Ethical Marketing Assessment
Key Points
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Employs Independent Resellers
Yes
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Advertises Deceptive Rates
No
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Discloses All Important Terms
No
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Telemarketing & Door-to-Door
Yes
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“Hiring Mill” Practices
This processor’s most frequently cited drawback appears to be its marketing practices. In particular, the company appears to function as a “hiring mill” that relies heavily upon recruiting independent agents and resellers. This marketing practice often results in problems for merchants and damage to a provider’s reputation because the sales practices of resellers are hard to control. This does not compare favorably to our list of best credit card processors.
Misleading Sales Tactics
Numerous North American Bancard complaints suggest that its agents are poorly trained on the terms and conditions of the company’s merchant account contract and are encouraged to sell expensive accounts in exchange for large commissions. In fact, a large number of complaints report that agents misrepresented fees and policies in order to persuade them into signing up for services. It also appears that the company’s underwriting policies do a poor job of screening out merchants that are likely to have their funds frozen.
Cause for Concern
North American Bancard’s fees are listed on its website as rates “starting at just 0.29 percent, with no cancellation fees and a month-to-month agreement [and] free equipment.” We consider this language to be deceptive because a business owner signing up with this credit card processor is in no way guaranteed these terms. Additionally, there is an ongoing class-action lawsuit regarding the company’s false advertising of its PayAnywhere mobile credit card readers as “free,” when in fact the company charges undisclosed monthly fees for the use of the equipment. In light of these ongoing issues, the company keeps its “D” rating as of this update. If you suspect that North American Bancard is charging you undisclosed fees, we recommend seeking a third-party statement audit to find and eliminate hidden costs.
North American Bancard Review Summary
Our Final Thoughts and Opinions
A Substandard Merchant Services Provider
North American Bancard appears to be suffering most of the damage to its reputation due to its outside sales agents and marketing policies. The company seems to work to resolve some complaints once they become public but, as of this update, shows no signs of improving the areas causing dissatisfaction. The company could improve its rating as one of the worst merchant account providers on CPO by enacting more favorable sales and underwriting policies, removing its early termination fee, and greatly reducing future merchant complaints.
If you found this article helpful, please share it!
Jesse Matthews
HORRIBLE!!! I got a card reader 7 years ago when sales rep told me it would work wirelessly that i could plug into laptop and work. It didnt it had to be plugged into an actual phone line so i attempted to contact the agent to return the device he stonewalled me would not return calls texts or emails and the corporation when i called them shuffled me around from department to department all the while putting me on hold for 30 minutes to an hour at a time all while i was still trying to run my own business as well…. Long story short they put me off long enough to make it to where i couldnt return the device within thier 10 day period and instead sent me to collections for a “$800.00” device and a “$1200.00” breach of contract fee. NOW here i am 7 years later dealing with a debt collector for a device and service. I never even got to use. Consumer beware!!!! Absolutely appalling business practices. I wouldnt use thier services or thier products again if they paid me too. A great big fat THUMBS DOWN.
Connally DuBose
very unhappy with service. nickel & dime. was not notified of new merchant id number. excess charges will be trickling in month to month. not the processor you want to do business with.
ray khouri
North America Bank, bank card, processing with them is your big mistake in your life.
1- MOST TERRIBLE customer service, they will answer your call after you hold the line for at least 35 minutes. I can’t lie, they are busy because they are getting way more customer, ONLY because they are charging less, BUT, wait and see after few months how much they charge you!!!!!!! OMG. They are the LIARS.
Faye Wing
We closed our business nearly 17 months ago. Our bookkeeper passed away and was invaluable in helping us with our business finances. Before we realized we had to close our account with NABC by letter we were debited with hundreds of dollars of monthly fees. Numerous promises were made to close the account and refund some of the fees as a courtesy. To their credit they did refund one $99 fee. However, one week later we were charged another monthly fee PLUS another $99 annual fee. These people are completely dishonest and show no personal regard for individual matters like ours. We got hooked on the promise of lower fees but never realized we would experience such a nightmare of customer service promises and delays.
Joe
terrible customer services!! i couldn’t contact by phone. every time more than 20 minutes still no response!
JC
My sales rep told me no contract and my merchant agreement does not list any terms of a termination fee.
However, when I called to close my account, they asked me for 1,000 to close my account. Like other reviewers, this company has hidden fees and has really poor customer service. Please stay away.
Kenneth J Cresci
NABC was charging our merchant account for almost 2 years after we stopped using them.
I am a TBI patient (traumatic brain injury) I had been in business since 1976. However in 2013, I had to turn the reins over to my only child. She was 24 years old.
Over the 40 years we’ve been in business, we’ve used many different ‘bank card processors’. I was always concerned that someone / company would take unfair advantage of my daughter. Well it happened, and it was ‘North American Bank Card’ We stopped using them as our processor on the third of march 2015. Unfortunately NABC, refused to refund nearly $3,000 they charged our merchant account.
We went back and fourth with them – telling us they sent us cancellation letters,
(which we never received) Why would they send us cancellation letters unless they already knew we weren’t using them anymore. Yet they happily went along charging our bank account day after day, as they dragged their feet on this obviously W-R-O-N-G procedure.
However, when this was brought to their attention, we recieved nothing but grief. Today I recieve another call from a gentleman who offered us $800 + dollars, when owing us nearly $3,000.00.
What is right is right, and what is wrong is wrong, regardless of T-H-E-I-R “protocol”.
I still have not received a less ‘insulting’ offer.
This has caused a lot of stress in my life, as besides being a ‘TBI’ patient, I have also endured heart decease, and the surgical procedures that go with it.
I don’t know what to do next – when I was a healthy man, in all the years in business, I have never encountered such an unprofessional, and down right immoral procedures .
Kenny Cresci
Linda an
This company is a lie and robber. I was convinced by two of the North America bankcard sales, who promised that they were able to beat my credit processor and no contract with them, only month to month, with free equipment. I need only return the equipment any time I would close their account, plus they would pay the early cancellation fee.
Now five months passed, this company charged much more than my pre processor, and never pay a penny for my $350*2 cancellation fee. When I noticed the customer service that I would close my accounts with them and send the equipment back, the service guy, his name was James, told me I had pay them $900 per account for early cancellation, thus, $1800 for both accounts. This is totally lie and robbery. I have never signed any contract saying about a word of $900 cancelation fee. They had a flier, which clearly said no contract, only month to month. This is a big lier company. Never have anything to do with it. I will report it to the state attorney and have my lawyer yo sue it.
Donna Willman
We are being charged a fee of $63.95 a month for no reason whatsoever; we do not use their services. I am being told we are locked into an agreement for two years. I would love to know how and why when the only thing I have signed was a merchant application. I am assuming this is what they call a contract.. In the application it does not states that our company would be locked into a 2 year agreement. sales rep promise to us; “0.05% bank/check/debit – 50% of the cards your customers accept, 1.54% credit
10 cents per transaction, $5.00 monthly service fee” to which none of this is even true because we were charged with multiple fees and a much higher monthly service fee. We were also told there would be no hidden fees and WERE NOT aware of a locked in agreement which I still haven’t found on the merchant application I signed. The bottom line is that we want out of this service.
Joel Doty
North American Ban Card Is scamming me for a credit card processing terminal that was in a business that I managed in 2012. The business closed and turned in the equipment on july 2012. North american ban card agent told me if I don’t pay my cable bill they will continue to charge me for 5 yrs. So That is how they justify charging me illegally for a service that was returned and close 4 yrs ago ALso I called today to make sure that this account was closed there response was we cannot see it in the system, but it appears to be closed…
Liz Rosenbaum
This company will scam you out of your hard earned money with fees and horrible customer service. If you need assistance, plan on being on hold for several hours for repeated attempts on various days.
I have been trying to cancel with them for over 6 weeks. They transfer me to the wrong departments intentionally and it is frustrating! The last transaction amount I had was $630 and they took $232 in fees. Then it was over 3 weeks of trying to get in touch with them and another $41 was taken out of my account.
I am currently and finally talking to someone and about this ridiculous fee so he can “look into it” and put me on hold again.
DO NOT use this company!
Their emails aren’t even reasonable. They sent me a phone number to call to cancel with an extension, however when I called the phone number there wasn’t an option to enter the extension, and it wouldn’t even let me enter in my account number. I tried a landline as well as my cell phone with the same results.
This is just the worst treatment I have ever encountered in the 6 yrs I have been in business.
Ms A Harrison C
They suck I sent my machine back after not using it for 6 mos. and I filled out paperwork and they are still trying to get me to pay a fee when I paid for 2 mos. even though I wasn’t using the machine. They need to streamline their services as not to effect the customer.
Carissa Marks
Is there a way to give them a negative number? Have no idea who they are, did not authorize them to do squat but they billed me. Went to the military legal office, we’re filing charges and suing.
Dustin Bower
I recently realized that a strange charge was appearing on a monthly basis on my Wells Fargo bank account statement. The charges, occurring on 12/2/15, 03/02/16, 05/03/16, and just recently again on 06/02/15, all were for $3.99 and were coded from Global Payments. I called global payments, who referred me to a company called North American Bancard. I called North American Bancard at 1-800-226-2273, and was rudely told by a customer service representative that I had opened an account with them FOUR YEARS ago in 2012. I asked why, after 4 years, they had suddenly began charging me a monthly fee, especially since I had no record of ever signing up for an account with their company. The customer service representative wouldn’t answer that question. He told me he closed my account and that my 4 recent monthly fees, now totaling $15.96, would NEVER be refunded. These mysterious small amounts that appear on people’s bank account statements, for services they never signed up for, are fraudulent and a scam. I’m not sure if North American Bancard is a total scam, or just has horrific customer service, but either way, I want my money back and I’d like an apology for the incredibly rude customer service representative who offended me.
Jackie Chase
We, too, like everyone here, are having problems with this company. Their collection department called us last Thursday and today threatened to send us to collection. We cancelled their services in October 2015 and had to cancel our bank account to stop the auto draft. We have decided that we will file a class action lawsuit. Enough is enough.
eileane cutrer
I have been doing business with NABC for around 10 years and had never had any problems other than DON’T agree to the charge for PCI compliance fee of $99.00 or the regulatory fee of $79.00, but on 5/10/2016 they took $160.13 out of my bank account, I did not know why till I called them, they said it was a charge back from customer on 2/24/2016, the only explanation I got was that customer said he paid by other means, I told them he DID NOT PAY BY OTHER MEANS, now I have to go through the whole reversal proceeds to get my money back
Kristen
It is virtually impossible to cancel service from this company. I’ve had to make two phone calls that were 15 minutes plus on hold waiting to cancel. They try sneaky underhanded sales tactics by transferring you around to multiple people who try to talk you into keeping service with them. I think I’ve repeated that I want to cancel our account about 100 times because they just don’t listen and do their job. As I write this, I’ve been sitting on hold for 16 minutes and still no help. The first person I spoke to hung up on me when I wouldn’t agree to keep our service with them. This company is HORRIBLE and I will tell everyone I know to STAY FAR AWAY FROM THEM. I can’t believe that they haven’t been fined from the government agency that oversees companies like this.
redzep alili
For Kristen and the rest of abused merchants:
Do what I did
Switch to another company
Go to your bank, stop payment for any amount from North American Banckard and Global Payments
Send them an E mail or fax telling them that you’re canceled their service
No need to talk to them
Ignore them when tey call
Ms A Harrison C
AMEN, I actually went in after not using the service for 6 MONTHS I paid 2 mos fees anyway and after I filled out paperwork they still said that I had not cancelled the account….CRAZY
Christine Crowley
Please avoid migraines, pulling your hair out and nightmares. This company charged me 2.5 years after I quit them.They finally told me that they did not cancel my services because I wrote them a hand written letter to quit and would only refund me 280.00. They still oew me over 2500 plus feees. I now have to take them to court.
Katie Sheridan
I quite understand as they still owe me.
Charles Jentzsch
Well, looks like I’m in good company. I signed on as an agent with them in 4th Q 2015, started booking Cash Advance deals thru their whole owned Capital for Merchants brand. I signed a deal that gave me 8% upfront and 2% a month. Yea. After attempting to board my first 6 deals, of which they approved 1 and another company approved the over 5 after they declined. I got my 8% and waited 60 days for my monthly 2% and nothing. Then they stated. Well, we didn’t notify anyone, but we changed our policy a few months back and you don’t get that monthly residual anymore, now only one lowly person that has no say is the only person that will return my calls or e-mails. BS my friends. RUN. If you are a sales agent or a customer. RUN TO THE HILLS and don’t look back….
michael soloman
customer service sinks !!! tried calling 4 times to get customer support about my billing . Placed in holding cycle for an average of 18 minutes each before I gave up . If I treated my customers like NAB , I would be out of business !
Fox Keri
Watchout….its Feb 25 2016 and it appears they are ripping people off again…..i have been charged $3.99 for MONTHS and sometimes 2x a day and I have NEVER bought anything from them
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Nanette
North American Bancard has the worst customer service. They change rates without notification. They make promises they don’t fulfill. They don’t answer calls. If you happen to get through to customer service after waiting on hold indefinitely, you think you have made progress. Then the confirmation email the send about the conversation is not at all what really took place. Unbelievable they can get away with this. Definitely do not sign a contract with these guys. They will just take your money. Lots and lots of your hard earned money.
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Renee
Clearly I’m not alone. I am absolutely baffled that this company is not under investigation or shut down. I am and have been going through this nightmare since March 2014. Not a penny was processed with this company and no equipment purchased/leased. I called again today because I received an email from their collection Dept. stating I owed $34.95 and they were unable to process payment (that’s because I paid to put an ach hold on their debits) When I called I was given ‘Mr. Hall’ oh Mr. Hall, the man who mocked me and harassed me and treated me like I’m a small child constantly telling me to be quiet, whenever I’d say a word he would shush me and antagonize me to be quiet if I wanted help. Even though he said I requested cancellation forms twice, he never rec’d them. I tried to explain I never rec’d anything and that’s when he started being very condescending. I find out he’s their collector. Why am I discussing money owed to me with their collector? Needless to say he wanted to play games, I had no option but to hang up with no resolve. Perhaps I will hire my collector to go after them for the $1500 they stole from me. After reading a few years of posts, I’d say a class action lawsuit is in order.
Contact Renee @ [REDACTED – personal contact information].
Justice will prevail!
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Christa
Do not use this company they are the worst. I went out of business and called my rep. He said no problem. Now two years later I have hem calling me to pay a 1400.00 early termination fee I was never told about. USE THE SQUARE. Do not use this company.
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luiza edinchikyan
Don’t bother doing business with them. I have been a customer for over 10 years and I can’t ever get through to talk to someone there. Horrible, they don’t care about you at all. Worst company ever.
Doug Crandall
This organization is straight up criminal. Sign nothing with them. Also beware companies that might use them (read the small print) such as PaySimple. I tried to use PaySimple to process a few credit card transactions for services. PaySimple uses NA Bancard (which I did not know). NA Bancard denied my application but still took the money from my customer. They then held the money and charged me a $295 fee. They withdrew this fee from my bank account without notification. They then refused to refund the money, saying I had signed a contract. Just to be clear: NA Bancard turned down my application, did not process my transaction, and then took $295 from my bank account. After I wrote the Better Business Bureau, the Michigan Attorney General, and PaySimple, NA Bancard refunded my money and sent me a letter saying the matter had been “resolved.” Nine months later, I got a call from a collection agency. I am fighting that battle right now. This company is dirty. Period. Let no fake reviews or anything else even slightly convince you otherwise. Stay away.
redzep alili
DO NOT SWITCH to North American bankcard The are lousy. They promise a lower yet, but you end up payin ore.
1 They claim 24/7 tech support. Lie, don’t call after midnight, they don’t have support
2 They claim to pay your early termination fee for switching to them- Good luck getting it
3 They promise next day funding – ooops don’t count n money from weekends to be deposited Monday. ( As a restaurant , I do most of cc sales on weekend, but no money on Monday)
4 In case of a charge back, forget it, they will not even present your evidence to the card issuing bank
STAY AWAY, Stay Away from these thieves
LG Lim0 Servise (Now Closed)
We received a call from North American Bancard on June 12 from a collection specialist demanding that we pay $1,100 for the terminal that we returned, even though customer service from TROY Michigan claimed on the day we ended our 6 years of their services (we closed the business) on march 9, 2015. Their representative “michael” (abbreviations M.P) informed and reviewed our contract that originally had the “free terminal” feature and said that since we passed our contract requirements we were entitled to keep the terminal and we can keep the machine since the flyer said it was “free” (despite a small print indicated that it had to be returned, even though it was never defined whether how “free” this terminal was going to be…contract managemer’s fault in writing this paper for merchants) . Having found similar complaints/cases online, it appears that the only type of people that resolve/waive these problems are NAB’s RESEARCH ANALYST,whereas “Collection Specialist’ only solution involves that they want you to provide a credit card or a Router number BY PHONE. Luckily I have it recorded since I never received a confirmation of my termination service with them and how months later I am being blamed…
North american bancard is dodgy and it appears the Process of getting things done to customers is dodgy. Whoever is training these people by not submitting letter nor e-mails of confirming the FAXES OF TERMINATION they send by e-mail is unprofessional and makes you question how on earth they passed ISO Standards.
robert jones
This is probably the best merchant conpany I have ever been with .Not sure about all the bad reviews but then again if you look them all up they all have bad reviews. They do have an A + rating with the BBB. They gave me everything promised no hidden fees and I also have 0% charge on debit card transactions and saved me 470.00 a month on my credit card transactions. Dont believe everything your reading about them it is an awesome credit card company.
Phillip CPO
Hi Robert (or Sheri according to your email address), please respond to this comment with your business name and location to authenticate your testimonial.
Charles Eric Higgins
Few years back. Nab took over $400 from me and I never received a processing machine or made 1 transaction . They wouldn’t let me speak to a supervisor the gentleman told me that wasn’t an option . I had 2 choices . They would mail me a machine 6 months later or send me cancellation form. The way they treated me if they were in front of me I’d be in jail.. Eventually they agreed to send me my money back but by then I changed account #s . I let them keep my money. They’ll need it eventually to get them out of jail ,it was to much stress on my heart. Good luck people
Katie Sheridan
Be weary of this company. Without notification and without receiving equipment from this company – somehow they got my bank account information and withdrew $499.75 without my permission. It took several days to track down who was withdrawing monies. After submitting a forgery affidavit with the bank officer notarizing it stating I did NOT open nor authorize them to steal my money. Even after proving it was not me, I have yet to receive my money back. Truly amazing how a bank can commit LARCENY and not think much about it. Now today, I had to complete another form requesting them to stop stealing my money and they would put in the request. They best not try and withdraw any more of my money.
UPDATE as of 5/29/2015: UPDATE: Be VERY careful with this company, North American Bancard- somehow this company received my banking information and without my permission STOLE $499.75 from me. Today they called and stated no worries they will no longer charged me nor make me pay a cancellation fee nor charge me for their equipment they said they mailed of which I never received. All in all their Risk Management Department stated since they had my banking information (even without my SSN nor my legal name) they have a right to keep my money. It took 3 days to find their contact information in order to ask why they think they had LEGAL justification for taking money out of my checking account without permission. Even after I faxed a forgery affidavit and still they refuse to return my $499.75. They never emailed me, nor did they check to see if I received their equipment, nor did they call or email to see why I wasn’t taking payments from clients. If a person had done this he/she would be charged with LARCENY. I have already filed a complaint with the BBB and will be contacting the U.S. Attorney General and other law enforcement agencies about their illegal tactics along with informing others of this company’s questionable business practices.
Greg
You people are scaring me. I’ve been a Matchrate affiliate for just a couple months. I’ve signed up six merchants and they all seem very happy so far.
Reading these post it sounds like the big problem is when you try to cancel.
Why are you canceling.
Im not trying to defend Matchrate just want the facts before I get in too deep.
Thanks
Susan
I have never, NEVER been scammed like I have been by NA Bancard. I was referred to them by my local Office Max to set up a credit card processing account for my business, and have been met with nothing but dishonest sales tactics, lack of transparency of fees and charges, and rude, condescending customer service people (after sitting on hold forever.) I finally went to my bank to try and cancel payment on some random charges that came through when we had not processed any credit cards for two months (having been told that there would be ‘no monthly charges, no annual fee, no PCI fee’) and the next thing I know the amount that I’d cancelled came back through my account as well as an additional charge of $780. When I finally got someone on the line (my call was sent from customer service to ‘collections’) I was told that I was being charged the $780 for ‘early cancellation’, even though I’d been told when I signed up that there would be no cancellation fee and I could cancel ‘at any time.’ Never once in the history of my account with NABAncard did I receive any statement or invoice explaining charges, even though I asked for it repeatedly. After talking to “Mr. Hall” in collections today, I was told that I could cancel my account (once the charges went through) but he refused to send me any email or fax to document that, saying that they ‘didn’t have anything like that.’ He also told me that NA Bancard is ‘a big company, $780 doesn’t mean anything to us’.
Hank Phillips
Don’t feel like the Lone Ranger. If you read my post in April 2014 the same thing happened to me. Told them to stop Dec. 31st. got billed for three tickets they processed in Jan. (that were Dec. tickets) got charged $179 for $26 in tickets. Even though they said they would pay the $80 fee for leaving my old company and not charge me for leaving them I got an early termination fee of $300. Couldn’t get them to assist me with non compliant regulations, etc., etc. What a nightmare these people were.
Rob
Their no contract, no cancellation fee is a bunch of lies. They have a three year contract and $295.00 cancellation fee. Their PCI compliance fees are also much higher than advertised. I would never use this company again
Alice Bissell
The PCI compliance assessment is absolute Greek to the average small business owner. Panoptic security operates as NAB’ compliance police and one feels as if one is being played by said police. I get the feeling that regardless of how the questions are answered in the assessment, the merchant will be forced to pay for security scans. Feeling strong-armed in this matter.
David
Do not go near this company. The will take advantage of you especially if you are not versed in credit card processing. We were with the company for over 5 years and they constantly changed our terms and once they took over $8000 from our account because the credit card machine had the wrong date. No one will call you back ever. Compared with another credit card processor over the 5 year period and their rates we lost over $10,000 in high and bogus fees which we can not recoup as they know the system and fine print better than anyone. STAY AWAY
rob rivera
this article is biased and outdated. ive been using north american bancard for my business and im doing over 100k/month in credit card volume. They set me up with no contract and i even get my money the next day. they made me sign an ammendment that stated that there is no cancellation fee.
Ive never had any problem with them and i think the bad experiences the other people are talking about is due to the stupidity or ignorance of their agent.
the agent that set me up has been in the business for a long time and he gave me interchange pass thru pricing and educated me on how this whole credit card business works. Its sad that there are crooks out there working in this industry. im sure every processor has their share of bad ignorant reps. it doesnt mean that the processor is the bad one. i think fellow business owners should do more research and educate themselves before trusting someone that just comes in or that just calls. just make sure you get set up with interchange pass thru and no contract. also dont take free equipment. those machines are only $200-300. buy it and just have them reprogram it for you. there is no such thing as free guys.
Phillip CPO
Please reply to this comment with your business name and location in order to authenticate your testimonial.
Kt
I had to file bankruptcy to get rid of them and they still kept coming after me. This is after I sent back their precious equipment… UNOPENED and in PERFECT condition. How this company is allowed to continue to operate is beyond me. They are a cancer to any business that uses them.
Michael Jerome Hamrick
I am completely dissatisfied with the “services” provided by North American Bancard. I own and operate a very small automotive repair shop. Due to a chargeback situation which began in May 2014, my shop has suffered a serious decline in revenue. The original chargeback, originally thought to be resolved in June 2014, was re-presented in July 2014 and the amount deducted from my checking account. Subsequently, North American Bancard debited $895.00 from my checking account which caused the account to become overdrawn. An additional debit of $315.00 had been presented by NAB at the same time but was not paid because the account was already overdrawn. I had not received any communication from NAB prior to this withdrawal. I contacted NAB to inquire as to the reason for this withdrawal and was assured the funds would be returned to my account within 2-3 days which it wasn’t. I requested that they send me documentation in the mail regarding this situation. Contacting them the following week, I was advised that the $895.00 was an “Equipment Fee” and the $315.00 was an “Early Termination Fee” and they had assumed that due to the decline in sales, we were closing our merchant account. I assured them that this was not the case. I was then advised to either: (a) process a credit card sale through our merchant account; or (b) return the credit card processing equipment and the funds would be returned to my account. I processed a transaction as they asked, but still they did not refund the $895.00. Contacting them yet again I was told I would need to process at least an average 30-day amount through our merchant account in order for the fee to be reversed! I won’t be in business 30 days from now because of their actions. I haven’t been able to pay my shop rent or purchase parts or pay my vendors. To top it off, Global Pay has allowed my chargeback case to close because the cardholder’s bank did not respond within the allotted time so I’m out that money too. Despite my previous requests, they never have sent me any documentation regarding this situation!!!
Jane
I feel your pain. I have been dealing with them for almost three years. My contract is up in February, 2015. I called them and asked them exactly what I need to do to cancel. Next day, I get some “MANAGER” from Sekure Cards who is suddenly going to be my best friend , take personal care of my account and deduct $10 a month off my fees and give me a $25 credit for talking to him.( he is trying to keep my $30,000 per month business) I ask him where he was for the last three years when I called many times to complain. I told him that despite him now caring about my account and being my BFF, I am cancelling. I asked him exactly how I had to do this. I again asked him for all procedures to be spelled out in print for me…Of course he would not. They will not document anything because it is a different story each time you talk to someone there.
He told me the only thing I need to do to cancel is to call him A FEW DAYS AFTER my contract expires and he will cancel it , hahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!
I looked on my “CONTRACT” and see where I have to notify them in writing at least 60 days before I want my account canceled…
From the beginning, they have lied to me and would never document anything. Needless to say, I am sending certified mail to them once a month until February telling them I am cancelling. and will have my bank put a permanent hold on ACH from them the second I get the last cent they owe me from my charges.
Hank Phillips
For over twenty five years I have dealt with credit card vendors and NABancard has got to be the worst I have the displeasure of signing with. First the salesman told me they would buy out my existing contract. After a couple of months I started seeing non compliance fees. I called and they told me to go to the individual card web sites and become compliant. I tried and they were impossible to navigate, I also noticed that my percentage fees were more than I was told they would be. After two years of getting ripped off I contacted them I called and told them to cancel my contract. I was told that a $300 fee would be imposed. I told them I don’t care in the next year I would pay more than that just in excessive fees with them. Then they told me they would met or beat my new vendor. I told them too late they should have thought of that during the two years they were ripping me off. My new vendor sent me a third party compliance form that took me only six minutes to complete and no more compliance fees. I wrote NABancard a letter explaining the above problems with them and to my surprise they responded. Eighty percent of their letter consisted of excuses that I didn’t even bother complaining about. Nothing about receiving my buy back, nothing about the non helpfulness in compliance fees, Nothing about increased fees. I was invited to call the author of the letter. I hope she takes a bottle on aspirin to work with her the day I call. But then again I am sure she has heard it all before! If a salesman from NABancard contacts you run, do not walk to the nearest exit.
mckenzie roofing inc.
They said a request for a W9 was went via email, ALAS did not get it. ( no mailing, nada.
When they did not get the W-9, Guess WHAT THEY WITHHELD ALL OF OUR JULY 2014 CREDIT CARD AMOUNT ( OVER$38,000.)
it took a unbelievable amount of time to get them to release the funds to our bank. Then it took 3 days to get the funds .
I am going to look into this legally and see if they could do that with out warning
we will be leaving this company ASAP
arlene
The worst merchant account I ever had, they have terrible customer service, getting thru to them is a nightmare….and they will do everything they can to get every dime out of u….retailers beware!!
..
Stacey
Patriot Payment Group PPG sent out a free trial offer on a credit card processing machine. I called Jonathan Whitman an employee of PPG and asked about hidden monthly fees that he did not disclose. I tried via phone, email and facebook to get a cancellation letter and address to mail the machine back since I did not want the service, this started in Oct of 2013 it took until March of 2014 for the company to get me an address and cancellation letter and they said all was good and that I was done with them. They never said I owed anything since I never used their service. July 25, 2014 I received a collection letter from North american Bancard an affiliate with PPG stating that I am being sent to collection for unpaid fees dating all the way back to last year and this is the first I have heard of this. They have made no effort to contact me regarding any billing up until this one email I received and someone from the department is stating that I owe up to $1,600 to this company and I have never even used their services. I spoke with 6 different people from PPG and they refuse to lift the 3rd party charges unless I sign up for their services then they will supposedly buy me out of collection. I cannot find them being listed anywhere with the BBB and the reviews online are not good. I have all of my email communication saved that I sent them regarding trying to get a hold of them last year and that still isn’t enough to lift these bogus charges. The PPG people even told me today they have taken over the billing for North American Bancard so I am not sure that either company is legitimate and now they are trying to ruin my credit over something I should not even owe.
lcs
Stacey, file a complaint with the BBB. That got there attn when I did that. They are listed with the BBB or at least were listed a couple of years ago, North American Bancard. Do some googling and searching and you will find them. Put in a complaint on the national and one for their local office area BBB.
dillonsparks
“Gypsies, tramps and thieves”, at least their many resellers are. worst bunch of harassment i’ve ever received. Closed my account because of them. they still want me to pay ‘termination fees’. crappy processing device also. i read all the problems on line. before i sent back the unit, i read where they routinely say that the item was received in ‘damaged’ condition. i threw mine away. why send it back only to be told a lie that it was ‘damaged’? Creeps should be punished by law. call me if you want more info.
Bob
Worst financial company I have ever dealt with in 30 plus years of business. Customer service has no idea of what they are doing regarding and don’t care. Was told be a supervisor that the batch couldn’t be deleted only to be told by another that it could have been. This has effected over 2000 of your patients and the company doesn’t care. Blamed it all on Global Pay who in turn said they had no call from NAB regarding the situation.
Abram
I used this service and it was by far the worst bank I ever used. Other than having a 1500$ cancellation policy after you are told cancel at anytime, It has now been 48 hours and my account is still active. When I call them I get placed in the same voicemail box for Priscilla with no response. This company does not care about it’s reputation nor its clients. Do yourself a favor and look elsewhere!
Al G
If you have closed your account with them, have your bank put an ACH/debit hold on them as well. It will cost you 25 to 35 dollars, but its worth it. They often try to keep taking money out of your account claiming they “never received” your request for cancellation.
Henry Dickens
We closed our account due to constant increases. Additional charges were then added on. Then after not using acct. for more than 30 days. Nearly a month and a half later all kinds of charges were put on our account again.
Paperwork was signed and equipment returned when we closed account. Oct 26. billing Nov 29.
After contacting them they claimed we were responsible to pay all these charges because it took them until Dec 4 to close account. So we were charged fees for the month of Nov and were not even using service.
So if you want to get ripped off give them your bank account number.
Will never use them again.
Al G
You can simply have your bank put an ACH/debit hold on them once you close your account with them. They tried to do the same to us claiming they never received our cancellation notice despite us having proof they did. They could not debit us another penny after we had our bank put a hold on them
Lee Larsen
They operate under other company names and I was informed by my bank that they tried d to withdraw their early termination fees under those companies. The only way to truly be sure is to change account numbers.
Roger
They are the worst!! I had to have my bank do the same thing put a hold on any of there transactions. After 120 days had gone by ( I never used there processing at all because they could not get it to integrate with QuickBooks like they promised) we removed the hold as I figured it was done. I received more charges. I went to my bank they reversed the charges and I closed my account and opened up another. What a pain it cost me about $200.00 I guess in change over new check and time but it was well worth it.
[Last sentence redacted: promotional content]
Hank
Upon cancelling I sent them a letter advising that due to rate increases I was disconnecting their service at the end of the year. In Feb. I got a Jan. billing for $179 for processing three tickets January 2ed that totaled $26. When I called customer service said “Well your tickets were processed in Jan. so you were billed” Ya I will billed alright almost 700%. My part of the contract ended Dec. 31st. but apparently not on their part $179 later.
Maritza Torres
I wish I would have read these comments before making a decision to use North American Bancard. They truly are unscrupulous and their customer service is the worst I have every experienced by far.
It seems their employees have to been on the defensive since they do nothing but screw people over. So of course they are going to get it, I can only imagine the multitude of frustrated and irate customers they have.
Try closing your account and see the run around you get. Don’t even think about keeping the same business bank account open because they will just keep invading your account for fees even after you have mailed them back their equipment.
Stay away from this company because it can hurt your business and cause you more problems then good and tie of your time with nonsense.
I still can’t close an account I have been requesting to close since May of this year. This is a slimy and slithering company so stay way! or you will pay! for nothing….Just a totally bad experience all around.
Al
Have your bank put an ACH debit hold on them. They wont be able to debit your account
T Andersen
I am currently an independent agent for North American Bancard(NAB). I do not understand many of these negative comments about NAB. In three years I have never seen them charge prices above the agreed upon contract with one exception. In this case their First Data Platform mistakenly double billed the merchant for one months Interchange fees. NAB corrected this and credited my merchant the following month. In fact, internally they did somesaults to corrects this. There have been occasional random non billing mistakes whereby the errors where corrected quickly. As far as PCI fees go, this whole PCI situation is a nightmare for the industry. NAB charges$79 after merchant complies which is fair for the industry. I have seen other processors charge $150 and $195 over the past 2 years. In fact, I have seen independent Tech companies quote $3500 to my $79 account!Their non compliance “penalty” is $6.95 which is way below industry charges. Most processors charge between $9.95 and $19.95 for monthly non compliance. I have seen 3 upper level managers respond to one customer problem and quickly resolve it. Although NAB is not perfect, they have resoved every issue that I have had with my merchants. I admit it is a very difficult industry. Almost all merchants will tell you some horror story or stories about a previous processor(s). Because of this sad fact, many merchants will jump the gun, and anticipate problems. For example, I had a merchant call me early in morning complaining that he hasn’t recieved his “Durbin Dollars”. I had the merchant on Interchange pricing and he had receieved his Durbin amendent discounts when they had gone into effect, 6 months before! This suspicion is common and is industry wide.
AJ
This Statement is TRUELY A LIE! I am an actual merchant, now I have had an account with North American Bancard for nearly 6 months. They have increased the actual contract rate, mothly rate, and they have no respect for your account or statements. PLEASE BEWARE AND STOP DOING BUSINESS WITH THESE THIEVES. I am going to discontinue doing business with them and will post everyehere about my VERY TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE with this company.
Thomas Adams
To A.J.
I am an independent agent with NAB and have been with since 2005 I have signed hundreds of accounts,
I am spending large amount of time helping my customers who received Fraud like the restaurant told save 500.00 month unknowingly signs 399.00 lease for 6o months or the guy told another 1% straight fee never disclosed the 1.99 surcharge or the 139.00 lease.Obama I think or some Gov agency has recently started
requiring Merchant Service Providers to now verify every account we board with the IRS data Base and if not check ,We follow threw make sure Gov does not take 28% of your money TIN Check law and require a tax filing ,,These regulations require a whole new Dept , new Employees new Magament If you saw a increase I bet you can thank your new Goverment Regulations for that?
I carry every one signed on a list with phone #’s for referalls I have lowed rates 3 X since the Durbin Bill Passed for the area most my accounts cards accepted large % are not the regulted banks, So i have pulled the pin pads saving large % as I can run those with signatutre for 1/2 what they charge with pin..My biggest problem I’ve had is I give free equipment, If this free equipmet has issues the 1st yr Company will replace free 2 X but after 1st Yr Then if the merchant has the MyBperks cost few dollars extra they will continue to overnight new equipment as needed with out MyBperks 99.00 swap fee after 2nd yr, , Competitors often 39.00 to 139.00 month lease for same..
If you have issue and you not getting attention from Customer Service you want Do what I do Hang up take
breath Call back get new person Might get response you want,,I signed Contracts with 20 other Processors
Merchantware House HarborTouch, IRN, Biggies Smallies, I looked at virtually every one in The USA
You have no idea how good This litte Company with 800 employees signing ? 4000-to 5000 a month new
Why–Truth is This the only ones give agents like me full disclosure threw my Agentinfocenter.. I trust them!!!
With my acconts my pay and mostly my reputation…..
Tina
I am a NorthAmerican bank card merchant and the pci fee is not $79. It is $99. I own a salon so I have 5 different accounts on my terminal for each hair stylist, they used to charge the main acct the $99 but now they say each account is getting the fee! Absurd! They also stopped sending us statements,you have to go to a different company’s website to try and get it. Probably so it’s hard for you to find out all the shady charges they’re giving you. I just noticed I’ve been being charged $9.95 a month for some gold plan that I never signed up for. They said I must have at some point and won’t refund the charges. Also you can only print out the last 3 months of statements! Should you be able to print out any of your statements whenever you want. They are mine and since you won’t send them to me without a charge anymore they should be available anytime! I am looking for a new company right now. This company is super shady! No transparency at all. I don’t k ow how they get away with this! Look elsewhere.
Lee Larsen
My business burned to the ground and they tried to charge me over 800.00 for the terminal and told me to turn it into my insurance company and tell them I owned it. That is illegal but that is what the advised me to do luckily I put a stop on any transactions with them. They then tried another ANOTHER company name. NoW I AM GETTING EMAILS FROM A COMPANY CALLED ALTUS GTS threatening my credit. This is the worst company I have ever done business with! Maybe Karma will step in and burn their business to the ground.
Karen
These people are crooks. Don’t ever get signed up with them and I am filing a complaint with my state attn general against them. They should be stopped. They just took $1200 out of my checking account and I don’t even know why. This is robbery.
I NEVER even seen a contract!!!so how in the world could I have signed one!!!BEWARE OF NABANCARD!!
John
I have been waiting on release of almost 20K since June 13th. As a small business this is devastating to our cashflow. The SEC should look into their deceptive, and misleading tactics.
Misty
Was it ever released?
Dennis Morris
I emailed North American Bancard representative Mary Scorpio on 3/29/2013 to fulfill my requirement of a 60 day notice to cancel my account with them on 6/25/2013. In that email I requested to be contacted if anything additional was required.
I then received an auto email on 4/1/2013 confirming receipt of my request and confirmation that the request for account closure was completed. It further stated that a signature was required and that they would be sending me a cancellation letter to sign.
That same day I received an email containing an attachment with a letter requesting my signature to complete the cancellation. However, it was NOT a letter confirming my termination of the account on the expiration date even though it referenced my cancellation date of 6/25/2013. It was instead a form to cancel the account early. I admit that I did not do a good job of reading the letter, but any average person would assume it to be the follow up to the previous notice that a signature was required.
IF, they had cancelled it on 6/25/13 as I requested I would have been charged the monthly fee of $35 for April, May and June. Instead they are charging me an early cancellation fee of $295.
Cornell
These people are crooks. Don’t ever get signed up with them and I am filing a complaint with my state attn general against them. They should be stopped. They just took $1500 out of my checking account and I don’t even know why. This is robbery.
Karen
These people say I have a contract with them for 3 years. I’ve never even seen a contract and never ever signed anything….they have taken over 1200 dollars from my checking account…has anyone on here gotten any of your money back that has been rob from you?
Carla
I NEVER write bad reviews but in this case it’s due. This is THE WORST credit card company I’ve ever dealt with. I’m stuck in a 3yr cotract when in just the last 8mon’s I’ve been without a terminal 6 times for a week at a time!!! They don’t care and tell me it’s going to be $500 to cancel when I’m a year and a half into my contract. I have every email and interaction with them and have contacted a lawyer. Their are 7 of us that use this terminal and are all taking action. How does this company expect us to run a business when thier machines break down constantly. What kills me is thier costumers serivce is of no help what so ever. The people that work the phones have no idea what they are doing and have screwed up my account numerous times. This company is a joke and I highly advise NOT using them..from one business owner to another. trust me save yourself the time and aggrivation.
james ashley
pay anywhere set my business up for failure. they sent out a free credit card reader, so i started excepting credit cards. however after the services was render and after 4000 sales, i have to wait 180 days to get paid. thanks a lot pay anywhere.
Michele Roberts
Back in November 2012 I was very unhappy with my current credit card processing company. I was very hesitant about going with a different one, and I ran across an article in a magazine about North American Bankcard. I called there and spoke with Chris. He assured me there would be no ‘extra’ fees monthly that I wasn’t made aware of, and there was apsolutely no contract to stay with them and I could cancel my accounts at any time with no early cancellation fees attached!
Well, here we are only February 2013, and I’m seeing additional fees on my statements and am very unhappy, therefore, I called and wanted to cancel, and was told I have a 3yr contract and would have to pay a $990 cancellation fee!! I even spoke with the salesman that lied to me and scammed me to go with this company, all he did was insult me the whole conversation! I spoke with the ‘so called’ manager as well ‘Brian’ and as well insulted me, and offered no help in this matter, Just continued to lie as Chris did!
I tell you, I have no faith in ANY credit card processing company, they’re all liers and scam artist! It’s a sin they get away with robbing people blind! This is a crime!!
‘ DON’T EVER USE NORTH AMERICAN BANK CARD’, WHAT EVER YOU DO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
steve hammell
Ditto, to Michele Roberts. I joined same dates as Michele and have same problem with fees, etc. as Michele
and same people that set up my account without full disclosure of cancel fees and equipment fees that were
supposed to be free with contract but not so. I also completed my PCI compliance questionaire with them in November 2012 and found they charged me $79.00 to do this. My previous processor charged $25.00 fee which I thought was a ridiculous charge but paid it without complaining. I wouldn’t be surprised to see another
class action lawsuit in a couple years as you see today with so many of the crooked financial institutions.
j l schilling
RUN AWAY !!! FROM NORTH AMERICAN BANCARD.
I agree with the above comments. I have spent all day chasing fees. Example: North American Bancard charges $79/yr, per location for PCI Compliance fees. Then you must go onto http://www.mypci.com and complete their PCI compliance and pay an additonal $59 annual fee, per location to be PCI Compliant. If you do not do this thousand question questionaire, and do the scans then North American Bancard will charge you additional fees for not doing this.
I was charged by Mypci.com the $59 annual fee in Sept 2012 and again in March 2013. Annual Fees… try to talk to someone and North American Bancard knows nothing about the Mypci.com fees. Try to call Mypci.com, and you will be on hold hours, and… well, I’m still on hold as I write this.
My question:
Why am I paying $79/yr PCI compliance fee to North American Bancard, if I still have to go through another company and pay more ($59/yr) to be PCI Compliant? And if I do not do the ‘other’ PCI Compliance via mypci.com they (North American Bancard) will charge you an additional fee of $4.95/mo for not being compliant!?!
Still on hold…
Lisa Hefner
It’s amazing the amount of complaints here and elsewhere that are so similar to ours. We run a small bar and grill and a representative was here multiple times pushing us to get this company. My other half finally agreed, but said he would not sign a contract whatsoever and the salesperson assured him that he would not need to. Everything went okay for a month or two, but then when looking over the fees, they were astronomically higher that what was agreed upon. We tried contacting our salesperson, he said his sister had cancer in another state and was going to see her and would come and explain the bill to us when he got back. This has been over a year ago. We called the company and wanted to cancel and they said it would be around $800 to do so since we signed a three year contract. Well, we had no contract per our agreement with the salesperson so we asked them to send us another copy of one. When we received it, sure enough, it was initialed and signed with my spouses name, but it wasn’t his signature or initials. Sure, it was his name, but it most definately wasn’t the way he writes it. We called and talked to a supervisor, and he stated that since we ran a credit card through the machine it was called “implied consent”. Well, the salesman is the one who ran the first transaction through. We didn’t consent to anything. The supervisor on the phone also basically admitted that it was not right, but there was nothing he could do about it. We put a stop payment on their EFT’s out of our account and then after about 6 months of them being denied their payment (we haven’t used the credit card machine since we called law enforcement about the FORGERY!), they tried to take out $900 out of our account using a different name than we had a stop payment on. Went to the bank, they filed out an unauthorization form and sent it to them. They next day, they changed the name AGAIN, and tried again. Bank went back and did it again. Now they are still trying to get $30 out of our account every month but it keeps getting bounced back to them.
If we forged peoples names in our business, we would be in prison. Pat Dolan (salesperson extraordinairre hah!), you should be too, along with everyone at that company that this is “business as usual”.
alexander
This same thing has happen to me….I’ve never even seen a contract. but this company is saying Im in a 3 year contract!!what a rip off!
annabelle
the rep chases me for 1 year to change my merchant i finally gave in.
big mistake! total lies and je said you have no contract, best fees, etc They continously deducted credit card deposits then credited them then deducted them again. my account became a mess.
I do not owe them money they are a credit card processor which should not be in business.
I had to change my bank account & returned to more expensive provider.
then suddenly I havea over $3000 amount on my credit report. this is crazy. This hurts my score and is not a real debt.
I tried to have this removed but equifax does not care thsat this is basically a fraudulent company.
Luis
Dont use this companie this a joke , they charge me fees that i didnt know they were going to charge me , an agent told me i didnt have any contract, when i realize all the fees they were charging me i call to cancel it but the surprice was bigger when they told me i had a 3 year contract .they call this people “agents” but for me they are thefts
Michael Choron
This place is a JOKE! I was told my monthly charge would be $15.00 a month some months its $25.00 some its $21.00. The problem I have is that I NO Longer use that account and haven’t for the past year. The termination fee is ridiculous so your better off to pay these monthly fees until your contract is up. As soon as this contract is up in Feb. 2013. I’m outta here!!! There are much better deals out there than this place. Hopefully cancelling this contract will not be one more pain in my ASS!!!!!!!!
Val Hebbe
hey, I just got hit with a $90.00 annual fee. Holding out to the contract ends and then I am done with this company!
Jane
You better call them and find out exactly what you have to do to terminate your contract when it ends .If you don’t they will continue it. You have to give them a certain amount of advance notice in writing.Log every time you called and the name of the person you talked to. Send your terminals back registered mail with signature required .When you are sure they have paid you for all your charges, call your bank and put a PERMANENT stop payment on them so they cannot debit. It will cost you around $35 but well worth it as once they debit you for whatever ridiculous fee they choose you will never get it back from them. I am stuck in a contract with them and HATE this company.
Sandy
Have great news for you when it comes to canceling your account at the end of contract. Make certain that you send them a notice at least 60 days prior to the the contract ending. I did 9 months in advance. They did not cancel the contract when it ended. They continued to deduct the month fees after my contract ended. I am still fighting them over it. Best thing to do is contact your State Attorney Generals office. This is what I will be doing. They are taking millions of dollars from merchants in small amounts.
amy
There was a representative that come by my shop and told me about this company, and I went ahead and signed up with this company and within a months time, I never received a terminal but funds where withdrawn from my business acct…these people are lying and getting your information with no results, and then they tell you to call the NA bank itself to get your money back, and they in return tell you to call the represenative that signed you up….so this is totally a scam to me, don’t give them any information and I have reported this to the BBB, and im hoping for a resolution to this problem, but I will never do that again…and now I am out of $200.00, an being a small business, money is already hard to come by and to have people like this to come in and steal from you is not right, and my search to this problem is not over yet…
Duke
Amy,
Please carefully review the ACCEPTANCE section. You should find out that If you have never performed any transaction, then you would not bind to the contract.
You might need 1st to stop their withdraw $ from your account by closing the account, and then wrote a letter telling them you have not accepted nor agreed with the contract yet because you have not performed any transaction, and you make clearly to them that you reserve the right to seek for any damage caused by their illegal acts or their associates’, and demand them return the illegally withdrawn $ from your bank, including the law suit fee if you file a lawsuit.
They did it to me exactly what you said, and I stopped them as I did above.
Karl
I was told by Casey my outsourced salesman that if I gave him a reference to the new owners that purchase my store that I would be able to get early termination fees removed. I gave the reference and he never released me from contract. This company is horrible!
charles e higgins
signed up in may was told by salesman no contract no fee only a percentage taken from sale. six months later never got a machine but realized they have taken approxx. $400.00 out of my account since may . I never ran 1 credit card dont even know how to use the system no machine ? . called in the other day now they want to send me a machine that they have been charging for.. spoke to a guy named tyruss he told me i had two options only. send me a machine or a cancellation application that will cost me $ 930.00 . I asked to speak to a supervisor he said that was not an option . only the two he told me. what kind of company won.t let you speak to a supervisor. they must be workin out of there house .this place is a scam . Its not over i spoke to a lawer yesterday and the left a complaint with attorney general in michigan & new york. & also better buisness .i alredy signed up with another carrier. of course i would not recommend you.. all these phone calls ive been making takes up my time. im a buzy guy ‘ never even realized the money missing from my account till this month they took $145.00 out . $ 45 a month i didnt notice. its not over trust me.
sam
Charles. Call and ask for Ken Owens or Rick. Both of them are supervisors. Don’t ask for a supervisor, just ask directly for one of them. Give them hell, they crack under pressure.
Al
In reading all the posts here regarding unauthorized debits from your checking account by this company, you have an easy option. Just contact your bank and put an EFT hold on NAB. It will cost you a one time fee from 25 to 35 dollars from your bank, but the withdraws will stop. Be sure to do this only if you feel you are a victim of breach of contract. You still have a legal obligation to pay NAB if you knowingly signed a contract with them for a period of time.
Michelle
This company is doing exactly what all the above folks are saying. They do NOT Help you on the phone. The actual customer service ppl are not that knowledgeable and do try to help, but since they can’t actually do anything, you are referred to the corporate headquarters and then you get a man, who doesn’t give you his name, doesn’t do anything of a helpful nature, he tells you and I quote ” tough, you are in a 3 year contract, call customer service” and also talked to me like I was not a ‘paying customer’ but nothing to him. It was 212-889-1800. The office of Bryan Ross. I don’t know who exactly I spoke to, again because he REFUSED to give me his name. He didn’t even answer the phone in a polite way. I am not easily offended, I am not easily angered either, but he managed to do both in a short phone conversation.
When I explained that I had never even touched the machine, and that I had sent my paperwork in to be approved only, he told me it didn’t matter, I was in a contract. There is a high early break fee… Which he did not even mention, or offer. I am frustrated, aggravated and all around pissed off about it.
If the fees were consistent and low enough, I would ‘eat’ those. I spend $10-15 a month on junk, but they are taking anything out they want… One month it was $15, one month $2, one month $28…. I could not even get this man to tell me why they weren’t consistent. Ugh!
RG
Agree with ALL THE NEGATIVE reviews!! Lie, Cheat and Steal. Totally unethical, immoral business practices. We have been in business for over 13 years (separate business that doesn’t use North American Bancard, NABANCARD) and NEVER had problems with our processing through other companies. We opened a small garden center, economy tanked and we found out that there was the $895 cancellation fee plus all the other fees. The equipment wasn’t free as advertised. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY.
TJ Andersen
I have been processing with NAB for a little over a year. They signed me up on a month to month contract. So far they have done everything they say. I like their rates (interchange plus) and their paper program that doesn’t charge freight. My only complaint is that their customer service line can sometimes take a while to get through.
Phillip CPO
Can you reply with your business contact information to verify that this is a legitimate review from an actual merchant?
Jane
Their contracts like most processors are for three years. Are you sure we are talking about the same processing company?
hagit
North american bancard is a horrible company.
they will sign you on 3 years lease and will not mention it. their rates are the higest in the filed, their customer service is poor, they will put you on hold for an hour and when you want to cancel the account they ignore you.
don’t do business with them.
Jaelyn
DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!!!!
This company uses “independent reps”….these reps LIE to you. I asked for a ONE YEAR CONTRACT and a FREE wireless terminal in writing through EMAIL. That is NOT what has happened. After one year they have turned me in to collection for 1600. The REP LIED to me…there are NO one year contracts with free terminals. They use a BAIT AND SWITCH process……they have you sign a contract and only give you certain pages so you do not see the entire contract that is sent off to North American!!!!!
Jane
You are absolutley correct in saying you never see the entire contract ! Sekure Cards salesman( who sold me NAB’s services) lied about most things he told me. When I complained to Sekure Cards, I was told that yes, he did lie and that’s why they fired him..SO that leaves me stuck with North AMerican Bank Card .I never saw the full contract until I asked them for a copy of it 6 months into my 3 year contract. I signed a merchant agreement, not a contract, very sneaky the way they have it written. Run, don”t walk from this company. They should be responsible for whoever they contract as salespeople!
Wayne Edelman
I should have cancelled my agreement with them as soon as I figured out that they would not be able to interface with my processor and POS system.
Long story short we never processed 1 cent through them but our bank account has been debited monthly since 2009. My staff has tried to rectify the issue with them numerous times to no avail. I tried myself to call the 800 number and after 2 transfers they finally transferred me to the representatives cell phone who signed me up and has done nothing to fix the problem. I would not recommend anyone using this company.
LCS
Note that on their website they advertise, NO CANCELLATION FEE! If you fall victim to this ploy, make sure you print out this statement. Ha! I have waited out my contract and am now on hold for who knows how long, have left one message already and doubt I will get a call back. I am curious to see what they now say since they told me anytime after June 7 I could cancel without any fee.
Ron F
Your cancellation fee is governed by the contract you signed. If you signed a 3 year agreement, which is almost all agreements until a few months ago, then you’ll have to wait out that term. When it’s time to renew, or if you’re signing a new contract today, just tell your agent you want a month to month agreement, and make sure he shows you in the paperwork where it states that before you sign.
Shukyo Mithuna
Just be sure to cancel in writing, my contract ended May 23, then on June 5 they billed me $200. for some yearly fee and refused to refund it, because they said they hadn’t received a written cancellation ( although my contract had expired)
Sandy M
I made the horrible mistake of entering into a contact with them based on promises made by one of their representatives – Sekure Services. I had nothing but problems from day one. Set up our account wrong. Corrected two months later with a new account but failed to close the original account. Never updated our terminal so charges kept being processed under old account #. Was charging me for two accounts. Got that corrected and then they started multiple daily debits to me account due to their computer problems. Caused addtional fees charged by me bank under our account agreement for excessive debit fees. This occurred for two months and although they finally reimbursed the costs, it took multiple phone calls. Trying to get troough to their customer service dept. is a nightmare. So finally got so fed up i disconnected their equipment and went back to may previous processer. Now they state they are going to charge me an $839.72 early termination fee. (Had a 3yr contract)
Jane
have had some of the same problems.. Call your bank and put a PERMANENT stop payment which will not allow them to debit any $$ from your account. The fee at my bank for doing this was 35$. well worth it!
Dana
Hidden Fees. Automatically sign you up for optional services. But here’s the kicker:
$875 cancellation fee! Yes, $875. I signed up with another company who told me they would pay my cancellation fee, but when they found out it was $875, they said “no way” and let me out of the contract.
I have 5 months left with these jokers and I’m outta here!
DukeL
Rebecca of the NAB said “we have canceled your account and removed all amounts from the collection agency”. But now the NAB has placed the cancelled/clear account with another collection agent! (May 24, 2012)
dillon sparks
DON’T EVER MAKE THE MISTAKE of letting North American Bancard get access to your checking account. I did and regretted it. I finally had to cancel my checking account, open a new one and get new checks.
And DON’T EVER THINK that by retuning their equipment that you’ll be off the hook for further fees. Their receiving department ALWAYS indicates that your returned equipment is damaged.
More prospective customers should GOOGLE before signing anything.
dillon sparks– sadder AND wiser
DukeL
In September 2010, we had made the same mistake as Dilon Sparks did to let the NAB got access to our bank account and we had to close our bank account Around the end of 2011, the NAB placed the merchant account with a collection based on a NON-BINDING contract agreement. After hassle with them for about a month, they said that they had cancelled the account and removed all amount from the collection. However, now they have placed the account in another collection agent.
My advice is DON’T EVER THINK DOING BUSINESS WITH THE NAB. Period.
Keli Sindelar
I just went online to BBB myself and they’re rating is A+.
Phillip CPO
As stated in the review, if you read our rating criteria, we adjust the rating for the purposes of our grading in some cases.
Kalena
I have a new complaint to add and I’m sure you will all find this interesting. I worked with North American Bancard until around six years ago when I canceled my account and switched my processing to Wells Fargo. Fast Forward to April 2012 when I receive a bill from North American Bancard for $101 that has already been automatically removed from my checking account! I called their customer service and explained to them that I do not have any account with their company and was told that my account had never been canceled?! The three customer service representatives I spoke to repeated over and over that I would need to fill out a request for cancellation form and return it to their company. I refused to do that because that would be somehow acknowledging that their was any merit to their argument.
I have filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commision and I hope that any other companies with a similar problem will do the same. When you work with a Credit Card Processor, they have access to your personal information including direct access to you checking account. This information should not be hanging around in their files for them to use as a slush fund whenever they desire. One more point I would like to make…As a merchant I am required to secure my customers data, you would think a processing company would be required to do the same!
Tom Rush
DON’T ANYONE SIGN ON WITH THIS COMPANY. THEY ARE UNETHICAL, NON-RESPONSIVE, AND THEY ENGAGE IN UNLAWFUL BUSINESS TACTICS. i had nothing but problems with this company and the customer service department from the first day i signed up. so after 3 months, i canceled my accounts with North American Bancard. that is when the real nightmare began. they said i would be charged a cancellation fee of $890 PER ACCOUNT!!! I then explained to them that my salesperson who signed me up told me i would not be subject to any cancellation fee if i decided to stop using them. i also explained i never signed anything saying there would be a fee. they then sent me a contract that i supposedly signed. but it turns out my salesperson ONLY SENT ME THE FIRST PAGE TO INITIAL, AND THE LAST PAGE TO SIGN! SHE DID NOT SEND ME THE 8 PAGES IN BETWEEN! One of those pages said there would be a cancellation fee, but i did not initial that page. turns out i was a victim of a BAIT AND SWITCH BY THIS DISREPUTABLE AND DISHONEST COMPANY. not only did my saleperson tell me there would be no cancellation fee, but i never received or initialed any part of a contracft except the first an last page of the contract! all of my phone calls and emails fell on deaf ears. employees promised to call me back and they never did. Supervisors promised to call me back and they never did. and finally, nobody answered any of my emails regarding the fact that i never saw or signed a contract agreeing to a cancellation fee. now, the company has withdrawn their $1980 in fees from my corporate checking account, and now i have to take them to court to try and get my money back. STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY – THEY ARE THE WORST IN THE BUSINESS!
Tom Rush
Rush’s Inc.
Minneapolis, MN
phone: 612-250-2163
debbie
I wish that I had read these listings prior to setting up an account. I got sucked into high fees and contracts that I was unaware of. I want out but the agent never returns my calls. He must be watching the caller ID. I will take the hit of the cancellation fee because this company is grossly fraudulent.
Shukyo Mithuna
I have just spent over an hour with North American Bancard trying to reverse charges on my Business credit card merchant services account and I AM FURIOUS!!!!!! My contract for their merchant card services expired April 23, 2012, and they are claiming that because I did not read the SMALL print that says I have to fax in a letter to close my account, they will not REFUND the $126. they robbed from my account—nevermind that my contract had expired . Have you ever heard of an acccount remaining open after it expires???
TO ED SCHULTZ and RACHEL MADDOW of MSMBC (post on their facebook page) and ALL OF MY FRIENDS, FAMILY and ASSOCIATES (posted to my facebook page) , STAND UP AGAINST THE DAILY TYRANNY OF THE BANKS OF THE WORLD—move your money to credit unions. WHO WILL STAND IN SOLIDARITY WITH ME AND THE OCCUPY MOVEMENT????
Sam
Here’s how their sales team works.
When they get you on the phone they tell you about 2 rates each with a $0.19 transaction fee. The first is for swiped debit and the other for swiped credit. Those rates change constantly, so I won’t lay them out here. Then, they tell you about the monthly fee. “That’s it!” They say.
What they don’t tell you, and they do this to hook new businesses, is the fees for rewards cards, business cards and the rare government cards. They leave out batch fee’s and additional fees for monthly minimums, PCI fees… You literally have to ask about all other fees. Their philosophy is basically to not teach their agents the pricing. This is handed down by the manager. Don’t talk about pricing and tell them how awesome of a company they are instead. 24 hour customer service, 24 hour tech support etc… They want to win you over with all that instead of being up front about fee’s that are not necessarily hidden because they are on the contract you sign. Rather, the omit telling you about it. They do their best to get you to sign.
The company president is friends with the head of the BBB and that’s how they get their A+ Rating with the better business bureau. Which has shaken my faith with the BBB.
They have other programs and services. Such as PayAnywhere AKA Phoneswipe (you’re better off with Square or Intuit and Match Rate Plus. Match Rate Plus is basically a pyramid scheme for merchants. You sign up, then get your friends and their business to sign up and so on. It fits the definition of a pyramid scheme.
They also operate under the name Advanced Payment Solutions. In addition, they don;t care if sales reps are rude. Many businesses call to complain after finding out they’ve been duped. There sales team will be terrible to you right back. They expect sales agents to make 200+ cold calls a day with a cold calling machine they have and give their agents fancy titles like “Senior Account Executive” which is essentially just a guy with very little education who can talk fast.
Your best bet, avoid this company and stick with your bank. They at least have standards.
RLF
I don’t know who Sam has dealt with at NAB. His experience with his NAB agent may have very well gone much as he described. However, the vast majority of NABs sales team consists of independent outside agents. As an independent agent, there is no formal training program from NAB. There are no sales quotas, nor a manager calling you every day to see how many sales you made. They do make basic product and sales training available, but nowhere in any of the training materials do they encourage agents to be deceptive in any way about the pricing for accounts. In fact, the agent agreement is very explicit that FULL DISCLOSURE of all rates and fees is expected and required.
Advanced Payment Solutions and Match Rate Plus are independent companies that associate with NAB as agents, the same as any individual salesperson might. They are NOT subsidiaries of NAB, and their policies or business practices are not endorsed by NAB other than that they must follow the same rules as any other contracted agent.
As for Sam’s experience, in all likelihood, he probably dealt with an agent that had prior experience in the payments industry and was trained to sell that way. No sales manager I know of at NAB would tolerate what he described if they knew about it, much less train other agents to sell that way. That’s what many agents in this industry are doing to their customers, and the reason it’s so easy for me personally to convert new customers is because I offer an experience 180 degrees opposite of that. I myself was trained by an agent who sells for NAB, and I don’t do anything like what he describes. It’s unfortunate because as a merchant, you really have no way of knowing ahead of time that the agent you’re dealing with is simply an authorized agent and not actually a well-trained employee of the company unless someone like me happens to come along and tell you. It’s detrimental to the company’s brand when this happens, but unfortunately the independent sales force is the model that most companies in this industry operate by (except for the large banks, but they typically aren’t any different when it comes to their sales practices anyway).
I can only hope that his experience will help educate others here about what to look for in a good agent, and don’t make any assumptions about how he’s going to behave or deal with you just based on the company he’s selling for because that often doesn’t have much to do with it.
sam
RLF,
this is not based on a business dealing. I worked there this year in the sales department for one month. I have been in sales for years and never had to use the tactics that Ken Owens sales manager wanted me to use. A directquote from ken during training
“F*** pricing. You don’t tell people about that. Just do whatever it takes to get them to sign”
Another gem
“I don’t want you to lie, but basically omit the other prices.”
I understand your need to deflate the negative comments about a company you have a vested interest in, but really, this is a very bad company interested in bottom lines and less about customers.
Lorie
poorly trained or unethical agents wants fight with customer who has questions about mysterious charges on the statement. I am canceling my account with them after I talk with terriable customer service agent. Watch out for their charges!!! Never Again.
sam
Lori,
We were trained to talk back to the customers. I quit a month into this “job” because I could not subscribe to their ideas of selling. It’s 2012 and they act like they sell cars in the 70’s.
Ron Fleming
As an agent for NAB, I would agree with the thrust of this review that the vast majority of issues with NAB stem from poorly trained or unethical agents. However, those issues are not unique to NAB. As with any sales profession, merchant services relies heavily on the honesty, integrity, knowledge and professionalism of the individual salesperson to make sure that the client receives exactly what they expect to receive and that there are no unpleasant surprises. And if the company management is more concerned with turning a tidy profit than doing business ethically and in a transparent, upfront manner, then that’s exactly how the agents will behave.
A merchant is no likely to get a better deal, or to thoroughly understand the terms of his or her contract in dealing with a large bank, who would typically maintain much tighter control of their salesforce, than with an independent agent. It comes down to the individual’s integrity, and whether management supports him in doing ethical business by paying a fair share of the commissions and not imposing unreasonable sales targets that force him to overprice or desperately chase business to meet monthly quotas. Often the processors who most tightly micromanage their employees are the least attractive to knowledgeable and enterprising professionals, who get into this industry to get away from the whip-cracking boss.
Just like big banks don’t necessarily give better service than credit unions, or major franchise plumbers don’t always do better than a local independent guy, employee merchant services agents of large banks are not necessarily better than independent ones. You just have to take the time to investigate the individual, and use your basic intuition and street smarts to judge his character before agreeing to do business with him, just like you would with any other service provider.
Sharon Douglas
I wish I too had known about the complaints. Sales agent was very deceptive. I had my own cc machine before signing on with these people. I had no idea that I was signing on to rent a machine on top of all the fees that Bancard charges. My sales to not go into my business account for sometimes up to 5 days later. I try to call tech support for machine issues and can NEVER get a response!!! Now we are stuck in this stupid contract and the big guys are once again stomping on us little guys in small business!!! There was an extra 18.00 charge on my account today from LOGI Lease……The Charge??? The tax man takes them on their property……so they pass this on to us when they get the bill!!!!! STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY!!! I am contacting my representitive to at least make another complaint…..and the BBB!
RLF
I know you would have like to have heard this a day before you met your particular NAB agent, but NEVER sign a lease for a credit card terminal, unless your accountant (or likely your accounting department) has told you it’s in your best financial interests to do so. As anything other than a large corporation needing to install 100’s of terminals at once across many locations, it will almost never make financial sense. The average credit card terminal costs $300 brand new in the box from any number of equipment outlets; the standard lease is $39 over 48 months or $1,872. As you might imagine, about 85% of that is pure profit, most of it directly to the agent, paid the same week he signs the contract. Contrary to what you might have been told, NAB can reprogram 95% of all terminals out their to work with their service, and in all likelihood, your terminal ISN’T out of compliance. He just wants to make more money leasing you a new one.
And even if you couldn’t afford to buy the terminal new yourself, NAB actually offers a free terminal for as long as you maintain an active processing account with them (if you cancel, just send the machine back). Of course the agent didn’t tell you that because the company pays him a $100 bonus if he doesn’t provide a free terminal when setting up the account. There are other, more equitable ways for him to recoup that money, but with a $1,400 commission on the table for selling you an outrageously expensive lease you didn’t need, his greed got the best of him.
LCS
Stay far away from this company. I wish I had read this article before signing on with them, they are crooks, could care less about what you are told, take on extra fees and charges, have horrible customer service that could care less about its merchant’s satisfaction. There is poor tech support and training to use your equipment, your salesman disappears into nowhere, you get put on hold forever when you call or get transfered, even to an operator. I spent over an hour and a half trying to find out why I was never paid for the charges I accepted, was told I will have to pay $5 per transaction to find out the information. I have had no communication from the company since last September, none what so ever. Looks like 5 customers got my merchandise for free and I have already paid over 500 to NA Bancard for NOTHING!
DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THIS COMPANY!!!!!
Val Hebbe
Is there anyone in the North American Bancard company who understands what customer service is? I have my doubts! Can a company as big as NAB really provide the LACK OF CUSTOMER SERVICE? Yes, they sure are. If you are a small busines you are having to wait at least 10 days to get your statement. Try their customer service number and you are on hold for 7 minutes then they tell you to leave your number and they will call you back. When? Is the question! My only option will be to look for another company which should not be too hard.
RLF
The next time you hire a sales agent to set up your processing, ask for his personal cell phone number and ask whether he will always return your call, on the same day during standard business hours if you have any issue with your services. I offer that at a minimum to every single client I do business with (actually 24/7 to my clients, but I understand if every credit card processing salesman doesn’t want to take calls from a bar owner at 1 AM about his terminal not working properly). The agent gets an ongoing commission from the fees you pay each and every month to process credit transactions – I think they should PERSONALLY offer some type of service in return for that compensation, or either agree to refund to you *permanently* their share of the ongoing commissions once you’re up and running.
Joseph Cirino
North American Bancard are scammers, ripoff and they just suck you dry financially. My contract is up on March 16, 2012 and they are slamming me with a $295.00 early termination fee plus they had $275.00 on hold since May of 2011. They used that money to pay monthly fees plus other associated fees that go with it, but you have to read the 3 page fine print that they give which nobody reads plus you need a magnifying glass to read it.
Al
Our relationship with this company was good for the first couple of years. Then they introduced “Biz Perks” which turned out to be an “auto enrollment” scam set up by them to bring in more money. We opted out right away, but they still managed to debit our account the 9.95 fee. We called to complain and the did credit us back the charge. Then, they decided out of the blue that charging us a 10 dollar monthly fee was not enough. They jacked our monthly fee overnight to 25 dollars per month, which is outrageous by credit card provider standards. We called to cancel our account at which time we were informed that they could “reduce” our rate back to 10 dollars per month. We still opted out. We signed and sent in our cancellation letter. To no surprise, they did not cancel our account until several days into the next month, which allowed them to debit our account another monthly service charge. The following month, our account was debited again the monthly fee, despite confirmation that our account was closed. They even denied debiting our account, for which we have proof that they did. They have since declined to respond to our email inquiry regarding this debit. We were forced to go to our bank and submit this debit as fraud. If they debit us again, we will be forced to put a block on them from debiting our account again. Our bank will charge us 35 dollars for this, which we should never have had to do. It is my feeling that this company wishes to force out customers who dont meet their quota of a certain amount of transactions per year. We feel that they have a “blank check” to our checking account and will continue to debit us whenever they feel like, despite our signed cancellation letter. We started to get the impression it was all about the bottom line with this company. Now that we have opted out, they have proven it to us.
Kay
It’s astounding to me, as a business owner, the lack of accountability from the business owners listed here. Regardless of if the company is good or bad, it is your job as a business owner, and a person who is freely providing your social security number and checking account number, to make sure you fully understand the details of such an important venture. I have an account with NAB and although some improvements need to be made with the customer service, I can never say that I was scammed because I read each page of the agreement. The agent tried to pull some funny business by not giving me all of the pages of the agreement but because I was READING I noted that the center pages were missing and refused to move forward until I got them. If you feel scammed, blame yourself for focusing on dollar signs and not using baseline business wisdom. They are a good company.
Elisse cortez
You must be a company employee or someone invested in this business.
You would have to have studied contractual law to understand the 10 pages that where given. Yes it makes us responsible by law but I have never had a company misrepresent themselves in such a reprehensible a way. Aperantly you are smarter than most to have understood the fact that pages were missing.They tried to pull one over on you but that is OK because you caught it? No good honest company does that. I have been in business for over 30 years and I can tell you that is not normal nor good in any way. Companies should be able to get their business honestly. It is unfortunate that it is not and so I am here to warn those that are doing the research to be very careful with this one.
If you are an independant contractor or a small business then I recommend Square. An app on Smart phones with no contract, no fees and a high rate of 2.75%. At least you know what you get. by the time I added fees and everything in, I averaged 3.6%-10% with NAB.
And customer service? Please, don’t insult us. It needs more than improvements. I could not access my account for 3 months. It would say account does not exist, yet I was charges $37.00 for not using it!
“Blame yourself for focusing on dollar signs” REALLY!!! Go to a reputable business not a shark ready to steal you blind AFTER breaking your leg.
Kay
I don’t need to study contractual law to ask questions. If I don’t understand, then I’m not signing. That goes for credit card processing or a supermarket receipt. That’s just smart. Everyone is out to make a dollar and everyone protects their best interest, so I was to make meaning decisions for my business and not get roped into something confusing just because I’m too busy to investigate. You’re suffering now so just leave to do better for your business and yourself in the future.
Elisse Cortez
I asked the representative all the right questions. Myself and 15 of my co-workers are all unhappy because we were told that the ONLY fee would be a $7 service fee and a rate of1.59%. I asked directly if there were any other fees hidden or otherwise and was told “no”. We were told that by signing a 3 year contract, they could keep our rates and fees low. We asked all the right questions, but the company. Was misrepresented and we were lied to. It is the company that should be responsible for insuring that their agents represent the company properly. Any other contract I have signed was represented clearly and have not ever had this sort of problem. I am glad that you are “smart” and have not had these troubles, but it does not excuse what has happened to us.
There is no suffering going on, just the need to warn others to be wary of getting involved with this company and a long unnecessary contract. So many other company’s do not do this and are a much better choice. It is great that you are happy. So too am I now. Just not with North American Bancard.
Ron F
I’m an agent of NAB, and I understand where you are coming from. I operate in a large metropolitan market where there are literally thousands of agents representing almost every processor doing business, and I’ve seen more than one case where an NAB agent has screwed a merchant. Notice that I don’t say fellow agent, because I personally have nothing in common with anyone who does business that way other than that we happen to have the same company name on our brochures and applications.
Now, as has been pointed out, if you’re going to sign a contract for what is essentially a banking service, you do bear some level of responsibility to ensure that you understand what you’re signing and what you’re getting into. But as a professional who has seen the inside of this industry, I will freely admit that virtually NO company in the entire industry has as a corporate policy to educate customers first, so that they can make the most informed decision possible. The model is more “just get them to trust you any way you can so that you can close the deal, and then we’ll take care of them.”
But there are agents out there – working with NAB and other processors as well – who do business with the utmost level of integrity, transparency, and fiduciary responsibility to every single one of their clients. I myself came into merchant services from another industry where we were required by law to operate that way. I can assure you that there are no NAB policies or training at the corporate level that encourage any unscrupulous behavior whatsoever. But it comes down to the individual, how and by whom they are trained, and how seriously they take their profession whether or not they take the time to properly explain ALL the terms and costs of the contract to you before you sign. I always do because I couldn’t imagine waking up every morning to screw over another fellow small business owner – or fellow human being for that matter. But not every NAB agent does, just like not every agent at any other company in this industry or any other you can name.
Many companies that sell commoditized services such as credit card processing employ largely independently contracted salesforces because it’s very expensive to train sales people properly and subsidize them until they have the necessary experience to be profitable for the company. And it’s extremely difficult to identify ahead of time who will be good at sales; companies spend billions of dollars consulting on how to do that very thing. The companies rely on the fact that those who don’t take the time to learn their profession or who lack the necessary sales skills to succeed in this industry will fall off before they can do too much harm to the company, and overall, I don’t think NAB has a worse share of bad apples than any other large company in this industry. It’s unfortunate that some people will get burned by these guys, but for those of us who are serious professionals and do business in an ethical manner, it’s just an opportunity to win a new client over by doing right by them from the beginning.
Luis
Terrible companie. I was told by an “agent” they cold them agents but they really are liars. I asked this agent like 5 times if I had any kind of agreement. She told me no. after 3 months I discovered that I have a contract for 3 years and a lease in the machine for other 3 years. The costumer service is wort nothing. they dont even have costumer service in spanish. Dont get this companie. You will have a lot of trouble
Brenda
I have been using North american bancard and they are constantly charging my account 119.00 a month when all they are only supposed to be charging me 15$ a month for non usage. They keep telling me I have to pay an outrageous fee to get out of the contract and they refuse to give me my contract showing my termination date. Everytime I ask I get another date that is further away from the last one. HORRIBLE COMPANY!!!! DO NOT USE!!!! THEY WILL JUST CHARGE YOUR ACCOUNT WITHOUT YOUR APPROVAL AND YOU WILL HAVE TO FIGHT THE BANK TO GET IT BACK!!!!!
Elisse Cortez
When an agent from NAB came to our salon, we were promised that it was only a 7$ monthly fee, 1.59% rate. I asked specifically if there were any other fees or charges and was told no.
We did not get copy of the original contract. We were told it would be sent and it never was. We were told the reason they could offer a great rate is due to a standard (turns out not to be standard) 3 year contract. Upon bill review there were fees for everything. Debit use fee, batch fees, PCI compliance fees and more. PCI compliance is if you are using a PC and we are not.
When I called the company to complain about these issues, I was given the run around with a fast talking agent. After a very frustrating conversation I was sent an altered copy of the original. I was told the only way out of this was to pay $960.00. A co worker was told buy out was $200.00 before signing.
I know there was a fee for low or no use, but that exact amount was not given. They stopped sending statements and I could not access my account on their online site. It stated that the merchant acct # does not exist. The fee was $37.00 a month for non use.
I and about 15 of my co-workers are all very unhappy. We are independently contracted small businesses. We cannot absorb these types of fees.
I tried to write a letter and thought they were going to be nice and close the account without further trouble, only to be surprised 2 days later with a email saying they were debiting my account for early termination without my approval.
It is a misfortune for this company that we are being so badly treated. If they had been reasonable, many of the employees would have embraced using the company for their transactions at the front desk. We have 60 stylists and many other employees that would benefit from this. I discourage every new employee and recommend they get Square now. The money that this company, had they been honest and fair, would have been great with this big a group. It is beyond me why they think that doing bad business is better.
Now I will be sending out a warning on every blog site that I can to help others avoid this trouble. I am happy for those that like it but for the small merchants that are being taken advantage of I must speak!
I have noticed a note on some complaint boards for a class action lawsuit. Does it really have to come down to that for this company to be fair and competitive in the market?
Eric
After reading these reviews, I’m feeling pretty lucky about getting away from these scammers when I did. NAB was the 1st credit card processing service that I tried. I accepted their sales pitch and signed the contract. BIG MISTAKE. At first, the extra charges seemed reasonable and not worth a complaint. Then, one day, my bookkeeper went over my merchant service accounts and noticed that the monthly charges had increased even though my company’s credit card charges decreased. The sales pitch guaranteed “THE LOWEST RATES IN THE INDUSTRY” with “NO HIDDEN FEES.” You will notice that they mention the PCI fee as something that every merchant service provider is charging. NOT TRUE. When I terminated my contract with them, they then tried to debit my company’s checking account for a further $145.21 even though they assured me of NO EARLY TERMINATION FEES. The reason that I’m writing this review is that upon opening the mail today, I received a collection notice from a co. called Allen & Associates that lists NAB as having placed my account with them for collection. I closed my account because they steal, cheat, lie and provide lousy equipment. Now, I’m going to sue them.
Kimberly
If you want to put together a class action suit, count me in! They have just recently debited my account 3 separate charges: $495, $300 and $295. All in one day, They literally used my checking account as their personal ATM. I am now way over drawn on my account as I have hundreds of $35 bank charges to boot! I want to SUE them sooo badly!!
I am single mother and they have literally taken the food off our table. I can’t even buy groceries right now. They completely screwed me. I am so livid and depressed right now.
Neil Ventrella
Kim they did the same to me on 3/7/14 (four) withdrawals totaling over 1300.00, they have screwed me so bad as well, but what can we do? Neil I also was never told their was a 3 year contract, nor when asked to produce a copy they ignored me and as far as a call back, never heard from them!
Jay
I am a small business owner, and have been a North American Bancard (NAB) customer. I’m a bit surprised at the amount of negative comments here, as my experience with NAB was pretty much an excellent one, if rather uneventful. What I mean is that they did what I expected them to do, there were rarely any problems in them doing such, and my experience with them was fairly seamless.
There were RARE occasions where my terminal would screw up, the wait on the phone for customer service was lengthy but the problem would always be solved, and if that was the least of my worries then call me happy. They handled my processing at a competitive rate, and never had any hidden fees. They were also flexible about my rates, as whenever another processor would call to quote me some rates, if they were ever cheaper (which honestly was rare) then NAB would match or beat the rates. The only real downside is when they started assessing that yearly PCI compliance fee. I understand that all processors are now required to do this PCI thing (which by the way is nothing but an unregulated, non-mandated scam by VISA/MC to get more fees out of merchants), but that $100 fee cuts into my bottom line & pisses me off to no end. But outside of this, I can say that NAB has met & in some cases even exceeded my expectations.
Now, I see alot of reviews here about people getting fees & such that they didn’t know about. Unfortunately, I can only say that is their own fault for not reading & understanding the contract they signed. To be honest, I am fairly knowledgeable & very shrewd when it comes to credit card processing, but that comes from lots of research after having been burned long ago. However, that time I was burned was my own fault for not being informed about what I was getting into, and what to expect. But I learned that with card processing (like any aspect of your business), you need to make INFORMED decisions, not just decisions. You HAVE to do your research!!! Ask all the right questions, and you’ll never meet an unexpected situation.
Have a conversation with the Rep/Salesperson before you sign the contract & ask all those crazy questions you can possibly think of. MAKE them explain to you the details of any fees or assessorials. Ask them the “what if” questions. Essentially, make the Rep do their job. If you don’t’ understand the wording on your contract or a fee on your bill, MAKE THEM EXPLAIN IT IN PLAIN ENGLISH UNTIL YOU DO. They are trying to make the sale, so MAKE THEM make it. Don’t make it for them by just signing based on their initial pitch & rate quote.
I guarantee that if you are informed, it not only prevents problems with service satisfaction, but also GIVES YOU BARGAINING LEVERAGE. My gaining knowledge on how this whole thing works has saved me thousands of dollars, as I was able to negotiate a ridiculous rate (around 2% of **TOTAL VOLUME**), and a service agreement that has ZERO EXTRA FEES. I basically pay my 2% and THATS IT. You can to, just DO YOUR HOMEWORK. Hope this helps!
joe h
(has ZERO EXTRA FEES. I basically pay my 2% and THATS IT…). This is true, however NOT with NAB. NAB claims the PCI fee’s are mandatory. Then why are there companies who do not charge these fee’s ?
Wilbert
By far the worst credit card transaction company. They are bunch of scammers who send you hidden fees every month and lock you in contracts. Don’t make the mistake we did by signing the contract with this company. Never said on front that it is for 3 years, one young woman called Mimi Moresteanu, came to our office, to offer the service, we found 3 months later that she shown to us only 2 pages of the 10 pages original contract, and a person named Maurice Hall thinks he owns the company and the whole world, poor judgment and very low education, it sound like an idiot, a ghetto person, what a shame to hire people like him.
Roger Semro
Absolutely the worst company to deal with.
We signed on because there representative had been working for a year trying to get a program that would work seamlessly with Quickbooks. NABancard said there system would work with Quickbooks with no problem. We signed up in December 2010, we installed there software and we tried to make it work but it was so complicated that it was to difficult to use. We cancelled in January 2011 and they refunded our $129.95 set put fee. I sent them a cancellation letter in Feburary and I received a reply via email from there representative that our account had been cancelled. We are still getting deductions from our account. They told us that they did not have the correct form and that as soon as they had the correct form they would cancel. We sent them the correct form because now the letter that I wrote and the confirmed cancelation from there representative in February is not good enough. I received a letter September 9th 2011 confirming the cancelation and they still billed me on September 29th 2011. They also said that they could only credit 4 months worth of charges but they still continue to bill us.
We never even processed one transation.
Jay Reed
North American Bancard is a awsome company. They gave me free equipment and told the truth about processing. They saved my company over 300.oo a month and gave a full detailed ledger of my savings. By the way I had ten different companies review my processing statements and North American killed the others.
Thanks! For the huge Savings….
Zijo Nils
Terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible, company. Canceling the account was the last option for me since I know it will take a lot of my time to switch merchants. But I finally god fed up, and decided to dedicate whatever time is needed just to get rid of them. Their methods make me sick to my stomach.
Now they made canceling the account a very hard task. Today I’m in the third day of trying just simply cancel my account.
If you care about your time or money, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, even think about signing up with NorthAmerican Bancard.
jessica
HORRIBLE company! Worst customer service. They bungle EVERYTHING. They send the wrong forms, they misspell important words, they put you on hold forever, they charge hidden fees. I HATE dealing with them and can’t wait to switch.
awful, awful, awful company!!!
Erjon
This is the worst credit card transaction company. They are bunch of scammers who send you hidden fees every month and lock you in contracts. Don’t make the mistake we did by signing the contract with this company.
Julie
This company makes it’s profits by scamming people. I called and asked my account be closed in October 2010. The representative assured me it would be done in the next 30 days. She did not mention that I had to send a signed statement indicating I wanted the account closed.
I called when I got another notification in December that my bank account had been debited $35.00 (normally 25.00) and was told that because I did not return the signed statement (never mentioned) , my account was still active. I informed both the operator, Michelle, and her manager Sheila, that I was never told I needed such statement and one had certainly never been sent to me. They happily emailed me a copy of said statement, acknowledged my call in October requesting the account be closed but refused to refund me the December withdrawl.
I know $35.00 is not a huge sum of money, but I stopped using these North American Bancard two years ago because the service was unbelievably poor and I lost money on transactions. Unfortunately I was in a contract and paid the monthly fee. Now that I can finally “get out” they use deceptive tactics to squeeze as much money out of me as possible. More than likely they will debit my account in January as it “takes up 30 days” for the account to show inactive.
Some of this is my fault for not researching this company in more depth, however, since googling fraud and North American Bancard and reading the many complaints from people who DID do all their homework, yet were still scammed, I am not sure any amount of research would make a difference. Learn from us and DO NOT do business with this company. They have no integrity.
HEATHER
HELLO JULIE, WOW I ALMOST MADE A VERY BAD DECISION YESTERDAY AND I DID NOT DO MY OWN HOME WORK, MY BOSS SCHEDULED AN APPT WITH THIS COMPANY SO NEEDLESS TO SAY A YOUNG MAN SHOWED UP AT MY OFFICE AND MADE THINGS SEEM LIKE THIS COMPANY HAD OUR BEST INTEREST IN MIND, WRONG. AFTER READING YOUR COMMENT I AM VERY THANKFUL I SENT HIM PACKING INFACT MY BANK IS NOW OFFERING GREAT RATES FOR OUR COMPANY WICH THEY SHOULD HAVE ALREADY DONE BUT ITS A BANK AND THEY ALSO ARE ALL ABOUT THE MONEY. IT JUST MAKES MORE SINCE TO ME TO KEEP OUR FINANCES IN ONE GENERAL AREA “THE BANK” IM TAKING IN YOUR ADVISE. THIS COMPANY SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF THEM SELVES. THE REP WAS VERY ADAMANT ABOUT MAKING A DECISION IMMEDIATLEY AND THAT ALSO WAS VERY BOTHERSOME AND NOW READING ALL THESE COMMENTS IM VERY GREATFUL AND RELIEVED.
Amanda Holloway
I sold some equipment in two charges of $1000. This exceeded my “transaction key limit” and so NA Bancard put the second $1000 charge into the ozone somewhere and I was routed to the Risk Department. The person their who thinks she owns NABancard is named Deanna.
I have provided all the information requested including my customer’s phone number but Deanna is sitting on my transaction because of??? An attitude? Low pay? So now my customer has the merchandise at 50% of the agreed price. Thanks NA Bancard. You suck.