Ascentium Capital Review

Rates and Fees
25/100
Truth in Advertising
25/100
Consumer Reviews
25/100
Customer Support
25/100
1

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:

1 Year 3 Years
Visit Ascentium Capital

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 Overview

 

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.

Quick Facts

Head Quarters

Kingwood, TX

Year Founded

2011

CEO

Thomas Depping

Employees

200

Merchant Provider Risk Tolerance

What We Like

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.

What We Don't Like

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.

Industries Served

  • Accounting & Tax Prep
  • Clothing & Apparel
  • Convenience Store
  • Credit Repair
  • Debt Consolidation
  • Electronics
  • Gaming
  • Gas Station
  • Healthcare
  • Legal
  • Marketing Agency
  • Medical
  • Moving Companies
  • Personal Service
  • Restaurant / Bar
  • SAAS
  • SEO & SEM Services
  • Telemedicine
  • Thrift Store
  • Web Design Services

Business Types Served

  • B2B
  • Document Preparation
  • Enterprise Merchant Accounts
  • High Risk
  • High Volume
  • Information
  • MLM
  • Non Profit
  • Retail / Card Present
  • Small Business
  • Wholesale

Ascentium Capital Products & Services

 

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.

Ascentium Capital Payment Processing

  • Credit Card Terminals
  • High-Risk Industries
  • Merchant Cash Advance
  • POS Equipment

Ascentium Capital Billing & Invoicing

  • Contact Database
  • Dunning Management
  • Payment Processing

Ascentium Capital Advertising & Sales

 
Ascentium does not market its products and services directly to merchants but instead uses ISOs as the company's reseller of POS equipment and financing options. These payment processors' standard agreements with merchants include the clause for equipment lease with Ascentium for up to 60 months.

Common complaints found on various online forums discuss how resellers' fast-talking sales teams did not provide sufficient, timely disclosures for merchants to make informed decisions. Ascentium's website does not include any details of the pricing information.

Truth in Marketing

Discloses All Important Terms

No

Public Pricing Available

Yes

Ascentium Capital Pricing, Rates & Fees

 

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 at a Glance

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 Contract & Terms

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

Ascentium Capital Setup & Support

 

Setup Highlights

  • Documentation / Knowledge Base
  • Recorded Video Training

Support Highlights

  • Domestic Phone Support (Business Hours)

Ascentium Capital Complaints, Ratings & Reviews

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.

Ratings

BBB

+ (52 Customer Complaints)

Google

4.8 Stars / 4 Reviews

Facebook

N/A

Yelp

1.5 Stars / ‎66 Reviews

Reviews

Total Online Reviews

160+

Total Online Complaints

50+

Lawsuits

1

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