Best for
Bank of America Merchant Services (BAMS) caters to all business types. It's best for large and medium-sized enterprises, mainly in retail, restaurants, and local and multinational e-commerce.
Specializes in
BAMS provides payment processing in partnership with various back-end processors for cards, checks, and mobile payments. The company offers POS hardware and software but allows merchants to integrate their POS systems with BAMS payment processing.
Pricing Summary
Setup Fee: $0
Monthly Fee: $0
Swipe Rate: 2.50% + $0.20
Keyed-in Rate: 3.50% + $0.15
Early Termination Fee : $500
Contract Terms:
BAMS is an ancillary of Bank of America and offers merchant processing services as a reseller of Fiserv, previously known as First Data Corporation and TSYS. It provides payment processing for credit and debit cards, checks, keyed-in transactions, MOTO, and direct-transfer staff salaries. The company's POS solutions are available through Clover. BAMS also has a security suite offering fraud protection through the Telecheck and MobilePay apps.
In 2009, Bank of America and First Data (now Fiserv) founded the Bank of America Merchant Services as a joint venture. The joint venture contract ran through June 2020, which the companies did not renew. The company is mainly a reseller of products and services from Fiserv, TSYS, and Clover. It provides both hardware and software solutions for processing cashless transactions. BAMS facilitates the merchants in the integration of their POS with its card processing mechanism. It also provides its own POS terminals from Clover readily compatible with their payment processing solution.
Currently, Bank of America assists approximately 66 million small and medium-sized businesses. It is known to serve individuals, private and public companies, and the government sector. Given Bank of America's banking reach and its partnerships with third-party merchant processing providers, the BAMS division ensures payments processed through its service are cleared into merchant accounts one day sooner than peers. As a result, BAMS is one of the largest payment processors in the U.S., according to The Nilson Report.
The company provides pricing plans for customers with a three-year contract on auto-renewal and a $500 early termination fee. Based on the BAMS website, the company offers tiered pricing, which is less transparent than the Interchange-plus pricing plan. The company also provides long-term non-cancelable equipment leasing through one of its POS equipment partners.
There have been some complaints against BAMS regarding hidden fees, and we found mislabeling of charges in our research. Regardless, the number of complaints against BAMS is relatively low compared to their transaction volume and the merchants they serve.
Head Quarters
Charlotte, NC
Year Founded
2009
CEO
Tim Tynan
Employees
1000
Merchant Provider Risk Tolerance
No monthly fee.
No setup fee.
Has a security suite offering fraud protection.
Multiple hardware and software options are available.
Checks are accepted.
Early termination fee.
Has a three contract that renews automatically.
Has long term non canceling leasing.
Offers a tiered pricing plan.
Not all fees are stated.
Merchant Services
BAMS utilizes Fiserv for back-end payment processing for debit and credit cards. The company also offers a PCI compliant global payment gateway integrated with merchant websites for e-commerce through Compass. Through the BAMS and MobilePay partnership, merchants can integrate mobile payment processing.
Point-of-Sale
BAMS offers POS solutions through partnerships with Clover POS and First Data Global Leasing. Their POS offering includes tablets, cash drawers, LCD touchscreens, check readers, USB ports, credit card machines, and other required hardware compatible with those systems.
Tertiary Services
BAMS has numerous service offerings, including TransArmor for data protection and paper and e-check processing through Telecheck. Additionally, the company markets its time-tracking, payroll, inventory management, and reporting solutions for the retail sector.
Discloses All Important Terms
No
Public Pricing Available
Yes
BAMS pricing varies based on the merchant's transaction volume and type of business. Some fees include:
Swiped rate
Transaction volume less than $5,000/ month - 2.5% + $0.20/ transaction
Transaction volume less than $5,000 and $9,999/ month - 2.3% + $0.20/ transaction
Transaction volume less than $10,000 and $24,999/ month - 2.05% + $0.20/ transaction
Transaction volume more than $25,000/ month - 1.89% + $0.20/ transaction
Keyed-in transactions rate - 3.50% + $0.15/ transaction
The company offers POS equipment leasing through either Clover POS or First Data Global Leasing. Merchants should keep in mind that the leases are four years long and are non-cancelable.
There are other fees associated with BAMS' e-commerce processing, such as payment gateway and virtual terminal services, along with batch fees and tech support fees. None of these service fees are available on the company's website.
Pricing Model
Flat Rate
Swiped Rate
2.50% + $0.20
Keyed-in Rate
3.50% + $0.15
Mobile Payment Rate
Undisclosed
Virtual Terminal Rate
1.00% - 4.99%
Monthly Fee
$0
Payment Gateway Fee
Undisclosed
Batch Fee
Undisclosed
Early Termination Fee
$500
PCI Compliance Fee
Up To $95 Per Year
Equipment Lease Terms
48 Month (locked)
Address Verification Service (AVS)
Application Fee
Account Setup Fee
$0
Gateway Setup Fee
Undisclosed
Annual Fee
Monthly Minimum
Statement Fee
BAMS offers a 3-year contract with auto-renewal and an early termination fee of $500. The company's pricing includes software payment plans with additional charges and non-terminable leasing contracts for procuring hardware. BAMS offers monthly swipe rates and standard rates for cashless transactions. The company's website displays a tiered pricing plan and unclear additional charges and outsourced processing charges for customers.
Contract Length
3 Years
Early Termination Fee
$500
BAMS does not have a registered profile with the Better Business Bureau (BBB). Instead, BBB provides a rating for the parent company, Bank of America, mainly for its banking solutions, technically rendering it unusable for BAMS. There were no outstanding lawsuits or FTC complaints found against BAMS. Based on our research of multiple only platforms and forums, we believe that BAMS is sufficiently consumer-friendly.
BBB
A+ (5,639 complaints)
N/A
N/A
Yelp
1 Star / 11 Reviews
Total Online Reviews
200+
Total Online Complaints
100+
Lawsuits
None
If you're in the market for a merchant account provider, be sure to check out our user reviews, our merchant accounts guide and our top popular merchant provider picks