Best for
Small to mid-sized businesses
Specializes in
A wide variety of specialized niches, such as non-profits, educational institutions, hospitality, restaurants, custom beer and wine retail, standard retail, and eCommerce. Heartland Payment Systems is particularly well-known in the food and beverage industry.
Pricing Summary
Setup Fee: $0
Monthly Fee: $25
Swipe Rate: Interchange-Plus
Keyed-in Rate: Interchange-Plus
Early Termination Fee : $295 per location
Contract Terms:
Large company with nearly three decades of operational history established in 1992 in Edmond, OK.
Heartland Payment Systems is often considered a merchant payment processing industry staple due to its longevity (founded in 1997) and massive size (over 4500 employees.) Overall, Heartland Payment Systems will get the job done and has been around for a long time for a reason. However, be mindful of contract terms and stay on top of your billing with the company, as many customers have vented their frustration in not-so-kindly-worded reviews.
The Edmond, Oklahoma-based company has built out an impressively broad suite of products and services that cater to a wide variety of industries, with a slight leaning towards the food and beverage industry. Heartland Payment Systems was acquired by Atlanta-based Global Payments in 2016, which is considered a top merchant acquirer. In 2019, Global Payments and the industries eighth top acquirer, TSYS, merged to further establish their stake in the payment industry.
Heartland Payment Systems has built out a fairly intuitive platform that enables multichannel selling and customized solutions for a very wide array of industries, making it a decent choice for any type of company. It scores highly on the quality of products offered, ranging from dedicated merchant accounts to payment security that utilizes Heartland E3 end-to-end encryption, tokenization technologies, and EMV.
Heartland uses tiered pricing as the default, which doesn't necessarily benefit small business owners because the cost of processing can vary significantly based on how and where a card was processed and where. Minor fees like a $25/month Service & Regulatory Mandate” fee and the monthly credit card billing fees can stack up if you’re not privy to them.
However, its lackluster 3/5 rating comes from its steep early termination fee of a stomach-turning $295 per location. Although early termination fees are not uncommon, this is exceptionally high. Also, contracts with Heartland seem to automatically renew, and customers are required to give them a 60-day notice to elect a non-renewal.
Head Quarters
Edmond, OK
Year Founded
1997
CEO
Marcus Dean
Employees
4366
Merchant Provider Risk Tolerance
Best for small to midsize businesses.
Zero setup fee.
Non profit discounts available.
Good for the food and beverage industry.
PCI compliant solution.
Early termination fee.
Not all important terms are disclosed.
Public pricing is not available.
Tiered pricing.
Employs a commission only sales team.
As mentioned above, Heartland has a wide array of products for merchants in the listed categories, as well as specific solutions designed for smaller niches.
A few of the companies most notable solutions are:
The list of Heartland's services is impressive in its breadth, and if you have a need, they likely have a solution available that can help you address it.
Discloses All Important Terms
No
Public Pricing Available
No
While Heartland's sales and advertising strategies don't seem mischievous, they conveniently don't mention their fees or pricing on their site, which has been a major cause of frustration for many users. In fact, many of the complaints online about Heartland have to do with disclosing contract terms and fees.
Heartland uses a flexible pricing structure called "interchange-plus"– which is basically an agreement where companies elect to charge a service fee on top of the credit card provider's interchange cost.
Pricing Model
Interchange PlusTiered PricingFlat Rate
Swiped Rate
Interchange-Plus
Keyed-in Rate
Interchange-Plus
Mobile Payment Rate
Virtual Terminal Rate
1.00% - 4.99%
Monthly Fee
$25
Payment Gateway Fee
Undisclosed
Batch Fee
Variable
Early Termination Fee
$295 per location
PCI Compliance Fee
$0
Equipment Lease Terms
Variable
Address Verification Service (AVS)
Application Fee
Account Setup Fee
$0
Gateway Setup Fee
Variable
Annual Fee
Variable
Monthly Minimum
Statement Fee
Variable
Heartland Payment Systems offers month to month and 36-month agreements.
Merchants who choose to terminate their agreement before the contract end date will get hit with a $295 early termination fee per location, which is very steep and earns Heartland Payment Systems a demerit in this category.
Additionally, contracts are automatically renewed unless the merchant gives Heartland Payment Systems a 60-day notice.
Contract Length
Month-to-month3 Years
Early Termination Fee
$295 per location
As with any large merchant payment processing company, customer reviews and ratings run the gamut from aggressive “If I could give 0 stars I would!” to “5/5 super effortless experience!”– both of which should be taken with a grain of salt.
On one hand, review sites tend to exhibit a strong negativity bias, where angry customers want to right their wrongs by chastising the company on a public forum. On the other hand, gleaming and overly positive reviews just don’t seem authentic– how many colleagues do you have that are prepared to write a glistening review about a payment processor?
The Heartland Payment Systems negative reviews note that merchants are unhappy with the hidden fees and potential “bait and switch” schemes, which is a fairly predictable complaint about companies that use commission-based sales practices.
The Heartland Payment Systems positive reviews contradict some of the negative reviews, noting that a specific sales representative was very helpful and trustworthy; it might just be a varied experience with sales reps. Other positive reviews note that Heartland’s wide range of services and products are very useful to have within reach as company needs change.
BBB
B- ( 16 Complaints)
3 Stars / 87 Reviews
N/A
Yelp
2.5 Stars / 25 Reviews
Total Online Reviews
415+
Total Online Complaints
150+
Lawsuits
2
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