ChargeNational Review

Rates and Fees
25/100
Truth in Advertising
30/100
Consumer Reviews
40/100
Customer Support
50/100
2.33

Best for

Retailers, restaurants, online merchants, doctor’s offices, the hospitality industry, or travel and transportation businesses.

Specializes in

ChargeNational specializes in offering a customized, unique approach that includes listening to customer feedback to offer better services.

Pricing Summary

Setup Fee: Unknown

Monthly Fee: $5.99 or $9.95

Swipe Rate: Unknown

Keyed-in Rate: 1.59-4.00%+$0.19

Early Termination Fee : $395-$495 early termination fee

Contract Terms:

3 Years
Visit ChargeNational

ChargeNational is no longer operating and has been absorbed by the parent company, Nuvei.

ChargeNational was a merchant account provider located in Montreal, Quebec.

The company was a DBA of Pivotal Payments which has since been rebranded as Nuvei.

ChargeNational Overview

 

ChargeNational was a merchant account provider that was a DBA for Pivotal Payments. As of September 2020, it was no longer operating under that name and the company was absorbed into Pivotal Payments, now known as Nuvei. Its website is no longer online and all social media accounts have no new activity.

The Canadian-owned company was started in 2010. The company website stated it was a DBA of Pivotal Payments Direct Corp.

The company address was listed as 1100 Rene Levesque West, Suite 900 Montreal, Quebec, H3B 4N4.

Pivotal Payments operated as ChargeNational’s back-end processor. Pivotal Payment has since been rebranded to Nuvei.

Quick Facts

Head Quarters

1100 Rene Levesque West, Suite 900 Montreal, Quebec, H3B 4N4.

Year Founded

2010

CEO

Unknown

Employees

Unknown

Merchant Provider Risk Tolerance

Low Risk Businesses

What We Like

What We Don't Like

Industries Served

  • Medical
  • Online Sellers
  • Restaurant / Bar
  • Retailers
  • Travel

Business Types Served

  • Online

ChargeNational Products & Services

 

Hardware & Software

ChargeNational offered:

POS Hardware, standalone or wireless
Payment Gateway
Virtual Terminal
Virtual Shopping Card for e-commerce

They appeared to have two different brands to choose from which were the Ingenico ICT 220 and Ingenico ICT 250.

Value-Added Services

ChargeNational offered:

Gift card and loyalty card programs
A Merchant funding program

Supported Payment Types & Services

ChargeNational appeared to have been able to accept the typical forms of payment including:

Discover
Visa
Mastercard
American Express
Interac

ChargeNational Payment Processing

  • Gift & Loyalty Program

ChargeNational Billing & Invoicing

  • Online Invoicing
  • Online Payments

ChargeNational Advertising & Sales

 
We don’t have information on ChargeNational’s advertising and marketing strategies, but the parent company, Nuvei, does use outside sales agents which have resulted in some complaints about aggressive sales tactics. Some of the complaints include telemarketing, misrepresenting rates and fees, and a decrease in quality of service after account setup.

ChargeNational also seemed to misrepresent their services on their website, where they advertised “rates as low as 1.39%.” However, this rate was only available to a select few “Qualified” members, and most customers paid higher rates.

Past versions of their website also state personalization, transparency, competitive and affordable rates with no hidden fees. Based on customer feedback and an analysis of their contract, these statements seem like an exaggeration at best.

Truth in Marketing

Discloses All Important Terms

No

Public Pricing Available

No

ChargeNational Pricing, Rates & Fees

 

ChargeNational advertised rates as low as 1.39%, however, that low rate seems to have only been available to “Qualified” customers. Most customers report being charged anywhere from 1.59% to 4.0% in addition to $0.19 for payment processing per transaction.

The contract also came with many fees, that included one-time fees, as well as ongoing fees. Some of the most onerous fees were:

$395-$495 early termination fee
Annual $99 PCI Compliance fee.
Monthly $25 minimum fee
Monthly $5.99-$9.95 terminal maintenance fee
$250 reconnection fee

They appeared to run an ongoing promotion that offered a free payment terminal upon signing of a contract.

When compared to other companies that offer similar services, the contract terms, fees and rates are more expensive than is typical.

Pricing at a Glance

Pricing Model

Unknown

Swiped Rate

Unknown

Keyed-in Rate

1.59-4.00%+$0.19

Mobile Payment Rate

Unknown

Virtual Terminal Rate

1.00% - 4.99%

Monthly Fee

$5.99 or $9.95

Payment Gateway Fee

Unknown

Batch Fee

Unknown

Early Termination Fee

$395-$495 early termination fee

PCI Compliance Fee

Annual $99 PCI Compliance fee.

Equipment Lease Terms

Unknown

Address Verification Service (AVS)

Unknown

Application Fee

Unknown

Account Setup Fee

Unknown

Gateway Setup Fee

Unknown

Annual Fee

Unknown

Monthly Minimum

$25

Statement Fee

Unknown

ChargeNational Contract & Terms

ChargeNational offered a contract through Nuvei that was automatically renewed every three years. If customers wanted to end their contract early they were slapped with another fee: $395 for customers processing up to $25,000 a month, and $495 for customers processing above $25,000 a month. Customers also agreed to a liquidated damages clause in the contract, which means the cost of terminating a contract could be greater than the termination fee.

In addition to early termination fees, the customer would also be charged an annual $99 PCI Compliance fee, and other monthly fees including a $25 monthly minimum fee, a $5.99-$9.95 terminal maintenance fee, and a $250 reconnection fee if the company needed to restart service.

Contract Length

3 Years

Early Termination Fee

$395-$495 early termination fee

ChargeNational Setup & Support

 

There is not a lot of information about their typical setup process. However, there are some negative reviews of their customer service. Although their website stated 24/7 customer support, some customers claim they were unresponsive to their requests. There are also negative reports for lack of customer support from the parent company Pivotal Payments (Nuvei).

Setup Highlights

  • Documentation / Knowledge Base

Support Highlights

  • Domestic Phone Support (Business Hours)
  • Domestic Phone Support (After Hours)
  • Offshore Tech Support (After Hours)

ChargeNational Complaints, Ratings & Reviews

BBB Rating

ChargeNational does not appear on the Better Business Bureau website, however, the parent company Nuvei does.

Nuvei has an average of 2.33 out of 5-stars rating based on twelve customer reviews. Eight of the reviews give the company only one star and complain of things like poor customer service, overcharging, and dishonesty.

There are three positive reviews from 2019.

Other Online Reviews

There are not a lot of online reviews of ChargeNational, but there are several negative reviews of Pivotal Payments (now known as Nuvei). Pivotal Payments had 58 complaints on the Ripoff Report, and 10 negative Google and Yelp reviews.

Common complaints include dishonest marketing which leads to higher rates and fees than advertised. When customers try to cancel they are liable for early termination fees which are written into their contract. This led to a lot of unhappy customers.

There are also some positive reviews of the company of customers that appear to have been happy with the services provided to them.

Ratings

BBB

C performance

Google

10 negative reviews

Facebook

N/A

Yelp

10 negative reviews

Reviews

Total Online Reviews

Unknown

Total Online Complaints

150+

Lawsuits

No

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