Established in 1999
The Merchant Solutions, founded in 1999, is a small merchant account provider based in Woodland Hills, California. We located one complaint online claiming that TMS is a reseller of Global Payments contracts, but we were unable to verify this claim as of this update. The Merchant Solutions also appears to resell the products of First Data.
The Merchant Solutions Location and Ownership
TMS is a registered independent sales organization and member services provider (ISO/MSP) of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., of Concord, California. Abdulali Mithani is the CEO and chairman of The Merchant Solutions, which is headquartered at 22801 Ventura Boulevard Suite 300, Woodland Hills, California 91364.
The Merchant Solutions Review Table of Contents
- Costs & Contract: The Merchant Solutions appears to offer a three-year contract with an early termination fee of $395 or more.
- Complaints & Service: The Merchant Solutions has received more than 50 public complaints.
- BBB Rating: The Merchant Solutions has an “A+” rating and has received 23 complaints and 7 reviews in the last 3 years. The company has been accredited by the Better Business Bureau since 2010.
- Sales & Marketing: The Merchant Solutions appears to hire independent sales agents and has received a moderate-to-high number of complaints about its sales practices.
- Rates & Fees: How Merchants Got The Best Rates With The Merchant Solutions
53 Responses
We’ve been hit with so many fees that are hidden and that they deduct for no unknown reason as they do not tell you before hand. Today was the last straw which we really been shut down since April over covid19. Today they transferred $70 out of the bank account which now has been shut down over they’re crazy charges. We are running in the hole compared to the money we received through them from credit card transactions, and the money they have charged us for the service they provide. They do not inform you before they process the money out of your account, Which in my opinion is bad business practice. You really leave your business account open to these guys with free access to do as they like. Keep your money you work for and don’t use them.
John in Customer Service was wonderful today with assisting me with the set up for my new Walker Bluetooth. He was patient and knowledgeable and I am more than pleased with the assistance I receive from the Merchant Solutions.
This company, Merchant Solutions, is a fraud. Do not believe anything they say about their service. They get you sign up with them for a minimum fees and after few months they hit you with 7% fees. When you ready to cancel their services they hit you with ridiculous restocking fee and cancellation fee. They Are Not truthful about their service. They have terrible reviews on google and many many complains on BBB. I wish I would have read some reviews before I sign up with these con artists. What out business owners out there about this Merchant Solutions. If you hear from them just Run!!!
This post will help: Cancelling a Merchant Account Without Paying a Fee
-Phillip
Merchant Solutions is a very dishonest processor. I have been with them since 2015 and in June,2019 I decided to go to a different processor. I had joined Merchant Solutions because they told me there is no contract and no charge for the machine. Upon cancellation after over 4 years I returned the machine in good order. I got a shock when they deducted total of $1000.00 from my account in 4 payments. Also even though I had cancelled in June, in July they also charged PCI compliance of $99.00 when I did not even process with them. I have proof of all deductions after I cancelled. I will continue fighting for their dishonest practice.Do not fall for Merchant Solutions,they are a ripoff company and have a false advertisement for the free machine which on Amazon sells for $250.00.and they charge $1000.00!! when you cancel.Please take your business elsewhere.
This post will help: Cancelling a Merchant Account Without Paying a Fee
-Phillip
Pam called me offering a competitive rate for credit card processing. She said that I would need to submit an application in order to verify the discounts they were offering. Numerous times I informed her that we already had an account with a different company, and we were not ready to transition but would be happy to look at the numbers. After the “application” an account was initiated and our company began receiving charges, despite a lack of consent on my end and zero activity on the account. They said they had cancelled the account, but the following month we were charged again. They refuse to refund the money. Very shady business practices and a very deceptive sales process. No doubt necessary to achieve any success, as the sales person was barely literate. Should have know.
This post will help: How to Get Out of a Merchant Account Contract
-Phillip
Biggest rip-off company, holding my $ 2500 in the name of government, one employee working all the time and don’t know ownership of this company , don’t sign any account with this company,
This post will help: How to Make Your Payment Processor Release Your Money
– Phillip
This is Uncle Fried Chicken LLC, and The Merchant Solutions are scammers and don’t follow their own contract rules. The sales rep is manipulative and they never disclosed a 400$ cancellation fee or an annual fee. Seeking to take them to court for their theft.
From The Editor
This Post Might Help: Best Restaurant Merchant Accounts
Do not get trap by this company. They have fees for everything when you cancel or have to end your contract early. $695 for early termination,$1500 programming fee, I have never hear of any company charging a programming fee. It’s just a penalty fee that they add on you for leaving their company. There is also $395 restocking fee, and $550 reprogram fee when you have to return their pin pad. Just ridiculous!
Verify before you sign with this company. A lot of other company with no contract and fees to work with out there.
From The Editor
This Post Might Help: Cancelling a Merchant Account Without Paying a Fee
Garbage company. They will rip u off and their owner Taufiq trains his employees to lie, steal, cheat and deceive their customers who are trying to run an honest businesd. I, like everyone else on this thread, was charged outrageous fees and then told that I cannot m leave my contract after it ended because it auto renews. I hope there will be a class action lawsuit and I plan to be a part of it.
From The Editor
This Post Might Help: Cancelling a Merchant Account Contract Without Paying a Fee
Horrible company. They said they would beat my current rate but never could. So then I cancelled and they charged me a $945 restocking reprogramming fee? I called to complain upper management said there’s nothing they can do I sign the contract I’m the one going to get screwed complete scam scam scam!
They said they are the cheapest one but they are not.
They charge for any reason and they have a lot mistake they charge me before even i start with them for $28 and when i called them they said that was mistake they charge me $39 and $69 for annual fee and i just work with them a few days. I paid $99 for $1000 and for another $1000 i paid $119 it means more than 10%
please don’t sign up and let people know about that
Their disclosure pricing on cancellation of service was not mentioned to me when I was docusigning the paperwork via Internet.
The salesperson on the phone neglect to inform me of a cancellation service fee of $900.49
I would have never ever sign up for such a service, if the salesperson would mentioned this info to me.
And because I signed the document, the company is telling me, that I am liable for the contract. And it was my fault for not reading the fine print on the documents.
I will report this matter to BBB about their sales / marketing strategy for omitting such cancellation fee info.
Let’s start with the salesman Daniel A.
After he review my merchant statement he promised me that I’m going to save $100.00 a month, I signed & cross the $495.00 early termination fee & initial the pages. They bill me $100.00 more for the first month & when I complained they told me they going to have a rate review and correct it, the second months they did the same, one week in the third months I stop using them for processing and then they threatening me with a $495.00 early termination fee that I cross in the application then I find out that Daniel A. forged my initial and change the page.
This has Been the worst POS processing company I have ever felt with. Don’t sign up or you will regret it at the end. I attempted to cancel my contract and they are trying to hit me with over $1000 in last min charges. Also when you call they have no customer service and are rude on the phone. I will make sure this is my last time using this company. I am looking to upgrade 4 of my restaurants systems. If anyone has a better option please let me know. 651-398-1636
Thx
They stealing $1000.00 dollars from my account.
Same situation. I signed up with another company, Triumph Merchant Solutions – NOT this company yet this company has illegally debited my account without authorization. Its a TOTAL SCAM! There is PayPal and Square, why would me, a small tiny business ever agree to such a thing – I wouldn’t. SAVE YOURSELF THE HEADACHE! RUN!
Worse company ever. Opens accounts with terms not agreed to. I would recommend not to do business with this company. Very rude on phone, does not care about you as a customer. Has representatives that open fradulent accounts. Zero star rating
they are big time scam
they hurt me by taking un authorized money out of my account
dont believe what they tell you
they are liars
I just got ripped off $695 from early determination fee and my contract is do in two months thats why they did it i im sooo pisss right now i wish one of them will go to my business again to offer anything ?????? if anyone do business with this scums be prepared to have a high blood pressure
This company and it’s employees are rude, I have been trying to cancel and they make it difficult. My company is no longer doing business and I have not used the machine in 6 months. I was never told about a restocking fee and some other charge until I got ready to cancel. They want me to pay almost $900.00 for equipment I don’t use. When I explained to the representative that my business is not making any money she did not care, but wanted to know where to send the cancellation to withdraw the fee. These people called me for weeks and sent me all kinds of sales materials when my business started. All they want is your money. They are crooks.
This company is nothing but a fraud. I was told by a company Rep, Ray Siddique, that there will not be any hidden fees or cancellation fees ever, and they will offer the best lowest deal. THIS WAS A TOTAL LIE. I was never given a written contract had computer generated signature. Their hidden fees are through the roof. I had signed up with them thinking they can offer me the lowest rates with a price beat guarantee. Because of their undisclosed fees and charges I ended up paying more than my previous company. Their customer service is terrible, they are never reachable. When I wanted to cancel they wouldn’t send me the cancellation form for weeks. VERY RUDE AND UNPROFESSIONAL.THEY ARE TRYING TO BLIND SIDE THEIR CUSTOMERS AND ROB THEM OF THEIR MONEY. DON’T BELIEVE IN ANYTHING THEY SAY ALL LIES AND FRAUD!!! TOTAL SCAMMERS!!!
I agree this company is the wordt
This company and it’s employees are rude, I have been trying to cancel and they make it difficult. My company is no longer doing business and I have not used the machine in 6 months. I was never told about a restocking fee and some other charge until I got ready to cancel. They want me to pay almost $900.00 for equipment I don’t use. When I explained to the representative that my business is not making any money she did not care, but wanted to know where to send the cancellation to withdraw the fee. These people called me for weeks and sent me all kinds of sales materials when my business started. All they want is your money. They are crooks.
Every review above has happened to me too exactly like the above. Amazing! Only….
Since I have tried to cancel with them and agreed to pay them whatever fee I can to get rid of them (which was not in my contract I signed), they are now telling me their equipment I returned is not theirs so that I can’t cancel or I’ll have to pay more than the equipment cost for losing it and again because I already paid for it! When we both know it’s theirs! I have never had any other merchant?! These people are the biggest crooks I’ve ever encountered. WOW
I wish there is a -star to rate this company, – when i first started using my pos, it kept taking the money i received from my clients to a different bank account in a different state, and it took them 3 months to fix this and get my money back. – the 24/7 support is fake, they never support you on weekends or after hours, NEVER – finally i got my business closed and I was lucky someone bought my POS, because otherwise i had to pay 950 USD to them for cancelation, the funny thing is when i transferred the pos system to the other company name (the company that bought it) nobody told me that i should request a cancelation form to cancel my account, SO i ended paying 67 USD a month after the system was transferred and being used by their new client – Finally i sent the cancellation form beginning of the month, 20 days later i called them and they said yes we received it, but you will be charged for the next month (67 USD) because that is our policy PLEASE NO ONE CHOOSE THIS COMPANY, THEY ARE REALLY BAD, THEY WILL STEAL YOUR MONEY AND YOU WILL KEEP PAYING THEM EVEN AFTER YOU END YOUR CONTRACT WITH THEM
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Are you with The Merchant Solutions? Learn how to resolve this complaint.
They Rip you off way more than wat they told you they would charged. they charged me $450 every month out of total 10k annual monthly. 100$ fee come out of no where every month, and when i called them they said that 100$ fee only apprea once a year. After i cancle my account they charged me 200$ come out of no where. Its like they try to rip you off once last time b4 they let you go. That doesnt count the canclelation fee that coming up from them. Stay away from Themechantsolution!!!
The company never disclosed high fees , fees for not taking a test, and excessive closing fees. I have tried to use card reader several times without success. Now illness has caused me to lose my merchant tax ID. It was revoked by State of TN. for lack of use and Merchants want 490 dollars to terminate service.
The worst company to do business with ever!!!! If you are a small business owner avoid these crooks like the plague. Seriously they will destroy your business. When I set up an account they told me there would be no contract if I used the mobile software and no fees just the $9.00 per month maintenance fee. Within a month or two they charged me a yearly acct fee of $80.00 and then out of the blue raised the monthly rate to $20.00. Then I began getting charged a PCI non compliant fee $40.00. I got this straight but for the next several months they continued to charge me after 30 min of me wasting my time on the phone they refunded me, the next month charged me again. I finally called and asked to cancel they told me I was in a 3yr contract, I was never told this or else I wouldn’t signed up for this torture. My contract ends in January 2015 and I am looking forward to it. Screw this place I wish their was a way we could put them out of business. They don’t deserve a BBB rating they suck!!!!
These people are down right crooks! They actually added 19 pages to our contract virtually and said we signed them 1 1/2 years after signing the original. No mention of 3 year contract and no proof of it. They will give you false information over the phone and then tell you their salesperson had no authorization to give it. Going to BBB and will get attorney if I have to. Lots of hidden fees that other companies don’t charge! HORRIBLE ! BEWARE OF THESE DOGS! YOU WILL BE SORRY!
The Merchant Solutions commits serious unethical and possibly illegal business practices, and you can see their legacy of fraud at RipOff Report.com or the BBB for Woodland Hills California, or on Yelp.com
They, by their own admission, billed me for numerous new and unauthorized charges that were not in my contract, and then sent me an “opt out” form 2 FULL DAYS AFTER the charges cleared, and refused to refund my account or cancel my service in light of their unscrupulous activity. I’ve called them over 15 times, and each time they blow me off, or offer me a partial refund if I delete the negative (yet accurate) Yelp and Rip Off Report reviews I left them.
This company will be out of business in one year or less. Don’t give them, or their mother company, First Data, your business!!!
The Merchant Solutions is definitely THE worst credit card company EVER!!!! They changed my contract, billed me a ton more without giving me an opportunity to “opt out.” I got the notification in the mail 2 FULL DAYS AFTER they had billed me. So not only was I billed WITHOUT my consent, but then they refused to refund more than half. It took me 2 weeks of calling NON-STOP to get any response.
Do not give them your business. They are beyond shady and don’t care at all about customer service!!! Check out their google and Yelp and RipOffReport.com reviews for the testimony of hundreds of other customers who have been ripped off by The Merchant Solutions!
Run, don’t Walk, from the Hustler Con Artists at The Merchant Solutions. Don’t believe anything their salesman tells you on the phone as they will lie to you endlessly and then screw you later. Don’t take their “Free” credit card machine or any of their so-called “free” equipment as they will charge you a $350 “Restocking Fee” when you try to close your account after you find out they are overcharging and ripping you off on credit card processing fees. I signed up with them and then realized my mistake as I was hit with overcharges on fees as soon as i charged my very first customer. The Merchant Solutions then hit me with a “new” $99 a year for a so-called “PCI Compliance Program” charge, a $35. per month so-called “PCI-DSS Validation Fee” , a $19 per month so-called “Data Breach Security Program” fee, plus “kilobyte fees: “fixed network CP Fee” etc… – I immediately packed up their credit card machine and shipped it back to them with a written demand to close my account immediately. Then to my horror these con-artists actually refused to close my account and continue to send me monthly bills to this day. Just yesterday, The Merchant Solutions sent me a new bill for $114 just for February account administration fees alone, even though I returned their machine in mid January and directed them to close my account immediately in January.
Avoid this outfit as they will make your life miserable. Instead, Go with Square, go with Chase, go with Costco Elavon, go with Paypal, or any of a dozen other reputable credit card processing companies but please, don’t make the same mistake i did – Avoid The Merchant Solutions at all costs.
This company is deceitful. They will tell you that there are no “hidden fees” and no extra charges. After you’ve signed up, you than learn there are more charges and feel which they will auto-deduct from your merchant account without notification. We ordered their smartphone credit card processor and found that their application was incompatible with our phone – we couldn’t use it so decided to return product and cancel service. Why would we want a service we couldn’t use? We were charged a $350 restocking fee after being told there would be NO FEES. In addition, they told us the transaction fee would be 2.65% of each purchase. Shortly after receiving the product we received an email notifying of the $2.50 monthly fee AND .5 per transaction fee on top of the 2.65%. Not much, but still more than disclosed. We are not being charged an ADDITIONAL $159.90 (received bill in the mail) with no explanation of what the fee (s) is for. Have tried reaching them, asking for copy of contract which states there is a restocking fee and additional charges, but have yet to receive it (it’s been 6 weeks) or no response as to additional charges (messages left and emails sent). This company needs to be put out of business.
The merchant solutions is the most horrible company I have ever dealt with. They have been lying to me since day 1 of signing up with them. They charge you all kinds of fees which your not told about. Customer service is horrible. They are very rude and they will not correct the problem with me even though they said they would. They will not return my phone calls now. They are thieves because they stole money from my account and won’t make it right with me. I have filed a complaint with the bbb and am probably going to get a attorney to get my money back. I work damn hard to run my business and I will be damned if they are going to steal money from me. So only use this business if you like being lied to and stole from cause that’s what their good at.
DO NOT use this company. All they do is to get you sign up the contract, but be sure to read the fine print on auto renew, they will auto renew you into another contract even their machine never works. If you stop using it, they still charge you a lot of fees. We are on our 4th machines, the terminals are very light, and very cheap looking, they break all the time, but when you try to get out of the contract because of it, they will say something like, but we can trouble shoot for you. You will not have enough time to do it, the machine terminal breaks all the time. DO NOT USE!!! They are charging me a huge fee to cancel.
This company was nothing but deceitful from the beginning. I didn’t understand the fees so I called them and asked them to give me the run down of EVERYTHING on the fees page and was told just the “requirements” the gateway fee they said wasn’t in the contract because “its a regular thing with all processors”. Also that “free” terminal will cost you $350 when you try to cancel the account. There is no monthly fee but there is a monthly minimum fee meaning if you don’t process the requirement you are charged that fee.
I was told thay my rates would be as low as 1.5%. I was skeptical and decided not to switch to merchant solutions. The sales rep promised that I had nothing to lose and that I can try it for 30 days and can cancel without any penalties. To my surprise after trying them out I was told that I had signed a 3 yr contract with a $350 termination fee. My request to talk to a supervisor and to review the contract I had supposely sign went unanswered. I was very skeptical and was sure that the contract did not disclose a 3yr aggreement or termination fee.
The sales rep never returned my calls and is no longer with thw company. Beware, do not do business with merchant solutions.
As a small business owner I was looking for a way to expand my business by being able to accept credit cards, so I may be able to open my door to new clientele. I foolishly fell for the lies that were fed to me by one of The Merchant Solutions(TMS)sales representative. From the beginning I was deceived,I was promised free terminal support and replacement, discounted terminal paper, and outstanding customer service all of which I never received. When their machine failed, they blamed me even though the manufacturer of the machine explicitly explained to me that TMS was to blame for connection security error. Then they sent me a replacement machine that I had absolutely no use for; they actually sent me the wrong machine and billed me for it. With out so much as a single warning they withdrew ridiculously large amounts money from my amount, and were angered when I asked why. I have been in contact with them for months now, and they still cannot give me a justifiable answer. They would take their sweet time to deposit my earnings but would immediately make unauthorized withdraws, even after my account had been closed. Their customer service is simple horrible. They never have any answers and are only looking for ways to disconnect you. I am still waiting on on calls from their “supervisors” from last year. The Merchant Solutions is a fraud, it is an unprofessional, unethical company simple looking to scam anyone who falls for their lies. I would not recommend TMS to my worst enemies.
Anybody have any suggestions for getting out of this company? i signed up a few weeks ago and haven’t been able to get into contact with them since.
I’m so glad I read these before making a huge mistake. Suggestion to get rid of them is to block them from your bank account, that’s how they suggested getting out of a current contract!
I used Merchant Solutions for approx. one year. I had to close the account, due to poor sales results. They charged me $300 for what they called “setup charges”. I think I was the “set up” by Merchant Solutions. Their charges are exhorbitant. I will NEVER consider using them again.
I was to have 1 account with Merchant Solutions ! Either the sales agent or someone at Merchant Solutions copied my contract changed the account numbers and other information to open a second account that involved a terminal. I have been getting charged for a second account since April of 2012 that I did not authorize and for which they are telling me I did. The Signature page of the second contract is an EXACT COPY of the account I did open. I can’t seem to get anywhere with phone calls to the company and have been shuffled around so much that I think everyone that answers the phone is a supervisor–because that is always what the last person tells me they are transferring me to.
After saying, “I DID NOT SIGN FOR, I DO NOT WANT, AND FURTHERMORE NEVER RECIEVED A TERMINAL FOR A TERMINAL ACCOUT I DID NOT OPEN, BUT I AM AND HAVE BEEN GETTING CHARGED FOR THE PAST 10 MONTHS”….I am no closer to solving this problem. They refuse to close the account saying they will charge me $495.00 early termination fee—for an account that has been opened with a copy of the contract from my “real account”.
I have no other choice than to seek legal action against Merchant Solutions and/or the agent that opened up a second account with “forged/copied” paperwork.
Kim, this just happened to me and I wanted to see if you had any outcome in your situation.
This company is a bunch of scam artists charging a early termination fee of 395 after we were with this company 6 yrs and only had a 3 yr contract which they took upon themselves to renew, charges for non compliance because they decided to switch companies for their compliance when I was compliant through April of 2013 and now a $50 fee for refurbishing,, it is not my problem that they need to refurbish a machine. I should have closed my bank account the minute we closed our business so I could have avoided all of this. This company should not be allowed to do business. Disgusted.
Rip off is not the word for it
After being a member of The Merchant Solutions for over 10 years I discovered (by simple reviewing the statements) the December invoice had the following charges.
Min. Monthly Fee $25.00
Comp Admin Fee $9.95
Annual Fee $79.00
Annual PCI Fee $99.00
PCI Non-Cpmpliance. $35.00
Total $247.95
These are charged beyond any percent fees.
I tried to cancel but they said when I signed up it would automatically renew for two years and I could not cancel for another year.
Beware of these people.
This credit card processing company is HORRIBLE! They constantly slip in unauthorized charges. They round up everything, even when they shouldn’t according to elementary mathematics! Essentially, they steal from the customer. Example: If you have a sale that is then multiplied by the discount rate, and it comes out to 1.62222, you will pay them 1.63. When you should have paid 1.62. After I cancelled my account with them, they debited my account $50.00 to refurbish the terminal they provided “free of charge”. This was not in our contract, but I couldn’t get the money back without suing them. They also debited my account for $395.00 for a “cancellation fee” even though I cancelled my account 4 months after my contract was over!!! I am still trying to get that back. They are awful and very dishonest do not use them.
Early penalty for cancellation. not explained.
Higher cost than explained in solicitations
Signature not by me, computer generated
Bait and Switch
I left MerchantSolutions a number of months ago, even though it cost me remaining monthly fees until my contract expires. Now they have charged me with a PCA compliance processing fee of $149, payable annually.
Suggest you consider that Paymentech and many others do not charge this. It is just one of the many ways that MS has cost me money unnecessarily, including missed charges, delayed refunds, poor customer service and unnecessary payments.
Strongly suggest that anyone does there homework and compare companies for this service.
Recently contacted The Merchant Solutions about a fee they charged me on my merchant account. the rep I spoke to became Irrate and told me he didn’t appreciate me accusing him of charging bogus fees and he told me he was going to hang up on me. I asked him his name and he refused to give it to me, the only reason I know it was Kurt is because I called back and another rep told me. My company is a small business that processes $200000.00 a year with this processor,,I have the right to question a fee But KURT didn’t think so.I have contacted MS on other occasions and received less than favorable customer service. At this point, I am looking for a new processor . If you want to pay unregulated fees like a $9.99 a month regulatory fee and a $6.95 monthly data insurance fee and a $150.oo yearly anuall PCI FEE this is the processor for you.. These are all fees that were started 8 months into my contract.
As of right now, I have this company for falsifying documents, and felony forgery. I DO RECOMMEND THAT YOU DO NOT ATTEMPT TO USE THEIR SERVICES!!
Horrible company. If you have already signed up with them, get out fast. They terminated my account for non use since I was using another company and had not transferred over yet. Withdrew $900 from my account and told me that it was a $400 termination fee and $500 for the keypad. Ray Siddiqui of TMS told me if I return the keypad, he would refund the $500 and 2 months of fees at $35/month. Needless to say, I immediately sent the keypad and tracking revealed they received it in 3 days. Numerous calls went straight to voicemail without any return calls. Customer service is a joke and they just gave me a run around, once even saying they would transfer the info to the “analytical Dept” while the rep was laughing. They use the guise that they are affiliated with Wells Fargo, but a call to Wells revealed that they never heard of TMS because Wells owns their own merchant company. Pure scam artists just looking to steal your hard earned money. STAY AWAY.
This is very dishonest company with deceptive business practices. If you are thinking of signing up with them just read the BBB website with all the complaints against them – and read how they arrogantly respond and refuse to ever admit they are wrong.
Save yourself stress and aggravation and sign up with a different processor.
This company hires predatory sales people, aren’t up front about fees and raped my bank account. I was charged a cancellation fee for an account they had no authorization to open and then when I called to cancel they said they needed a signature. I didn’t fill out anything to open OR close the account and today was hit with $495 fee. DO NOT EVEN talk to their salespeople. JUST SAY NO.