Global Payments
Is This Your Business?1.1
2.5
Overall Score
Author: Kaitlyn Short
Global Payments was founded in 1967 by its former parent company, National Data Corporation, opened for business in 1970 and they service virtual and brick and mortar businesses. Global Payments is a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange (GPN), is a member of the S&P MidCap 400 Index and they are currently headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. They have offices located throughout the U.S., Canada, UK, Europe, Spain, Russia and the Asia-Pacific region. Global Payments currently processes approximately five billion transactions each year and serves over one and a half million merchants via their electronic information network. Global Payments is a Fortune 1000 company who provides electronic processing services for businesses, ISO's, financial institutions and government agencies. And they offer a variety of processing solutions, such as: credit cards, debit cards, Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT), as well as purchasing cards, gift cards, loyalty cards and stored value cards. Global Payments doesn't believe a one-size-fits-all solution works for the majority of businesses; therefore, they do not disclose any rates on their website. Each merchant is asked to contact the company for a consultation where the company will be rated based on their business model and monthly volume then given a rate quote. This is one area where aggressively negotiating the terms of the contract just might pay off with lower rates and better terms.
Top Ranked Companies
The Good
- Many Options
- Features and Products
Many Options
Global Payments has a good reputation for a payment processor of its size and it doesn't appear that they use any deceptive marketing tactics; however, there are some complaints directed at Global Payment stating such, but they were actually derived from the actions of their resellers. Therefore, you can't really attribute those types of complaints to Global Payments themselves as they weren't due to any action on their part. Additionally, Global Payments appears to be very good at what they do and they have a massive number of options that are perfect for larger volume businesses. However, if you are a smaller merchant with low-volume processing, you might find a more suitable option elsewhere. Global Payments currently offers a three year contract that contains an automatic renewal clause. In addition, you will also enjoy many popular features, such as: terminal management, point-of-sale support services, electronic check conversion, check guarantee, check verification and check recovery services.
Features and Products
They also offer emerging payments, business-to-business payments, a front-end network, internet-based solutions for payment processing, storefront support, a payment gateway through the use of Authorize.net, as well as terminal leases and sales, non-profit fundraising, financial data management and resources for gaming operations. And on top of all that, they have a 24-7 toll-free customer service line for both technical support and general issues. That's a lot of bang for your buck and something to consider while trying to decide if Global Payments is right for you.
The Bad
- Security Breach
- Independent Resellers
- Early Termination
Security Breach
Global Payments was the victim of a security breach in March of 2012, which affected 50,000 to 10 million of its credit card holders. They self-identified the problem and self-reported the breach, but believed the affected customers were confined to North America and fewer than 1,500,000 card holders. Their investigation showed that Track 2 card data might have been stolen, but no names, addresses or social security numbers were accessed.
Independent Resellers
Unfortunately, Global Payments uses independent resellers to acquire new merchant accounts. This is a common practice among larger processing companies; however, this practice usually results in a multitude of complaints due to deceptive marketing and advertising tactics by resellers and because having so many independent resellers is so hard to oversee and control. It's quite possible those types of complaints stem from the fact that there are plenty of merchants who don't take the time to thoroughly read the contract and are surprised when they are assessed various fees or dinged by other written policies they weren't aware of. You should always read every word of any contract before you sign it, regardless of whether the salesperson is trying to rush you into signing or telling you that it contains standard contract verbiage.
Early Termination
It seems that Global Payments charges an early termination fee of $100-$500 per location and some merchants have mentioned a liquidated damages fee as well. This is just another reason to thoroughly read the contract before signing. Regardless, this is one area of the contract that should be aggressively negotiated.
The Bottom Line
Global Payments has been in business for a very long time and has built their business model and their reputation to the level you see today. They offer an amazing number of features that are perfect for larger businesses with high processing volumes. However, for smaller businesses, Global Payments might not be the best fit for you due to their undisclosed rate structure, especially if you are just in the start-up phase. However, you should keep them in mind as a future possibility as your business grows. As far as some of the negative reviews posted around the internet, you really have to dissect them, understand them and use some common sense to determine whether or not you feel they are legitimate or are caused by some fault of the merchant themselves. Or possibly caused by one of the Global Payments resellers. Global Payments itself has very few complaints for a company their size and if they weren't performing up to merchant expectations, they would not have been in business as long as they have. Due to their long-standing positive reputation, their multitude of feature-rich services and the fact that they seem to be able to handle a variety of complex business needs with ease, we can confidently recommend their services. However, with that being said, there are some complaints that should be taken as fact and as with any business, what might be effective for one company, might not be as effective for another. Therefore, we strongly urge you to weigh your options carefully so you can make an educated decision that's right for you.
