Best for
Ascentium Capital serves small and mid-sized companies in the restaurant, retail, hospitality, and healthcare sectors.
Specializes in
The company offers long-term and locked credit card terminals and POS equipment financing. Ascentium Capital also provides various small business loans and financing options.
Pricing Summary
Setup Fee: document fee $195
Monthly Fee: Collections Fee $25
Swipe Rate: N/A
Keyed-in Rate: N/A
Early Termination Fee : Liquidated Damages
Contract Terms:
It is important to note that Ascentium Capital is not a payment processor.
The Kingwood, Texas-based company offers financing solutions to merchants and small businesses for payment processing hardware and other financing options.
Ascentium Capital was founded in 2011 in Kingwood, Texas. In 2016, the company was acquired by Warbug Pincus, a venture capital firm.
Ascentium Capital is a commercial financing solutions provider serving a wide range of sectors, including healthcare, hospitality, retail, and e-commerce merchants focusing on small and mid-sized businesses. Ascentium mainly offers credit cards and other POS equipment leases, cash advance loans, and companies looking to set-up customer-financing programs.
Ascentium does not directly advertise to merchants but utilizes third-party equipment resellers and merchant account providers nationwide. These equipment resellers and merchant account providers have language in their contracts that automatically enroll merchants into equipment financing, locking them in for 4-5 years without recourse for early termination.
Such practices have led to high complaint volumes for many issues against the company, fast-talking third-party salespersons misrepresenting or not fully disclosing the terms and conditions of agreements. There have been complaints and lawsuits about exorbitant fees, excessive billing, and equipment that does not integrate with existing payment providers at best or is faulty or of low quality at worst.
Head Quarters
Kingwood, TX
Year Founded
2011
CEO
Thomas Depping
Employees
200
Merchant Provider Risk Tolerance
Fast approval and funding
Most industries accepted as long as they meet Ascentium Capital's credit policy guidelines.
Auto sales and non-profit organizations accepted
True business loans, and not a cash advance on future sales.
Specific financing programs available for franchise-based businesses.
Easy qualification - qualify on as little as three month's recent bank statements.
No origination fee, in an industry known for origination fees.
High credit score requirements for personal guarantors, at a minimum of 675.
Relatively low maximum loan amount, at $150,000.
Limited ability to refinance competitor loans, since there is a minimum 50% merchant net requirement.
Merchant will be declined for a loan renewal if they layer a competitor loan on top of Ascentium Capital loan.
No interest forgiveness on renewals.
Ascentium Capital offers financing and leasing options to merchants for POS equipment. The company partners with different merchant account providers to resell their equipment financings, such as Performance Merchant Alliance, Freedom Card Solutions, United Card Solutions, Radiant Merchant Services, Chyp, Red Payments, and Direct Processors.
Merchant Finance Program - offers 24-48 month equipment leases for numerous POS terminals. These agreements are locked-in with the early termination fee being the full outstanding balance of the financing.
Merchant Finance Program: Ascentium offers same-day funding for payments processed to manage working capital needs.
Merchant Cash Advance: Clients are also offered cash advance loans from $5,000 to up to $1.5 million for 2-7 years.
Discloses All Important Terms
No
Public Pricing Available
Yes
Ascentium Capital offers long-term locked contracts ranging from 48-60 months. Our general view is that merchants are better off either buying POS equipment outright, which usually should not exceed $500. Businesses can also opt to rent POS equipment. Being locked into multi-year leases, ultimately paying 4-5 times the hardware cost, is never recommended.
Other fees include;
10% late payment fee.
$15 late payment invoice fee
$25 collection fee
$10 rejected debit fee.
$50 Annual Tax handling fee
Pricing Model
Flat Rate
Swiped Rate
N/A
Keyed-in Rate
N/A
Mobile Payment Rate
N/A
Virtual Terminal Rate
N/A
Monthly Fee
Collections Fee $25
Payment Gateway Fee
1.11 to 1.36
Batch Fee
N/A
Early Termination Fee
Liquidated Damages
PCI Compliance Fee
Equipment Lease Terms
60 Month (locked)
Address Verification Service (AVS)
Application Fee
$0
Account Setup Fee
document fee $195
Gateway Setup Fee
$195 document fee
Annual Fee
Tax Handling Fee $50 Per Year
Monthly Minimum
Collections Fee $25
Statement Fee
Ascentium Capital offers equipment financing contracts for 48- 60 months. Merchants are locked-in for the entire duration without the option of early termination. If merchants decide they want to end the contract, they must pay all outstanding payments.
Various online forums detail merchants' complaints of limited transparency about the company's terms and conditions or sign up for the financing.
Finally, the costs are high. Equipment leases can end up costing merchants up to 3-4 times the actual price of the machine. Online complaints allege that equipment available through the company's resellers are of inferior quality.
Contract Length
1 Year3 Years
Early Termination Fee
Liquidated Damages
Since 2015, Ascentium Capital has been accredited with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and has an A+ rating. In the last 36-months, we see that there were 47 complaints, most of which have been about customer support that is non-existent or very unempathetic, borderline-deceptive sales tactics, and billing issues.
Finally, a common theme for Ascentium Capital's partners for merchant account providers is that they usually share similarly poor reputations for quality and support.
BBB
+ (52 Customer Complaints)
4.8 Stars / 4 Reviews
N/A
Yelp
1.5 Stars / 66 Reviews
Total Online Reviews
160+
Total Online Complaints
50+
Lawsuits
1
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