Electronic Payment Exchange, or EPX, is known to offer access to merchant accounts and secure payment gateways for merchants in a variety of industries. Electronic Payment Exchange offers access to products and services like conventional POS (Point of Sale) credit card processing, Internet-based credit card processing, self-service credit card processing systems (like parking meters, kiosks, and so on), ACH processing, and more. Our Electronic Payment Exchange review covers all the important aspects of the company that will help merchants to decide the efficacy and quality of its services.
The products and services of Electronic Payment Exchange are aimed at small-scale businesses, online retailers, physical retailers, public utilities, ISOs (Independent Sales Organizations), merchant acquiring banks, and even third-party processors. The core areas of the operations of Electronic Payment Exchange are the Middle East, the United States of America, Europe, the Caribbean, and Latin America.
With Electronic Payment Exchange, your business -whether small-scale or a large enterprise, will be given a dedicated merchant account to be able to accept debit cards, credit cards, and ACH checks with the help of Electronic Payment Exchange solutions. In addition to this, the solutions by Electronic Payment Exchange enable your organization to handle your PCI compliance and make sure that you do not fall out of compliant standing.
An Overview of Electronic Payment Exchange
Electronic Payment Exchange is a popular international merchant account provider capable of serving a wide range of business types and industries, and the company was introduced in 1979. The company previously used to operate under the name Phoenix Payment Systems, however, the assets of Phoenix Payment System were entirely absorbed by the Electronic Payment Exchange.
This implies that Electronic Payment Exchange, or EPX serves to be a payment processing platform that is owned by Bancard in North America. The representatives of North American Bancard communicate with the merchants to Electronic Payment Exchange to sell their products and services.
Payment Processing by Electronic Payment Exchange
Electronic Payment Exchange is known to deliver payment processing services for all types of card brands. Some of the services offered by Electronic Payment Exchange are MOTO processing, POS solutions, e-commerce solutions, mobile payment processing, P2PE, as well as debt repayment.
Ownership & Location of Electronic Payment Exchange
Electronic Payment Exchange has its headquarters located in Troy, Michigan and currently, the CEO of the company is Ray Moyer.
Electronic Payment Exchange Review Based on Complaints
Until now, there is little evidence of a higher number of complaints regarding the products or services of Electronic Payment Exchange. There are only a handful of complaints online on review platforms and consumer protection forums. Moreover, none of the complaints regarding Electronic Payment Exchange have accused the company of being a rip-off or a scam.
A single review or complaint has stated that Electronic Payment Exchange is the same organization to that as North American Bancard. It is because both of them follow the same pricing structure as well. There are complaints that have expressed frustration due to the unhelpful or rude customer support team of the company. This might not be a positive sign for the customer care support services of the company.
However, the overall low complaint rate of the company offers the indication that the company has not been blamed for the subsequent complaints of North American Bancard.
Electronic Payment Exchange Review Based on Lawsuits
Electronic Payment Exchange has not been listed on any FTC complaint or class-action lawsuit. However, North American Bancard -the parent company of Electronic Payment Exchange, has experienced a poor legal history due to its multiple failures in impressing customers.
In September 2002, a complaint was filed by the State of Arizona against a merchant processing through North American Bancard. According to the complaint, North American Bancard was accused of violating the terms & conditions of the Arizona Racketeering Act. The merchant, CP Direct Inc., had finally admitted to defrauding thousands of customers through false advertisements of a genital enlargement supplement.
Due to this allegation, the company had been ordered to make a payment of $4 million in the form of restitution. The company was also asked to forfeit its assets that were worth more than $45 million. In May 2004, Lawrence J. Warfield -the receiving representative for CP Direct, filed a suit against North American Bancard’s representative named Marc Gardner. Lawrence had put forth allegations that there was a violation of the existing regulations on the grounds of unjust enrichment, conversion, and the RICO Act.
In the given complaint by Warfield, there was an allegation that specifically stated that Global Payments (North American Bancard’s backend processor for payment) had placed CP Direct on the respective watch list within a year of its services because of the high rates of chargebacks. Further, the complaint went ahead to allege that due to this violation, CP Direct was advised by North American Bancard to come up with a new company while reapplying for processing under a new name.
As per the reports of Warfield, CP Direct continued accepting credit card payments from customers under the fraudulent and fictitious name of Nutritional Supplements Inc. It was directed by the North American Bancard’s suggestions. Further, Warfield went ahead to claim that CP Direct was made to pay a fee of $250,000 (along with a bonus amount of $50,000 for every million dollars over the value of $8 million in the form of monthly sales) to serve as the consulting fee. The payment was made to Marc Gardner. It was a condition that was put forth by North American Bancard for the company.
As per the complaint records of Warfield, the subsequent payments ultimately made around $700,000. Later on, in July 2006, Marc Gardner was deposed in the case. However, his deposition was canceled by the counsel right after he was sworn into the case. There is no record of any legal document or third-party source explaining how the given lawsuit was resolved. However, it is estimated that the involved parties reached some type of settlement in April 2006. Therefore, it can be assumed that the lawsuit was finally settled.
Electronic Payment Exchange Review Based on Pricing
You will come across minimal information regarding the standard contract of Electronic Payment Exchange. The company goes ahead with marketing itself as a comprehensive direct processor. This offers the suggestion that it is not a reseller of any other major credit card processing provider. However, Electronic Payment Exchange serves to be a subsidiary of North American Bancard. Therefore, there is a possibility that the company might be reselling unmodified contracts of North American Bancard.
There are complaints that indicate that Electronic Payment Exchange offers a similar pricing and contract term to that of North American Bancard. The standard contract rate of North American Bancard commences at 1.69 percent. There is also the provision of the pay-as-you-go term starting at 2.69 percent. Even after this, the company has listed its respective rates to be significantly lower at 0.29 percent on the official website.
Payment Gateway & Virtual Terminal Pricing
Along with delivering access to comprehensive payment processing services, Electronic Payment Exchange promotes its virtual terminal & payment gateway services as well on the website. However, for either of the services, pricing information is not available.
North American Bancard comes forth with as many as eight options for payment gateway services -including USAePay and Authorize.Net. Pricing will vary depending on the particular payment gateway utilized by the merchant. To the respective set of e-commerce services, additional services or pricing like batch fees, technical support fees, and gateway fees might also apply.
Liquidated Damages
The standard contract by North American Bancard features a service agreement of three years in the case of liquidated damage early termination fee. This amount gets debited automatically from the checking account of the merchant on the cancelation of services. Typically, merchants who cancel their services before the contract’s expiration are expected to pay the remaining amount of monthly fees for the entire contract. The early termination fee is estimated to be around $295.
Due to the ongoing liquidated damage and early termination fee, most merchants have complained about higher cancelation fees. In addition to this, merchants might also have to pay additional fees in case they are leasing equipment and end up canceling the contract early.
Electronic Payment Exchange Review Based on Advertising & Sales Strategy
Electronic Payment Exchange is known to promote its products and services through independent agents of North American Bancard. The company also leverages the presence of in-house sales representatives and multiple partnerships to advertise itself. There is no proof that the company employs independent sales agents. Moreover, there is no negative review regarding the sales and marketing strategy of Electronic Payment Exchange.
