PayPartners Review: Fees, Complaints, Comparisons & Lawsuits

Low Complaint Total

We are currently able to locate only one negative PayPartners review, and this review describes hidden fees and poor customer support. The company’s allegedly related brands have racked up incredibly high complaint counts in public forums. Common complaints center around misrepresentation of rates, nondisclosure of contract terms, exorbitant leasing costs, and poor customer service. Many of the complaints against National Card Solutions refer to a sales agent named Jon Erickson, but it’s unclear whether he has any connection to PayPartners.

PayPartners Lawsuits and Fines

We have not found any outstanding class-action lawsuits or FTC complaints filed against PayPartners. Dissatisfied merchants who wish to pursue a non-litigious course of action against the company should consider reporting it to the relevant supervisory organizations.

PayPartners Customer Service Options

The PayPartners website offers a complaint resolution email contact form, but it does not provide any live phone support. We therefore do not consider PayPartners to be a top-rated merchant account provider for customer service. We have assigned PayPartners a “C” rating in this section due to the fact that there may be no substantive difference between the service provided by PayPartners and the service provided by its related companies.

Note: We have adjusted this company’s BBB rating according to our own standards. To better understand why we adjust BBB ratings, please see our Rating Criteria.

More Than 5 Complaints

The Better Business Bureau currently gives PayPartners no rating on its BBB profile. The company has received 7 complaints in the last three years. 5 of the complaints were due to a problem with a product or service, 1 was a billing or collections issue, and 1 was due to advertising or sales problems. None of these 7 complaints were resolved by the company to the satisfaction of the merchant. All 7 were resolved to the dissatisfaction of the merchant or received no final response.

What Merchants Say

PayPartners has also received 2 informal reviews from BBB users. The most recent review describes deceptive sales practices and hidden fees:

Completely agree with the previous review!!! Stay away from this company!!!! The agent who called me promised to cut our monthly cc processing bill in half. In reality I’m paying more then I did, plus stuck with long contracts and very high cancellation fees!

Reviewing options for a merchant account that provides top-shelf customer service can help avoid situations like this.

A “C” Performance Overall

In light of the company’s complaint total, resolution efforts, and corporate affiliations, we have adjusted the company’s rating to a “C” at this time.

Three-Year Contract

The PayPartners North program guide and the PayPartners Wells Fargo program guide outline a three-year agreement through First Data (Fiserv) with an unspecified monthly minimum fee, an unspecified early termination fee, and a long-term equipment lease through First Data Global Leasing. This is essentially the standard First Data (Fiserv) contract, and the specific rates and fees charged will be determined by each sales agent at the time of signup.

PayPartners Pricing

PayPartners does not disclose any of its pricing details, but it is likely that it uses a similar pricing approach to National Card Solutions. National Card Solutions is a DBA of Prestige Payment Systems, so this review will rely on information from Prestige Payment Systems’ pricing structure.

Prestige Payment Systems Rates

Prestige Payment Systems offers three-tiered pricing with rates as high as 3.25% plus $0.09 and a PCI compliance fee of $150, which is billed annually. Merchant reviews mention other fees from these contracts, including a $50 annual fee, a $15 monthly “help desk” fee, and a $10 monthly statement fee. Some merchant complaints state that the company’s standard early termination fee is $250.

Virtual Terminal and Payment Gateway Pricing

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

Beware Equipment Leases

PayPartners appears to lease terminals through First Data Global Leasing, which typically offers 48-month, non-cancellable leases that cost up to $77 per month. As a general rule, we do not advise merchants to enter into contracts that include long-term, non-cancellable equipment leases. This is because most credit card processing equipment can be purchased in full for a one-time cost of under $500, while most equipment leases cost thousands of dollars over four years. Accordingly, we do not consider the company’s contract terms to be even remotely competitive with the cheapest merchant accounts available.

Many Merchant Complaints

The complaints that National Card Solutions and its affiliated businesses have received serve as testaments to the low value provided by its contracts. We have accordingly lowered our grade for PayPartners in this section to a “C.” We also encourage merchants to check out our list of the providers of thebest merchant accounts.

A Precautionary “C” Rating

PayPartners rates as an average merchant account provider according to our rating criteria. This rating is primarily based on its alleged connection to National Card Solutions. Merchants should not assume that PayPartners will offer better service or lower rates than National Card Solutions, United Card Solutions, Direct Processors, Prestige Payment Systems, National Paymentech, or Performance Merchant Alliance. If it is indeed affiliated with those processors, PayPartners is a candidate to appear on our list of the worst merchant account providers in the industry.