Heartland Payment Systems Overview
Heartland Payment Systems is a large domestic merchant account provider that was acquired by Global Payments in December 2015. It is unclear whether this acquisition will result in a rebranding or a change in the company’s marketing, but, for now, Heartland appears to be operating in the same way that it was before the acquisition. Heartland’s merchant portfolio includes over 300,000 businesses, and the company processes more than $80 billion in transactions per year.
Heartland Payment Systems offers EMV- and NFC-compatible credit card terminals, tablet-based point-of-sale systems, mobile phone processing, gift and loyalty programs, a virtual terminal, mobile ordering services, payroll solutions, an e-commerce tools. Heartland promotes interchange-plus pricing but typically requires a three-year contract with a $295 early termination fee. Robert Carr was the CEO of Heartland Payment Systems at the time of its sale to Global Payments, but it is not clear whether he will continue to serve in this role once the sale closes.
Heartland Payment Systems was acquired by Global Payments in 2015 for $4.3 billion and merged with TSYS in 2019. It still appears to operate under the Heartland brand.
In 2008, Heartland was hacked by a computer hacker who stole the data of 130 million credit cards. However, Heartland was able to quickly repair damages and subsequently educate merchants about payment processing.
The company offers a three year contract through Global Payments with a $295 early termination fee and has received more than 150 public complaints.
Heartland offers a variety of options for merchant accounts. They offer a 3-year service agreement with a $295 cancellation fee.
Heartland’s website claims to offer interchange-plus pricing to all merchants. However, it charges a $25 monthly service and regulatory mandate fee and several basis points to the rate for businesses that request monthly billing.
Heartland Payment Systems offers e-commerce services such as storefront payment processing, but does not disclose the fees associated with those services.
Over the last year, we have seen merchants and agents report unexpected fees. We encourage merchants to check out our list of the best merchant services providers.
Despite Heartland’s low to moderate number of complaints, nearly all of its negative reviews mention fees that were not properly disclosed before signup.
A handful of complaints indicate that fees are suddenly raised without notification. One merchant was told they signed a 3 year contract, only to find out they had signed a forgery.
As part of a data breach settlement, Heartland was ordered to pay $2.4 million in 2012, and $2.5 million in 2017 for billing merchants differently for American Express.
The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit against Katherine M. Hanratty and Robert Carr, requiring her to disgorge funds and pay a civil penalty.
The company was sued by an employee and a group of restaurants for allegedly charging them for new and excessive fees during the 2020-21 global pandemic.
Heartland Payment Systems offers a variety of support contact options, including live chat support, 888-963-3600, 877-729-2968, 800-332-4835, 866-646-7648, Heartland Register Product Support, 866-402-8056, and Heartland Gift Product Support.
The Better Business Bureau shows that Heartland is no longer accredited, that it has received 63 complaints in the last 36 months, and that only 23 of these complaints were resolved to the satisfaction of the merchant.
Heartland does not appear to use deceptive advertising or rate quoting practices and its sales staff undergoes background checks.
The company provides two documents to merchants at the point of signing. The first document does not clearly list the early termination fee, the second document mentions it somewhere in the document.
We consider Heartland’s disclosure methods to be inconsistent, and recommend seeking a third-party statement audit if you suspect the company is charging undisclosed fees.
Heartland Payment Systems, a very large merchant account provider and credit card processor, could improve its rating in our review by making its service contract shorter or by giving merchants the ability to cancel at any time.
At a glance
Founded: 1997
Location: Princeton, New Jersey
Acquiring bank: Wells Fargo Bank, The Bancorp Bank
Website: heartlandpaymentsystems.com
Phone number: 888-963-3600
E-mail: Contact form here
Heartland Payment Systems Promotional Video
Online reputation and reviews
Despite its massive size, Heartland has only received a couple hundred complaints on the usual consumer protection forums. Negative reviewers single out nondisclosure of the company’s early termination fee as a frequent problem, while other commonly cited issues include its $25 monthly service fee and an additional charge of two to five basis points for monthly rather than daily billing. There are also some scattered positive reviews of the company that praise its transparent pricing and quality customer service. Generally speaking, Heartland’s complaint rate is lower than that of similar-sized competitors.
Legal actions and lawsuits
This press release from Heartland Payment Systems announces a lawsuit filed by Heartland against Mercury Payment Systems in which Heartland alleges that Mercury improperly pads interchange rates when billing merchants. According to Heartland Payment Systems, Mercury is inflating the reported rate of interchange for transactions without disclosing this price increase to merchants. Heartland’s contention is that this makes it difficult to compete with Mercury Payment Systems because Mercury can quote a lower markup on each transaction while secretly building profits into interchange rates. The outcome of the litigation is still pending.
Have you used Heartland Payment Systems for your business? Rate the company at the top of this post and tell us about your experience in the comment section below:
With no notification, Heartland illegally removed $301.50 from our bank account because it was a “penalty” for not upgrading and buying a new machine they had made for their customers. We were told they would refund the money if, and only if, we bought the new machine from them—btw the old machine is a chip reader and works just fine as a swipe machine (even though it was provided as a swipe machine), it won’t swipe). The sales rep went even further and stated that if we did not buy the new machine from them and opted to buy a machine from someone else, they would not refund the money.