Best for
Best suited for businesses in the retail, healthcare, restaurant, and hospitality industries.
Specializes in
Elavon Merchant Services specializes in providing general payment processing for various businesses of many different sizes. It services the public and private sectors.
Pricing Summary
Setup Fee: $0
Monthly Fee: $10
Swipe Rate: 2.65% + $0.19
Keyed-in Rate: 3.50% + $0.19
Early Termination Fee : $295+
Contract Terms:
Elavon is one of the largest merchant account providers in the U.S. It employed over 4,000 people and was originally founded in 1991 under the name of NOVA Information Systems. It’s headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. It services the public and private sectors, providing processing for the healthcare, retail, restaurant, hospitality, and education industries.
Elavon Merchant Services started as NOVA Information Systems in 1991. It has grown into a massive credit card processor in the U.S., processing billions of transactions a year to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars processed each year.
It processes over 100 currencies. Elavon utilizes an interchange-plus pricing model. It has an overall mixed reputation, with many online complaints and very few high-star reviews across many sites. It focuses on a mix of large and small businesses in the private and public sector, processing big industries such as retail, education, and healthcare.
Head Quarters
Atlanta, GA
Year Founded
1991
CEO
Jamie Walker
Employees
4351
Merchant Provider Risk Tolerance
Large, direct processor
Full range of products and services
Interchange-plus pricing available upon request
No early termination fees
Standard three-year contract with an automatic renewal clause
No pricing disclosures on the website
Overpriced terminal leases through Ladco Global Leasing Solutions
Point 1: Debit/Credit Card Processing, POS Systems
Elavon Merchant Services provides good, basic processing services, such as the processing of payments from debit and credit cards and POS systems to process those services: whether that’s in-person or online, through a variety of different options. POS systems can take the form of a tablet, smartphone card reader, terminal, or other devices.
Point 2: Mobile Wallets & Payment Gateway
Elavon also supports mobile wallets and utilizes a strong, secure payment gateway to make the transfer of funds fast, efficient, and safe so that both the customer as well as the business are protected. Mobile wallets such as Google or Apple Pay are quickly becoming popular, and as such, are a useful feature to have. Payment Gateways are similarly useful as an integral security aspect of nearly any business.
Point 3: Multi-Currency Payments & Loyalty Programs
More useful around the world than in the U.S., multi-currency payments nonetheless have their place, especially if your industry happens to deal with foreign currencies and monies a lot of the time. Loyalty programs are some of the most efficient customer-retention that’s ever been discovered, usually causing repeat business and creating superior long-term customer engagement of up to 20% more revenue. Both are useful features for merchants.
Discloses All Important Terms
No
Public Pricing Available
No
Elavon uses interchange-plus as its pricing model. The rates are as follows: 2.65%+$0.19 on swiped transactions, with 3.5%+$0.19 being the rate offered on keyed-in transactions. These rates are fairly industry standard.
They are not clearly available or disclosed. Other fees include a monthly fee of $10 and a confusing early termination fee that is worded in a way that might confuse the average reader. It states, succinctly put, that the merchant will be responsible for paying whatever is greater: the previous 12 months of transactions or the following 12. This early termination fee could result in possible high charges; merchants are therefore recommended to do careful reading into the exact nature of Elavon’s early termination fee.
Pricing Model
Interchange PlusTiered Pricing
Swiped Rate
2.65% + $0.19
Keyed-in Rate
3.50% + $0.19
Mobile Payment Rate
Virtual Terminal Rate
Up to #.5% + $0.30
Monthly Fee
$10
Payment Gateway Fee
Up to $25
Batch Fee
Undisclosed
Early Termination Fee
$295+
PCI Compliance Fee
$29 to $59 Per Month
Equipment Lease Terms
48 Month (locked)
Address Verification Service (AVS)
Application Fee
Account Setup Fee
$0
Gateway Setup Fee
Undisclosed
Annual Fee
Monthly Minimum
Undisclosed
Statement Fee
Elavon features a fairly standard three-year agreement, with an early termination fee that can vary depending on how much business the merchant was doing. Other specific terms are not mentioned, and not much more information about the contract is publicly available. Several public complaints about the contract have been made; one merchant even complained about a suspected forgery of his signature being present on the contract. Merchants are recommended to carefully read all agreements with Elavon if using this company for processing.
Contract Length
3 Years
Early Termination Fee
$295+
Elavon has a massive number of online reviews, most of them being negative. On BBB, it’s racked up hundreds of complaints, and while most have been closed, many still remain. Elavon is rated on BBB at a 1 out of 5 based on 20 reviews.
Many other websites rate them at a 1 out of 5 stars. Yelp has them rated at 1 out of 5 stars based on 50 reviews, and Trustpilot has them rated at 1 out of 5 stars based on 120 reviews.
The most common complaints are poor customer service, nondisclosure of contract terms, and hidden fees.
Elavon was sued in 2012 by a restaurant named Cisero over PCI Compliance fines. Elavon was involved in this because of its parent bank, U.S. Bank, which was fined by Visa and Mastercard for $90,000 due to noncompliance with PCI security standards. The owners of Cisero countersued, claiming the bank deceives merchants into signing unfair contracts, among other claims. There is no outcome to this suit as of yet.
BBB
A+(121 complaints)
2.3 Stars / 44 Reviews
No Reviews yet
Yelp
1 Star / 45 Reviews
Total Online Reviews
800+
Total Online Complaints
500+
Lawsuits
1
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