Scam Report: Merchant Account Providers

My good friend Dan, opened up a paint ball shop a couple years ago and needed a merchant account provider for customers with credit cards. He did not do his research and its costing him! He was doing fine with business and what not but losing lots of potential cash to the merchant account provider unnecessarily. He found out too late that they had snagged him on a bad deal. A few years later and the movie theater next door bought his complex he was renting space from and had to close down his shop. Even though his shop is closed down,and he is not making any more sales he owes merchant account provider thousands of dollars for the leasing of the equipment they sold him!  Turns out this same expensive equipment that they used to rip my friend off can be found online for $2900 less.

Now, with this in mind, let me tell you 3  things to be aware of when it comes to merchant account providers!

3 things you should know when you set up a money merchant account First things first, if your merchant account provider wants to charge around the same rates for Visa or MasterCard, its a big flag! You are either being overcharged or else they are hiding fees and charges. You might possibly be paying more than is necessary if the merchant provider or broker gives you only one qualified rate. Or else if the merchant broker only only offers mid-qualified or non-qualified rates. If you are thinking about leasing anything related to credit card terminal equipment directly from the merchant account broker or provider, its going to be awfully overpriced! Thats what they did to my friend and he is still paying for it! The best thing to do is to buy the equipment because a few months of leasing will of been equal to buying a new one.

Secondly, anything that has a lengthy contract with early termination fees should be avoided like the plague. The reason is simple, once they have got you locked in a contract, you will be stuck with rates that are higher than what they quoted you,delayed funding, and bad customer service. Remember this: the Interchange is not managed by a specific company and therefore fact that the Interchange rates will stay the same is anything but guaranteed.

Thirdly, hidden fees are known to rain on your parade if you (like most people) forget to read the legal terms hidden in their fine print. Of course you should not be surprised to know that there is no limit to just how many fees a merchant account provider can find to charge. I swear that they hire someone straight out to invent news ways of implementing fees and taking their customers cash. With that said, it would be wise to go with merchant account providers who do not have long term contracts and early termination fees.

In conclusion, watch out for the statement fees, equipment fees, yearly fees, gateway fees, security and fraud prevention fees, and transaction fees. Or in other words, do your homework before you commit to anything. That way, hopefully, you won't end up like my friend who is still paying his merchant account provider even though he is no longer in business.

For more tips on do's and don'ts and for a list of fee's check out the site: http://www.merchantmole.com