Best for
Merchants who are interested in utilizing a surcharge pricing model to cut down on the amount of money they pay in processing fees.
Specializes in
Take Charge specializes in surcharge pricing and their cash discount program to reward cash-paying consumers and assist merchants with covering their credit card processing fees.
Pricing Summary
Setup Fee: Unknown
Monthly Fee: 0%
Swipe Rate: Unknown
Keyed-in Rate: Unknown
Early Termination Fee : Unknown
Contract Terms:
Take Charge is a program that is offered through Advanced Merchant Services.
Advanced Merchant Services’ primary focus is on a more traditional payment processing model, while Take Charge gives merchants an option for surcharge pricing and cash discounts.
Take Charge is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida and has grown from a regional provider to a national processor.
Take Charge is located in Jacksonville, Florida and was once a regional payment processing provider, but now works with merchants all over the United States. The company has specialized in working with the retail, lodging and restaurant industries for more than ten years.
Take Charge is offered through Advanced Merchant Services, a company with a more traditional model of payment processing. When merchants choose Take Charge, they have the option to choose surcharge pricing and implement a cash discount program, which can virtually eliminate their processing fees.
Take Charge maintains a large network of processors and financial institutions. The company works with both card-not-present and card-present merchants to provide them with personalized solutions for payment processing services.
Take Charge is a registered ISO of Wells Fargo Bank, of Concord, CA and of Esquire Bank of Jericho, New York.
Head Quarters
6440 Southpoint Pkwy, Ste. 140 Jacksonville, FL 32216
Year Founded
Unknown
CEO
Unknown
Employees
Unknown
Merchant Provider Risk Tolerance
Surcharge pricing and cash discount programs help balance out processing fees.
Multiple systems to integrate with almost any POS.
Help develop gift card and loyalty card systems.
Works with all major credit cards.
Will work with high risk merchants.
Pass credit card processing fees on to the customer.
Requires a four-year contract.
High negative to positive review ratio.
Equipment is leased. Terms of the lease seem vague.
No mention of security, despite working with high risk merchants and card not present transactions.
Hardware & Software
Take Charge works with many POS system providers and has access to various types of systems in order to meet their merchant customers’ needs. The company offers:
Take Charge Point-of-Commerce
Smart Register
Datapoint
Clover POS
Sound POS
Take Charge also offers virtual terminals and gateways including:
The Take Charge Gateway
Shopping Carts/Ecommerce
Level 2 and Level 3 processing
Custom integrations
Value Added Services
Take Charge’s Cash Discount program is one of the company’s main value added services, which can be utilized to eliminate merchants’ credit card processing fees.
The company can also assist merchants by helping them develop gift card and loyalty card programs. Take Charge frequently works with high-risk merchants to provide them with services and can assist merchants with capital funding as well.
Supported Payment Types & Services
Take Charge processes all types of electronic payments, including:
All four major credit cards
Debit cards
Gift cards
Electronic checks
ACH transfers
Take Charge can also help merchants develop a loyalty card program.
Discloses All Important Terms
No
Public Pricing Available
No
Take Charge offers leased payment processing equipment for $39.95 per terminal.
This company is a bit different regarding pricing and fees because of its surcharge pricing model. Merchants that use Take Charge for credit card processing will pass along a 3.5% processing fee for each of their customer’s purchases directly to their customers.
In the event that customers pay with a debit card instead of a credit card, the merchant will need to cover the processing fee themselves. But this cost is much less than it is for credit card processing, typically.
Pricing Model
Flat Rate
Swiped Rate
Unknown
Keyed-in Rate
Unknown
Mobile Payment Rate
Unknown
Virtual Terminal Rate
Unknown
Monthly Fee
0%
Payment Gateway Fee
Unknown
Batch Fee
Unknown
Early Termination Fee
Unknown
PCI Compliance Fee
Unknown
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
Unknown
Statement Fee
Unknown
Take Charge does not provide a lot of information on its website regarding contracts and terms. However, it appears that merchant customers enter into a 4-year contract for payment processing services. Equipment leasing contracts may be different in their timeframe, and may not coincide with payment processing terms.
Contract Length
Unknown
Early Termination Fee
Unknown
The Take Charge website does not indicate how long their underwriting process takes, or how long it might take to get a merchant up and running with payment processing services. However, merchants in need of POS systems may take longer because of the time it takes to lease equipment.
Merchants utilizing a virtual gateway may be able to get started much faster, as Take Charge does advertise short turnaround times.
BBB Rating
While Take Charge does not have its own profile on the Better Business Bureau website, Advanced Merchant Services does. AMS has an A+ rating with the BBB, although the website shows online one positive review, four negative reviews and 39 customer complaints. Some of those complaints have not bee satisfied to the customers’ satisfaction.
The positive review states that AMS offers excellent customer service with good pricing and accurate billing. The company’s negative reviews have accused the company of scamming through cold calling and telling merchants that they need to upgrade their equipment.
Other Online Reviews
There are no other reviews online about Take Charge, only ones that can be found for Take Charge America, which is a separate company that offers a different type of service. This company should not be confused with Take Charge, the payment processing company.
BBB
N/A
N/A
5 out of 5 (Based on the opinion of 1 person)
Yelp
N/A
Total Online Reviews
Unknown
Total Online Complaints
Unknown
Lawsuits
Unknown
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