In our ongoing series of posts where we expose the trickery of the credit card processing industry, we contacted BankCard USA (aka Maverick BankCard USA Merchant Services) to request more information about opening an account. Although we could have listened to all the negative reviews online, we just had to see the evidence for ourselves. Before you read what we discovered, check out what the masses are saying…
- Better Business Bureau – 76 complaints with BBB in last 3 years and 28 in last 12 months.
- Trustlink – 8 out of 13 reviewers only gave them 1 star!
- Ripoff Report – 25 negative reports that are definitely worth reading.
- Complaints.com – tons and tons of complaints.
- ComplaintsBoard.com – wanna read even more complaints?
After giving BankCard USA two full days to respond to our online inquiry, we gave up on the waiting and finally gave them a call. We had a quick chat with Ryan who indicated that he had been with the company for over 12 years. He was quite professional and knowledgeable in his presentation. We told him that we were looking for a merchant account that would process transactions through our website, and he promptly offered to email us an agreement to review. (Download BankCard USA agreement here.)
Here’s what we discovered…
- BankCard USA advertises a low rate that you’ll rarely (if ever) qualify for.
This is one of the dirtiest tricks in the industry…advertise a low price to uninformed merchants and never educate them on what they’re really going to be charged. We noticed the low rate of .49% on Qualified transactions, and we know that merchants would easily believe that this is a great deal.
Click the image to a full size version! We emailed Ryan and asked, “What percentage of transactions will be charged the .49%?”
His response was, “The 0.49% rate is for all Visa MasterCard credit/debit sales.”This is a complete and utter lie! If we’re processing transactions over the Internet, there’s no possible way it will qualify for that rate.
So, we emailed him back with, “I guess I’m a little confused, because I see several rates. Will all our transactions be at the .49% rate?” He responded with, “Yes, the 0.49% rate is not for all cards. Please call me.”
Oh, so now that we ask deeper questions, he’s back pedaling on his initial lie. Do you see how this works?
Here’s the truth: Credit Card transactions over the Internet NEVER QUALIFY for the lowest rate, but BankCard USA doesn’t tell you that. If you sign up with BankCard USA and process credit card transactions over the Internet, you’ll be charged 2% + the Interchange Rate which is passed along from Visa/Mastercard (Debit Credit Cards .95%, Basic Credit Cards 1.50%, Rewards Cards 1.75%, Corporate Cards 2.00%). That means you’ll be paying up to 4% on those transactions…WAY MORE than they lead you to believe!
- BankCard USA requires a 3 year contract with a $199 cancellation fee.
The 3 year contract isn’t shown anywhere on the agreement that was emailed to us. We had to ask twice via email in order to get that information. Wanna know where that is stated by BankCard USA? It’s found on page 17 of the 39 page BankCard USA Program Guide and states, “The initial term of this Agreement shall commence and shall continue in force for three years after it becomes effective.” They finally told us how long the contract was and attached the Program Guide for our benefit. How many merchants sign up without ever asking how long they’ll be locked into this agreement?
- Freezing accounts and holding funds indefinitely.
- Horrible customer service after they’ve signed up.
- Overpriced terminals.
- Deceptive terminal agreements.
Frankly, our blood starts to boil when we read what merchants have endured at the hands of BankCard USA. Listen to the masses and RUN AWAY! Don’t ever go near BankCard USA and their deceptive trickery. There’s always a better solution.