Updated on November 22, 2021
Intro
North American Bancard, established in 1985 with their corporate headquarters located at 250 Stephenson Hwy, Troy, MI 48083 and is a merchant services provider that services over 250,000 clients. They offer payment processing to businesses that fall within the categories of retail, restaurant, petroleum/convenience, grocery, service businesses, financial institutions, hospitality industry, government, ecommerce and business to business.
Their website: www.nabancard.com states; by providing free equipment, industry-leading service and support, and aggressively low processing rates, we help our clients grow because they have more money to spend on their business-building projects. NAB, aside from being incredibly confusing, remains mysterious in rates, contracts and expectations. Let’s look at all the information on this company and see if they merit the effort of wading past the smokescreen.
Rates and Fees: Rating 7/10
♦Set up fee: None!
♦Annual fee: None, but agents can charge annual fee
♦Monthly fee: $10.00-$12.95
♦Monthly Minimum: $25
♦PCI compliance fee: $79
♦Non-PCI compliance fee: $19.95-$24.95 per month
♦Early termination fee: $295
♦Swipe rates: 1.69% – 2.69%, but the 2nd site listed rates as low as 0.29%.
♦Keyed-in rates: 3.69% + $0.19
♦Interchange-Plus: Available
♦Mobile swipe fee: 2.69% and keyed rate is 3.49%
The set-up fee is really $0, but agents do have the ability to charge this fee. It appears from the marketing on their websites that no annual contract exists, but since it’s not listed we’re going to assume the cancel fee is still $295, however if you cancel early you could also be paying in addition the monthly fees that are due through the end of the contract. The monthly charge is a tad high at $12.95, but may be negotiated down through your NAB agent. The monthly minimum at $25 is pretty standard in the industry, which means if your monthly charges don’t add up to $25 you’ll get charged the difference. The PCI compliance fee isn’t shocking – most rates range from $39 to $99, however you can click here to find providers that do not charge pci compliance fee. The non-PCI compliance fee should fall at about $19.99 – take time to negotiate if the agent quotes anything higher. Again, NAB claims that there is no termination fee, however, the contract states otherwise, which will be discussed below. Now the Swipe rates are suspicious at best.The 2nd site claims that rates could be as low as 0.29%, which would be unbelievable in this industry, beware. This looks like a flashy marketing ploy to lure merchants into deals that tack on other rates such as qualified, mid-qualified or non-qualified. These rates will be much higher, but the good news is it looks like almost everything is negotiable. Interchange-Plus pricing is always a good thing for your bottom line and is something you should ask for with any processor. The mobile swipe fees are relatively good compared to a company like squareup as they beat their rates by 0.05%. We believe the 1.69% swipe rate is for their PayAnywhere storefront model which comes with free equipment which may make the difference for you but expect to pay higher rates on everything accept qualified cards.
North American Bancard also offers all their equipment provided to merchants free of charge, if returned in working condition. From merchant reviews it is recommended to look into buying your own equipment though, since NAB and other processors tack on extra fees for “free” equipment. Although I’m sure that NAB has a large percentage of ethical agents, the rates and fees seem to be all over the board and would like to see transparent interchange-plus pricing so for that reason we give North American Bancard a 7/10 rating for this category.
BBB Rating & Complaints: Rating 7/10
North American Bancard maintains an A+ BBB rating. BBB has accredited the Company since 2001, even in the wake of complaints. 329 complaints were closed with BBB within the last 3 years, 82 in the last 12 months. The BBB website claims that the Company has still earned their rating based on some of the following factors; length of time business has been operating, complaint volume filed with BBB for business of this size, response to 329 complaints filed against business, resolution of complaints filed against business. On the BBB website, the majority of the complaints listed were related to problems with billing and collection issues, and a close second was problems with products and service. Even though NAB appears to have a shaky grasp on modern advertising and attracting consumers, there were only 11 complaints relating to advertising and sales issues.
Even with 329 complaints, it is important to keep in mind that NAB is a massive business which services over 250,000 merchants. All of these complaints were resolved, and they continue to have a good standing record at resolving complaints. NAB definitely cares about their BBB rating and strives to fix any problems, which is a commendable trait for a big business. We’ll come back and review this later but for now until we see this company get a handle on complaints before its elevated, we give a 7/10 rating for this category.
Terms and Contract: Rating 7/10
North American Bancard lists their contract terms here. They claim in advertising that merchants sign on to just a monthly service, but the standard contract says otherwise. It binds the signer to a 3-year service which renews automatically if not cancelled in writing 60 days prior to the end date. If not notified properly, NAB automatically deducts an early termination fee of $295 from the merchant’s account, along with any fees associated with the extra months of service. A merchant has 45 days to return “free” equipment if the account is terminated. After that time, NAB will charge the total price of the equipment. Maybe a different contract is possible, especially since all of their websites claim a monthly service. Perhaps the difference is for their Mobile processing they do offer month-to-month with no cancel fee but definitely read all the fine print so you know what you’re getting into.
Competitive Advantages: Rating 9/10
North American Bancard does offer free EMV and NFC capable equipment, along with pin pads and check readers. We also like their Phone Swipe mobile program because it has good rates and a free mobile swiper. Their new PayAnywhere store front program is also attractive with a free 10” tablet with built in credit card reader, a free stand and free app. Another advantage is if getting your money in the bank quickly is important, NAB does offer next day funding on certain programs or packages. They also offer cash advances for merchants through their Capital for Merchants program. Overall there are some healthy advantages but until we see interchange-plus pricing and month-to-month contracts for everyone, we give a 9/10 rating for this category.
Products and Services
According to their 1st website, North American Bancard provides several different services to clients. Most of their services follow the same pattern offered by other processing companies—credit card processing, check acceptance, fleet card acceptance, wireless payments, gift card acceptance, loyalty programs, online payments, mail/phone payments, business cash advance, mobile and ATM services.
Customer Service
North American Bancard has several contact options on their 2nd site; call one of the 4 listed numbers, fill out a short form or email one of the 3 email addresses listed. According to customer reviews, NAB does not emphasize good service. However, all of the complaints listed on the BBB website were resolved, which means that NAB may be turning over a new leaf when it comes to customer service.
Closing Thoughts
If you want transparency, honesty and a lack of confusion, North American Bancard may not the best option when it comes to merchant processors. With 2 separate sites, and even more sites designed just to attract potential sales representatives, it is unclear what kind of image the Company wants to portray. Since their rates and contract terms are not special compared to other processors, we would really like to see common rates and transparency disclosed on all of their sites. It may be possible to negotiate a good contract with acceptable rates, especially if that 0.29% Swipe rate is real, but it may be safer to choose a company that is more upfront about their practices.
We’ll leave that decision to you but if you’re interested in checking out our best processor picks, you’ll find month-to-month contracts with transparent interchange-plus pricing and zero to very few complaints anywhere.
