BluePay Overview:
As the official payment partner of First Data, BluePay provides online and mobile payment solutions. First Data officially owns several payment providers, including Clover and CardConnect.
The BluePay brand was renamed Clover in 2020, which unifies all services and offerings for SMBs under one name.
Even though BluePay, Clover’s previous name, has been dissolved, its old clients and merchant account holders can still access and use their accounts through the Clover website.
BluePay Location and Ownership:
BluePay was founded in 2002, and its main offices are in Chicago, Maryland, New York, while its corporate headquarter lies at 184 Shuman Blvd, Naperville, Illinois. According to the company’s officials, Bala Janakiraman is currently the company’s CEO. BluePay is a registered ISO/MSP with Wells Fargo, Concord, N.A., California.
BluePay is an average-sized merchant account provider as well as a credit card processing company based in Naperville, NY. The company claims to provide many valuable merchant account and credit card processing services, including Security Card Services and VersaPay. First Data owned BluePay in 2017.
Rates, Contract Terms and Pricing of BluePay:
Swiped Rate: 2.39% + $0.25
Keyed-in Rate: 2.99% + $0.20
Virtual Terminal Rate: 1.00% – 4.99%
Payment Gateway Fee: Undisclosed
Early Termination Fee: $295
PCI Compliance Fee: $99
Equipment Lease Terms: Undisclosed
3-Year Agreement Policy:
BluePay offers a three-year standard merchant account proving contract along with a successive one-year automatic clause. Many new merchants search for cancellation policies. BluePay clearly describes its policies regarding account cancellation. It states that a cancellation fee of $295 is applied that is automatically withdrawn from the account.
In addition to the cancellation fee, merchant reviews also highlight a swipe rate of almost 2.39% plus $0.25 and 2.99% plus $0.20 for keyed-in transactions. However, it has been noted that this feature has caused a downfall in BluePay’s rating.
Payment Gateway and Virtual Terminal Pricing:
Apart from providing the usual storefront payment processing services, the company is also famous for providing virtual and payment gateway services. Not only this, BluePay has dedicated a whole portion of its website to advertise these services.
Although the exact prices of the additional services are not mentioned, the major fields of additional services may apply gateway fee, batch and technical support fee, along with the fee of carried out additional transactions.
Various Levels Processing Fees:
BluePay provides level 2 and level 3 processing services for B2B and B2G transactions, along with its traditional merchant account services.
The various levels of processing rely upon the interchange rates. It doesn’t apply the standard rates on these levels. Different payment processing technology is required to accommodate these rates, facilitating the transactions and handling a large amount of data.
Other Additional Applied Fees:
BluePay applies an annual PCI compliance fee of $99 or a $15 pricing every month. BluePay doesn’t mention this on its website, which is the drawback here, and various customers have reported this high compliance fee in BluePay complaints.
Hence, considering the unopened contract terms, transaction fee, and compliance fee, we can state that their services are not compatible with the cheap merchant account providers available in the industry.
Is BluePay a Trustworthy Company?
Complaints Related to Hidden Charges:
Considering the BluePay reviews, there are over 45 negative reviews on the company’s official website. Mostly, the reviews are related to their hidden charges and transaction fees, which are not revealed at registration.
For some people, $295 early cancellation fee is shocking.
Issues Related to Fund Holds:
BluePay is also subject to complaints about funding holds and cash reserves, apart from the pricing issues. These fund holds are not an issue since the company is specifically for US-based merchants.
However, to be on the safer side, the industries and businesses working in the high-risk environment should opt for top-rated high-risk merchant account providers to ensure no hurdle comes in the way.
BluePay Services Lawsuits:
After checking the complaints and BluePay reviews, we didn’t find any FTC complaints or lawsuits against the company. However, merchants are encouraged to report against any issue related to relevant supervisory organizations or the company’s course of action.
BluePay Customer Support Service:
According to various BluePay customer reviews, the company provides efficient customer support options through phone, email, or direct office visits. However, it is unclear whether BluePay or First Data provides these customer support services. Still, we can rate BluePay in the A category regarding their customer services and support.
Does BBB Accurately Rate BluePay?
On the official profile of BluePay on BBB, there are a total of 9 complaints during the last three years of duration. Among them, 5 complaints were reported about their poor services, while the remaining 4 were due to payment collection and billing issues. BBB rates BluePay as an “F” category company.
According to reviews, 2 complaints were resolved entirely, while the rest of the 7 were resolved with no conclusion.
An “E” Rating Overall:
Based on the number of complaints, clients’ satisfaction ratio and customer services, we assign an “E” rating to the company overall.
Is BluePay a Deserving Candidate for Your Business?
After performing complete research on BluePay and its services, we concluded that the company is subject to an overall low to moderate complaint ratio, which is acceptable for a company with the size and time in business as BluePay. However, we have seen some flaws, and the company needs to improve in those areas. For example, BluePay doesn’t clearly define its compliance fee and cancellation charges on its website.
So the main areas of improvement should concern how BluePay quotes pricing on its website, the contract, and auto-renewal terms. Hence, we advise merchants and account holders to thoroughly read and understand the terms and conditions before signing any contract.
Moreover, merchants should ensure they get the best services and security options compared to other top-notch merchant account providers in the industry at the same rates.
