Teledraft Review

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Teledraft

Rating
A
4.5/5
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UPDATE 1/21/2019: Teledraft no longer appears to be an operational business, and the Teledraft website is unavailable at this time. It is likely that Teledraft has been rolled into Phoenix Payments, but we are currently unable to verify this. If you have any knowledge of Teledraft's current status (including any rebrandings or DBAs), please let us know in the comment section of this review. Founded in 2003, Teledraft (teledraft.com) is a company that specializes in ACH (Automated Clearing House), EFT (Electronic Fund Transfer) and credit card processing services. Teledraft is based in Chandler, Arizona, and its payment processing division is owned by Phoenix Payments. The company appears to service merchants in both the U.S. and Canada. The focus of this review will be on Teledraft’s merchant account and credit card processing services, and not on Teledraft’s other financial services. Phoenix Payments (and, by extension, Teledraft) is a registered ISO/MSP of Synovus Bank, 1125 First Avenue, Columbus, Georgia. Don Charles is listed as the owner of Teledraft.

Customer Reviews & Sentiment

The only two serious blemishes on Teledraft’s record appear to have occurred under the supervision of the company’s previous owners. The first series of incidents was a handful of lawsuits in 2003-04 in which the company was successfully sued for providing ACH services to a telemarketing scheme that bilked its victims out of hundreds of dollars. Although Teledraft was not involved in the scam itself, it failed to stop providing services to the organization that was putting on the scheme. Several state attorneys general held Teledraft liable for their failure and ordered them to pay back the transaction fees they collected.

Aside from complaints that are related to that scam, there are a couple of complaints from 2012 of the company holding a large amount of funds in reserve after merchants closed their ACH processing services. When ownership of the company was transferred to Phoenix Payments, the merchants in question were told that Teledraft was no longer responsible for the held funds and were advised to take up the issue with the former owners. Although these two instances almost amount to criminal negligence and theft, the company has no other complaints filed on the usual websites and forums since Phoenix Payments assumed control.

Industry Scores & User Ratings

Online Ratings Summary
Product & Service Complaints0
Billing & Collection Complaints0
Advertising & Sales Complaints0
Guarantee & Warranty Complaints0
Delivery Complaints0

Teledraft is not accredited with the Better Business Bureau, which means that it has not paid the BBB for the accreditation. As of this review, the BBB is reporting an “A+” rating based on zero complaints in the past three years. This is an improvement from an “F” at the time of our last update, when the BBB was penalizing the company for a single unresolved complaint. Given the company’s clean complaint record with the BBB, we agree with its rating.

Processing Rates & Fees

Teledraft advertises competitive merchant account rate pricing and contract terms and appears to offer uniform pricing to all businesses solely based on the type of Teledraft account the merchant chooses. As mentioned earlier in this review, the company offers only interchange-plus, which is the least costly and most transparent rate tier. Additionally, Teledraft offers month-to-month contracts, no minimum transaction fees and no cancellation fee. Below is Teledraft’s pricing as of this review:

Teledraft Merchant Account Pricing Matrix
Teledraft Merchant Account Pricing Matrix

Other fees include a $0.39 batch fee, $25 Chargeback fee and $99 annual PCI compliance fee.

Teledraft Competitors

Compare Teledraft to competitors that earned top marks.

Bottom Line

Aside from the problems with the lawsuits that Teledraft has been named in and a couple complaints about holds, the company appears to be good option for credit card processing services under its new ownership. Teledraft’s pricing and fees are lower than average and the company offers month-to-month contracts. As always, merchants are advised to thoroughly read and understand the terms of their merchant account agreement before signing with any provider.