Credit Card Processing Companies: Who Has the Best Merchant Account Rates?

Updated on November 22, 2021

Best Credit Card Processing Companies:- The first question you should ask is do you offer interchange-plus pricing. Why? The go to pricing for most payment processing providers is the tiered-rate pricing model where you have a different rate for debit, qualified, mid-qualified and non-qualified transactions. Many times the way it’s explained to you by a merchant services rep can be a bit deceiving because of the surcharges that aren’t explained properly and are added to your mid and non-qualified transactions. Typically you end up getting charged higher rates and paying more overall when you elect to go with the tiered rate plan even if you think it’s quoted as the lowest rate you’ve seen.

Bottom line is don’t accept tiered rate pricing, instead always ask for interchange-plus pricing. Why you ask? The answer is really quite simple. Your TER or total effective rate is almost always lower. The way you get your TER is to look at your most recent processing statement and divide your total volume for the month into the total charges for the month. To learn more about interchange-plus pricing click The Kiss Method to Understand Interchange-Plus Pricing. Most business owners are too busy and just want the bottom line and now you have it. Why would you ever want to pay surcharges again when you can pay only a small percentage over the actual cost? That’s interchange-plus pricing in a nutshell.

Many providers only offer interchange-plus pricing to higher volume merchants, however we’ve researched hundreds of credit card processing companies and found merchant account providers that will offer this type of low rate pricing for start-ups and established low to high volume merchants. These providers have excellent ratings with BBB and have received the merchant service provider Best of Category Award.

Don’t want to get stuck in another 3 year contract? No problem, these providers have no long-term contracts, no early termination fees and transparent interchange-plus pricing.

Check out the providers below, get several quotes, ask questions and enjoy your new found savings.

Best Merchant Account Rates

Quick Access ♦ Listed Alphabetically

MasterCard Data Integrity

Best of Category Award

Best of Category Award

Best of Category Award

review of payline data credit card processing

Best of Category Award

Best Merchant Account Rates for U.S. Businesses

Highlights: Listed Alphabetically

brand-bluepayBluePay’s interchange-plus pricing allows you to get the best rates possible for your credit card processing services. When you call or apply online to get a quote, make sure you ask for interchange-plus pricing and request no early termination fee. BluePay has all of the latest technology and products to help your business get to the next level, offers a free side-by-side cost analysis and has the BluePay Challenge where if they can’t save you money they’ll give you $500 for letting them try. BluePay takes extra precautions to ensure your customer’s card data is secure and is a Best of Category Award Winner with an A+ BBB rating. To learn more, visit the BluePay Website or read the complete review.

brand-dharma

Dharma is the preferred merchant provider for many businesses offering transparent low cost interchange pricing with no annual fees, monthly minimums or early termination fees. They are best suited for businesses processing over 10K per month and offers interchange-plus pricing of 0.35% and a 0.15 transaction fee and for merchants processing less than 10K, they use their partner Flint where you can literally be set up in minutes. Dharma has several reviews sites listing them as one of the best merchant account providers available and is a Best of Category Award Winner as well. Dharma also has an A+ BBB rating and last year donated over $100,000 to charity and non-profit organizations. Pretty impressive. To learn more, visit the Dharma Website or read the complete review.

brand-leap

Leap Payments is a preferred provider for thousands of businesses and allows you to process payments with simple transparent interchange-plus pricing. Leap Payments also offers next day funding, low-cost interchange-pricing, gift cards, no junk fees, and an amazing “Lifetime Rate Lock” to assure your rates don’t increase after the initial signup. With Leap, you won’t find the old bait-and-switch or teaser rates, what you’ll get instead is simple, honest pricing along with world-class customer service. By coupling the Best of Category Award along with an A+ BBB rating we recommend you get a quote from this company when considering which provider is right for your business. To learn more, visit the Leap Payments Website or read the complete review.

brand-payline

Payline Data is one of the preferred payment providers for many types of businesses. With rave reviews and transparent interchange-plus pricing, you’ll be hard pressed to find a better merchant account provider. Payline Data is a Best of Category Award Winner with an A+ BBB rating and also donates 10% of every transaction to charitable and non-profit organizations giving you a warm and fuzzy feeling knowing that your transactions are part of the equation. They equip their merchants with EMV capable terminals ahead of the EMV liability shift to assure they have the most secure equipment to comply with the new EMV industry regulation. Payline offers simple transparent interchange pricing: The first is the Simple plan for 5K or less and has a $5 monthly fee, interchange-plus 0.50% with $0.10 transaction fee. The second is the Pro plan for merchants processing over 5k and has a $20 monthly fee, interchange-plus 0.20% with $0.10 transaction fee. No contracts or early termination fee let you know they’re customer oriented. To learn more, visit the Payline Data Website or read the complete review.

Square, Best Choice
for Low Volume
Credit Card Processing

Starting at 2.6% + 10¢ per swipe for Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and American Express.


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