Wells Fargo is a leading merchant service provider and bank in the United States of America -including debit and credit card processing. The bank came into existence in 1852 in New York City. Since its inception, the bank has expanded towards offering a wide range of financial services -including credit card and loan processing. Wells Fargo offers credit card processing services for all types of small businesses or industries to businesses based in the United States.
Wells Fargo Merchant Services is a part of the Wells Fargo Bank. Wells Fargo Merchant Services is one of the leading merchant account providers in the USA. While Wells Fargo serves to be the Acquiring Bank based in San Francisco, it makes use of First Data (Fiserv) as the processor. The company has been doing so since 1971. Wells Fargo Merchant Services also makes use of First Data Global Leasing to supply the equipment for credit card processing. Charles W. Schwarf is the CEO at Wells Fargo Merchant Services. Currently, Colleen Taylor serves as the Head of the division of Merchant Services of Wells Fargo.
Wells Fargo Payment Processing and Services
With Wells Fargo Merchant Services, you will find basic information. Therefore, it is observed that not much will set it apart from others with respect to the overall range of products and services. If you wish to go through its bunch of value-added features and services, then some of the popular ones are:
- Merchant Accounts: Wells Fargo Merchant Services makes use of First Data or Fiserv as the backend processor for ensuring credit card processing. While the arrangement will not affect the users directly, still it can slow down your activities if you end up experiencing an account freeze or a hold on the transaction or a complete termination.
- Rentals, Leases, and Terminal Sales: Wells Fargo Merchant Services provides access to a number of countertop terminals that are capable of supporting NFC-based or contactless and EMV payment methods. These methods currently include the Fiserv FD-150 and Clover Flex models. It is possible to buy the hardware right away. You can also go ahead with renting the hardware for an indefinite period of time or signing up for the 3 or 4-year lease.
Leases on hardware equipment are available through a dedicated partnership with First Data or Fiserv Global Leasing mechanism. It is recommended to purchase the hardware equipment right away. You will find that terminal leases turn out to be expensive. There can be several better ways to get access to credit card machines along with other hardware.
- POS or Point of Sale Systems: WFMS or Wells Fargo Merchant Services no longer enlists the POS systems of Clover Station on the official website. However, it is still available if you would request for it. You can look forward to receiving a better deal from one of the leading Clover resellers.
It is important to note that Clover products cannot be restructured or reprogrammed to function outside the processing network of Fiserv. Therefore, the Clover POS system you are using will turn out to be quite expensive if you go ahead with switching processors.
- Mobile Payment Processing: Wells Fargo Merchant Services offers access only to the Clover Go credit or debit card reader for ensuring mobile-based payments. You will also need access to the Clover Go mobile app to come forth with a dedicated mobile payment system. With Clover Go, it is possible to accept both NFC-based and EMV payments -including Samsung Pay, Apple Pay, and Google Pay.
- Virtual Terminals and Payment Gateways; Wells Fargo Merchant Services offers access to the famous Authorize.net payment gateway for ensuring the ease of e-commerce transactions. The payment gateway is capable of supporting advanced payment features like online account management, recurring billing, reporting QuickBooks integration, and so more. It is also possible to select a virtual terminal with Wells Fargo Merchant Services. You can choose the virtual terminal-only feature that is capable of supporting digital invoicing.
- Online Account Signup and Management; Small-scale business owners can look forward to applying and getting approval for the account of Wells Fargo Merchant Services instantly and effectively by signing up online.
To make use of the feature of online account signup and management, it is important to possess a Wells Fargo Business Checking Account while processing less than $500,000 in terms of the overall annual sales. Moreover, it is expected that at least one business owners should be a citizen of the United States of America.
If you already have more than $500,000 per year, you should reach out to Wells Fargo Merchant Services directly while obtaining a customized pricing quote for its products and services. Once you are given approval, the company makes use of the feature of Business Track -a third-party service. This service is used to deliver online access to the account as well as statements for monthly processing.
- One or Three-day Processing: If you have managed to arrange the depositing of funds into a dedicated Wells Fargo Merchant Services account, and you have launched the account recently, it is possible to deposit the fund as soon as within a period of 1-3 business days. The best-available merchant accounts usually provide deposits within a span of 24-48 hours.
- Small Business Loans: Wells Fargo is initially a bank. Therefore, the company is well-positioned to provide a cash advance or a loan facility if you require help with launching or expanding your business. As a matter of fact, it is currently one of the topmost choices amongst the list of the best banks for ensuring small business loans.
If you only require a basic solution to accept both in-person and online payments, Wells Fargo Merchant Services is acceptable. However, there are specific limitations with respect to flexibility. To access the lowest available rates, you are expected to stick with the payment gateways and card terminals that Wells Fargo Merchant Services offers.
Wells Fargo Merchant Services Pricing
While there are several credit card processing rates, Wells Fargo Merchant Services unveils particular information on flat-rate pricing on its website. The rates of the service provider are aimed at small businesses. These are available as strategies that tend to compete with Square.
For high-volume merchants, Wells Fargo Merchant Services comes forth with customized pricing quotes that are either included or not included as the option to leverage interchange-plus pricing. However, there are specific complaints from merchants that depict that most business owners are simply provided access to an expensive tiered-based pricing plan. Unfortunately, the organization no longer discloses its minimum value for monthly processing volume for obtaining customized pricing.
Just like other merchant account service providers, Wells Fargo Merchant Services also asks you to pay a specific recurring annual and monthly fee. There is also the presence of incidental fees under specific circumstances. Wells Fargo Merchant Services currently unveils the following set of standard fees:
- $9.95 monthly account fee -for in-person payments
- $9.95 monthly account fee -for virtual terminal payments
- $24.95 monthly payment gateway fee -for online payments through Authorize.net
- $14.95 monthly fee -for acceptance of payments through some third-party shopping cart, POS software, or payment gateway
As a business owner, you can expect that your contract will also feature a specific number of annual, monthly, or incidental fees along with the listed pricing plans. When you wish to go forth with the customizing pricing plan, you should be ready to negotiate for the best-available rates as well as terms you can obtain.
Wells Fargo Merchant Services Complaints
Analyzing the overall size and scale of Wells Fargo Merchant Services, the company features relatively fewer complaints with respect to the division of merchant services. With respect to that, there are some common types of customer-centric complaints that depict wherein business owners might experience problems.
One of the most common complaints that customers had to face was with respect to customers reporting that the merchant service agent was deceptive or dishonest about specific terms & conditions of the cost and agreements of the service provider. There were also complaints that the agent made them sign up for additional services that were not requested by them.
Technical Service and Customer Services of Wells Fargo Merchant Services
Wells Fargo Merchant Services provides access to the following range of customer support services:
- Secure email
- 24/7 telephone support
- Live chat
However, the overall quality of customer support is not appreciated at all times. It is regarded as not up to the mark or poor. While Wells Fargo Merchant Services will assign its users a dedicated relationship manager while setting up the account, you might or might not be able to reach the individual when you need them the most.
