Best for
Merchants in search of payment processing that lowers or eliminates many of the fees that are common within the industry.
Specializes in
Dwolla specializes in providing a way for merchants to receive ACH transfers from their customers. The product is available at a low cost to merchants. It is a low-cost option that is a proprietary payment network that is similar to Visa and Mastercard.
Pricing Summary
Setup Fee: N/A
Monthly Fee: N/A
Swipe Rate: Unknown
Keyed-in Rate: Unknown
Early Termination Fee : None
Contract Terms:
Dwolla is based in Des Moines, Iowa and the company was founded in 2008 for the purpose of bypassing credit card interchange fees.
The company is an agent of Veridian Credit Union and all funds are held in one or more pooled accounts at VCU.
The company’s CEO is Ben Milne. Most merchants will only find Dwolla as the default payment processing platform that has been integrated into an online product or service.
Dwolla is headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa, and the company’s CEO is Ben Milne. It was founded in 2008 as a way to provide low-cost payment processing services for merchants and customers. Dwolla is different in that the company does not charge a fee for transactions like ISOs do.
Dwolla works by linking consumer accounts with their checking accounts. This is similar to how PayPal works, but there are some differences. Dwolla’s services allow customers to pay through ACH transfers. The company’s advanced technology has eliminated most common money transfer delays and it has also been instrumental in lowering the risk of fraud.
Today, Dwolla no longer offers a consumer-facing payment product and has focused on marketplace style and business to business payments. As such, this company is not a real competitor for credit card processing companies.
Head Quarters
Des Moines, Iowa, United States
Year Founded
2008
CEO
Ben Milne
Employees
75
Merchant Provider Risk Tolerance
No early termination fees.
Integrates seamlessly with many operating systems.
Very upfront with pricing plans.
No contracts.
Instant account verification.
Limited financial scope, only ACH payments.
No phone customer support for basic accounts.
Complaints about slow money transfer.
Lawsuit for deceptive data security policies.
Higher rates for higher service levels.
Hardware & Software
Dwolla offers software that easily integrates with many payment processing systems by adding a few lines of computer code. The company website has a lot of information for developers to make implementing Dwolla easier.
Value Added Services
While Dwolla does not offer any value added services to ISOs, the company does have several integration partners, and more are constantly being added.
Dwolla integrates seamlessly with Slack, Sift, QuickBooks, Plaid, and other apps and partners.
The company website also has a robust Resource Center where ISOs can get more information about digital payments and other topics.
Supported Payment Types & Services
Because Dwolla is not like a traditional payment processing system, it does not have a long list of payments that are accepted and supported. The company only processes ACH payments at this time.
Discloses All Important Terms
No
Public Pricing Available
Unknown
Prior to June 2015, Dwolla charged just $0.25 for each transaction over $10. At one point, the company’s standard pricing was visible on its website, and users were able to send and receive money on its network free of charge.
Currently, Dwolla offers three different pricing plans for payment platforms and enterprise-level merchants. They are as follows:
Start Plan - Pay as you go, no monthly fee, a transaction fee of 0.5% per transaction with a minimum of $0.05 and a maximum of $5. Minimal customer support and tools are available with this plan.
Scale Plan - $2,000 per month with added tools to operate the payments platform and customer support.
Enterprise Plan - includes custom pricing and all Dwolla features.
Pricing Model
Flat Rate
Swiped Rate
Unknown
Keyed-in Rate
Unknown
Mobile Payment Rate
Unknown
Virtual Terminal Rate
N/A
Monthly Fee
N/A
Payment Gateway Fee
N/A
Batch Fee
N/A
Early Termination Fee
None
PCI Compliance Fee
None
Equipment Lease Terms
None
Address Verification Service (AVS)
Unknown
Application Fee
N/A
Account Setup Fee
N/A
Gateway Setup Fee
N/A
Annual Fee
N/A
Monthly Minimum
N/A
Statement Fee
N/A
Dwolla does not require service agreements and contracts from the ISOs and merchants it partners with.
Contract Length
Unknown
Early Termination Fee
None
Through Dwolla’s Modern API, merchants can quickly integrate with the company’s platform and be ready to accept payments in very little time. Dwolla boasts about 99.9% uptime and has completed billions of dollars in transactions. Account verification can be done instantly.
Customer service is dependent upon the type of plan a merchant chooses. Merchants that choose the Start Plan will only have access to the customer support forum. Access increases as plans go up in price.
Dwolla has a contact form on its website that goes directly to the company’s sales team. It does not list a dedicated phone number for customer support.
BBB Rating
Dwolla is not accredited with the Better Business Bureau, but the BBB has given the company an A+ rating.
There are a total of five complaints listed on the BBB website. Three of the complaints were regarding Dwolla’s services and one was regarding billing and collection. Only two of the complaints were resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
Other Online Reviews
There are more than 50 complaints listed online with other review websites, mostly regarding slow money transfers. Many of the complaints describe isolated incidents, and more recently, they are regarding technical issues and a lack of customer support.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau filed a lawsuit against Dwolla for deceptive data security policies in March of 2016.
BBB
N/A
N/A
3.4 out of 5 (Based on the opinion of 9 people)
Yelp
NA
Total Online Reviews
10+
Total Online Complaints
Unknown
Lawsuits
No
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