Merrick Bank Corporation was established in 1997 in Utah and works as a subdivision of CardWork Inc (a New York-based financial services company). Merrick Bank focuses on the settlement of loans, payment clearance, and credit card transactions. Merrick Bank Merchant Services operates on the same conventions and resembles the services of other merchant account provider companies.
It is usually misunderstood as a direct processor providing traditional banking services like saving and checking because of the “bank” in its name. But it specializes in merchant account services and works like a credit card processor and debt consolidation company.
As its backend processing network, it depends on TSYS. At the same time, its services are advertised and traded through ISOs (Independent Sales Organizations) and other related banks.
For over two decades, the company has been competing with rivals to gain a prominent position in the market. It has earned its place by working with merchants with lower credit scores, publicly advertising pricing information, and performing marketing analytics.
Merrick Bank comes with a loyalty program and offers eCommerce solutions to merchants. However, long-term contracts, setup, termination fees, and hidden terms do not sit well with merchants. This Merrick Bank Merchant Services review critically analyses the costs and benefits of this company to display the facts and will help you make a well-informed decision.
Services by Merrick Bank
Merrick Bank Merchant Services offers roughly the same services as other merchant account providers. However, it excels in some merchant account solutions like marketing analysis. The services provided are flexible, and it also offers speedy transactions. Here’s the review of some services provided on their website.
GoScore
You can review your monthly FICO score if you subscribe to Merrick Bank Merchant Services. Through GoScore, merchants can track their FICO score and the factors that affect it, for example, credit decisions.
GoMobile
GoMobile is the service provided by the Merrick Bank Merchant Service to manage the business linked to your merchant account. As Merrick Bank has its own mobile application, with the help of GoMobile, you can handle account management processes with a phone.
GoPaperless
To keep a track record of your account balance, Merrick Bank offers you with GoPaperless. With it, you can access your account balance anytime you want.
GoLearnaccess
Merrick Bank also provides financial advice. It has experts associated with the company who can help you with financial advice to grow your business. GoLearn, as the name hints, allows you to seek financial tips.
Additional features
Besides these central features, Merrick Bank provides additional features that help you handle your merchant account seamlessly and grow your business steadily.
Account Alerts
Merrick Bank Merchant Services continuously inform you regarding transactions and updates on your phone.
Account Access
You can access your account anytime, anywhere you want, without additional charges. With the help of your phone or computer, you can have remote access to your account at all times.
Payment Options
It provides you with diversity in payment options. All kinds of credit and debit cards are processed. Furthermore, mobile and electronic transfers are also accepted.
Financial Education
Merrick Bank representatives provide financial guidance to merchants at no extra cost.
Billing and Invoicing
All mobile and online payments are processed through Merrick Bank Merchant Services.
In addition to payment processing, it allows you to invoice the customers. Also, you have the choice to select between one-time and recurring billing.
Industries and Businesses Served
Merrick Bank Merchant Services has gained a reputation for serving in the marketing agency, accounting and tax affairs, personal service, and debt consolidation. It serves all e-commerce businesses, and it accepts high-risk merchants along with low-risks businesses. It stands out in company reviews for providing the services to Business to Business (B2B) merchants.
Pricing of Services and Offerings
Merrick Bank Merchant Services announces its rates and fees publicly to the merchants. However, their pricing comes with a great deal of variability. It comes out because they collaborated with various other companies. And most of these companies direct their own terms and pricing.
TSYS Pricing
Since Merrick Bank has TSYS as a partner, especially for the backend processing networks, the fees of Merrick Bank Merchant Services are very similar to those of TSYS.
Swipe Rate
TSYS applies a 2.5% plus $0.2 rate on every card-present transaction processed. At the same time, the keyed-in transactions are charged at 3.5% $0.2.
Termination Fee
Contrary to many recently developed merchant account providers that eliminate any termination fee, Merrick Bank Merchant Services apply a 1% termination fee of the total money.
PCI Compliance Fee
Merrick Bank does not offer concessions on the PCI compliance fee like the termination fee. And ultimately, 75.2$ is charged as the total PCI compliance fee annually. However, the company has divided it into four installments, 18.8$ per episode as quarterly charges.
Signature Card Services Fee
Merrick Bank promotes its services through several ISOs, one of which is Signature Payments. Merchants get a three-year contract through Signature Payments based on a contract found online. The positive point is that this contract does not apply early termination charges; however, it charges 1% liquidated damage to the merchants.
The three-year contract renews itself if the merchants do not cancel it within the last 90 days. A heavy amount is charged in the name of liquidated damage if the retailer opens an account with another service provider without canceling their account with Signature. 1% is cut from the merchant’s gross money for the remaining contract time even if 1 dollar is processed by another service provider. This condition also includes Paypal. So, you need to review your decision before contacting another provider while having an account with Merrick Bank Merchant Services Provider.
Monthly Fees
There isn’t much information given about the monthly fee. It is variable and depends on the services.
Other Charges
The company gives incomplete information about other charges besides those mentioned above. The account setup fee varies with the account type. Also, Merrick Bank Merchant Services does not disclose chargers like batch, application, and statement fees.
Customer Service
Merchants can contact their customer support through their website’s contact number and email. In addition to this, a “secured message” option is given on the website to register issues directly.
However, no specified phone number is allotted for merchant feedback about service satisfaction. Therefore, there are several recorded complaints because of the customer service on online platforms.
It is recommended to contact TSYS customer service for merchant service solutions as it acts as the company’s processing network.
Advertising
Merrick Bank Merchant Services has collaborated with various independent sales organizations for advertising and sales. So far now, it is reported that the company has collaborated with 60 independent sales companies.
Although Merrick Bank does not use deceptive moves, these agencies’ sales tactics have led to disturbance for merchants. Therefore, a lot of complaints are registered in this department.
Reviews and Complaints against Merrick Bank Merchant Services
For more than 20 years, Merrick Bank has been providing merchant services to e-commerce businesses. Along with getting appraised for its services, many users have also criticized it for its downsides. It has many reviews online on many formal and informal sites. There is the description and the number of complaints filed against it.
BBB Reviews
The Better Business Bureau has approved Merrick Bank on its website since 2012. To this day, more than 550 complaints are filed against Merrick Bank on the BBB website. However, it manages to sustain an A+ rating overall.
All reviews on the BBB site are not attributed to the company’s merchant services; they describe its overall functioning. However, many of these complaints are submitted by the merchants who use their services.
Out of 558 complaints, 359 are filed against billing processing, 181 describe malfunctioning services or products, 12 describe advertising issues, 5 demonstrate delivery problems, and two are submitted related to the warranty.
Merrick Bank displays a second-rate service in addressing and resolving these issues. Almost 300 complaints are resolved, while others are still waiting to be noticed or aren’t resolved to the merchant’s satisfaction. That shows a pretty low score for fixing complaints as only 53% of issues were considered seriously.
Informal Complaints on BBB profile
In addition to these formal reviews submitted by retailers, the BBB website has also received 134 informal reviews. Of 134, only five favored their services, and 129 described the company’s downside. Most of these complaints were directed toward their banking department, not their merchant services.
Complaints on other sites
Objections against Merrick Bank are not restricted to the BBB sites only. Merchants have filed complaints on various other mediums too. Besides, it has collaborated with multiple ISOs. Hence many of its reviews are dispersed on these ISOs’ sites and TSYS. Unfortunately, there is no specified pattern to arrange and categorize these in a specific way.
Due to these limitations, and the inability to clearly separate merchant service reviews from banking services, it is difficult to state the clear rating and reputation of the company. However, this can be an intentional flaw, as segregating the reviews might expose a sub-par stature of their payment processing services.
Lawsuits
There are no class section lawsuits filed against Merrick Bank so far. Plus, there is no report registered to FTC opposing it.
Downsides of Merrick Bank Merchant Services
Customer Service
No dedicated customer service number is issued to Merrick Bank Merchant Services. Retailers have difficulty filling their complaints. Although there is a phone number on their website, they don’t disclose what kind of support they provide.
Due to its partnership with many ISOs and TSYS, it is complicated to understand where to reach out for complaints.
There are several complaints by merchants against Merrick Bank Merchant Services.
Customers reported being awaited in line. Customer representatives leave them on hold or simply transfer them to the next department without listening to the issue properly. Customers also faced difficulty approaching them through mail and messages.
Based on comments and feedback on the internet, merchants are very frustrated with their customer service department. The quality of customer service does not reflect an effective one.
Long Term Contract
Unnecessary to say, customers should be provided leniency in contract terms. However, Merrick Bank Merchant Services is not flexible towards merchants in this department. Customers have to sign a 3-year-long contract for their services. Moreover, the contract renews automatically. A new contract is automated for the next three years if it is not canceled in the last 90 days of the previous agreement.
Setup and Termination fee
In addition to long-term contracts, merchants are also charged account setup fees. Information about the setup fee is not disclosed, and it varies with the account type. When an account is canceled, retailers have to pay a termination fee, which is 1% of the total money in the account; as described above, these are liquidated damages.
Concealing Important Terms
Indeed, Merrick Bank Merchant Services reveals all the pricing information publicly beforehand. However, the company doesn’t disclose all the crucial terms and regulations. It conceals the terms or alters them in advertising. This is noted as the downside of the provider as a merchant expects the service provider to be forthright.
Evolution
Merrick Bank Merchant Services is a well-known company and outdoes some rivals in its services and products. It consumes less than average time processing a transaction and provides financial advice to the new retailers in the business. The company itself is clean and does not promote any fraudulent sales tactics. Having worked for more than 20 years, it has acquired many merchant customers.
Meanwhile, its collaboration with various ISOs has brought problems to the system. Sales tactics used by these agencies affect the company’s reputation to a great deal. Also, the quality of customer service is unacceptable based on the above mentioned issues. Imposing termination, setup, monthly, and PCI compliance fees along with a lengthy 3-year contract can burden starter merchants.
In the Merrick Bank Merchant Services review above, the provider’s offerings and downsides have been discussed in detail. Merrick Bank is not recommended as a provider, especially through the terms of Signature Card Services. Many better providers in the market deserve your business more than Merrick Bank.
