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Total Merchant Services Review
- 23rd Jun, 2026
- | By Linda Mae
- | Reviews
Total Merchant Services, commonly known as TMS, is a payment processing company with roots tracing back to 1996, making it one of the longer-tenured merchant account providers in the United States. Headquartered in Woodland Hills, California, the company operates as a registered ISO and MSP of Wells Fargo Bank and built its early reputation as one of the fastest-growing merchant account providers in the country, eventually serving approximately 100,000 merchants across retail, mobile, mail order and telephone order, and eCommerce business types. Lets read more about Total Merchant Services Review.
In 2017, North American Bancard acquired Total Merchant Services. TMS continues to operate under its own brand name following the acquisition, while relying on Global Payments for back-end processing support, reflecting the layered ownership and infrastructure relationships that are common across the merchant services industry. Joe Kaplan serves as the current CEO of the company.
It is worth noting upfront that Total Merchant Services should not be confused with Total Merchant Resources, an unrelated business funding company headquartered in New Jersey that has gained visibility through an appearance on Shark Tank with investment from Kevin O’Leary. The naming similarity between these two companies has caused confusion in online reviews, and this review covers Total Merchant Services, the payment processor, exclusively. This review examines what TMS offers, its pricing transparency, its documented complaint patterns, and what merchants should understand about the NAB ownership structure before engaging with the company.
Company Background and Market Position | Total Merchant Services Review
Total Merchant Services traces its origins to 1996, placing its founding in the same general era as many of the established ISOs that built the foundation of the modern US merchant services industry. The company grew over two decades into a payment processor of meaningful scale, employing approximately 270 people and serving roughly 100,000 merchants by the time it had established itself as a recognized name in small business payment processing.
The registered ISO and MSP relationship with Wells Fargo Bank provided TMS with the acquiring bank infrastructure necessary to process transactions, while the company’s own technology and sales organization handled merchant acquisition, onboarding, and account management. This structure, common throughout the ISO industry, means that TMS functions as the customer-facing relationship and technology layer while Wells Fargo’s banking infrastructure handles the underlying settlement and risk management functions.
The 2017 acquisition by North American Bancard represented a significant change in TMS’s ownership while preserving its brand identity in the market. NAB is one of the larger independent sales organizations in the US payments industry, and the acquisition brought TMS into a broader corporate family alongside other NAB-owned processing brands. Following the acquisition, TMS’s back-end processing support transitioned to Global Payments, adding another layer to the infrastructure relationships underlying the TMS merchant experience.
Despite the ownership changes, TMS has maintained its position as what independent reviewers describe as a mid-size credit card processor known for its merchant account services and POS solutions. The company’s continued operation under its own brand for more than eight years following the NAB acquisition suggests a degree of commercial viability and brand value that justified maintaining TMS as a distinct customer-facing identity rather than fully absorbing it into NAB’s primary brand.
Core Payment Processing Capabilities
Total Merchant Services provides merchant accounts that allow businesses to process all major credit cards, including Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover, alongside debit card and EBT card acceptance. This breadth of payment type coverage addresses the full range of standard consumer payment methods that most retail, hospitality, and service businesses encounter.
Funding gets marketed to the merchant’s bank account within two days, which constitutes a competitive timeframe of settlements as compared to other processors with a slower settlement period. Fast availability of settlement funds is of great significance for small enterprises that operate with tight budgets, and an assured 48-hour commitment in terms of settlement is a definite advantage if this service is consistent.
The company’s Internet Processing is a service that enables card-not-present processing by serving as a secure web-based platform or a virtual terminal where transactions can be run by using the web browser interface as well as a physical card terminal. In addition, such a virtual terminal capability allows for linking a website to different types of online shopping carts, making it possible for eCommerce merchants to process credit cards, debit cards, gift cards, and eChecks online.
Processing of EBT cards is a distinct feature of the company in relation to the processing of groceries and food merchants. Such processing of government benefits program cards under one merchant account is of great importance for retailers.
Mobile Payment Processing with Payment Jack
Total Merchant Services offers a mobile payment solution branded as Payment Jack, providing a card swiping device that connects to a merchant’s smartphone, transforming the phone into a portable card acceptance terminal. The card swiper and the accompanying software are provided free of charge, which removes a cost barrier for merchants who want to add mobile payment capability without a hardware investment.
Supporting both swiped and keyed transaction entry means that Payment Jack allows the merchant the ability to enter transactions depending on whether the customer’s card is present or not. Real-time authorization allows both swipe and key entry transaction type, meaning that merchants do not have to wait for batch processing to find out whether the transaction has been authorized. This is crucial for merchants dealing in mobile or field work since they have to confirm the payment first before providing the requested service or releasing any products to the customer.
Signature capture through touch screen devices serves as the necessary documentation needed to protect the merchant against any payment disputes that may arise, by capturing signatures as traditional card terminals do but within a mobile application interface. Email receipts serve the purpose of giving customers the receipt of the transactions done through their email account, instead of providing paper receipts that mobile merchants do not necessarily have the means to print.
Access to transaction histories and reports on phone or via web account allows mobile merchants to view all transaction details from their mobile transactions just as they would view transactions from their fixed terminals.
POS Solutions and the Groovv Platform
Total Merchant Services offers POS systems including the Groovv POS platform, which independent reviews describe as an advanced offering within the company’s overall product lineup. The POS systems are sold in bundles that include touchscreen tablets, EMV and NFC-enabled payment devices, and the supporting software, providing merchants with a complete hardware and software package rather than requiring them to source components separately.
The software accompanying the POS hardware includes inventory management and financial reporting functionality, extending the platform’s utility beyond pure transaction processing into the broader operational management that retail and hospitality businesses need. For merchants who want a single integrated system covering payment acceptance, inventory tracking, and financial reporting, the Groovv platform consolidates these functions rather than requiring separate vendor relationships for each.
EMV chip card support and NFC contactless payment acceptance within the POS hardware ensure compatibility with modern consumer payment preferences and provide the fraud liability protection associated with chip-authenticated transactions. The combination of these capabilities with the touchscreen tablet interface reflects POS hardware design choices that became standard across the industry following the broader shift toward tablet-based POS systems.
Free credit card readers and portable swipers are advertised as part of the TMS hardware offering, though independent reviewers note that the specific terms required to qualify for free equipment, including any associated contract commitments, are not always clearly disclosed. Merchants should request the specific terms attached to any free equipment offer before assuming there is no associated cost or commitment.
Additional Services: Gift Cards, Loyalty, and Merchant Cash Advance
Beyond core payment processing, TMS offers a range of additional services that extend the platform’s value for merchants seeking a more comprehensive relationship with a single provider. Gift card programs allow merchants to issue branded stored-value cards, generating the incremental revenue and customer acquisition benefits that gift card programs typically provide for retail and hospitality businesses.
Loyalty programs capability exists along with gift cards, which allows merchants to provide incentives and retain their customers through an organized system of loyalty programs. The availability of loyalty programs in conjunction with gift cards in a single merchant account as opposed to other independent vendor accounts streamlines the management of the customer engagement tools offered by TMS.
Merchant cash advance solutions are available through TMS. This funding solution involves providing working capital to a merchant in exchange for future sales of card purchases. Since this type of funding usually comes with higher rates compared to business lending from banks and other financial institutions, merchants considering merchant cash advances should compare the effective cost of capital against that of other types of loans.
Services for mobile social marketing are relatively rare among merchant service offerings, indicating that TMS has traditionally operated not only as a pure payment processor, but also as a provider of various marketing solutions and customer engagement solutions.
Pricing Structure and Transparency
Total Merchant Services does not publish its rates or fees on its website, a pattern consistent with the broader merchant services industry but one that creates meaningful friction for merchants trying to compare costs before entering a sales conversation. The company’s pricing varies depending on business type, the specific cards accepted, and the merchant’s processing volume, requiring direct engagement with a sales representative or a quote-comparison service to obtain specific rate information.
Independent review aggregators have noted that obtaining an accurate, fully disclosed quote benefits from using a neutral third-party comparison service rather than relying solely on TMS’s own sales process, reflecting a broader industry pattern where direct sales engagement can produce rate quotes that are not fully itemized at the point of initial presentation.
The complaint record specifically and consistently cites unexpectedly higher fees than what was discussed during the sales process as one of the primary sources of merchant dissatisfaction. This pattern, combined with documented deceptive sales practices complaints, suggests that the gap between what is presented during the sales conversation and what actually appears on monthly statements has been a recurring issue for a meaningful number of TMS merchants.
Merchants engaging with TMS should request a complete written fee schedule covering all transaction rates by card type, monthly service fees, statement fees, PCI compliance fees, batch fees, and any minimum monthly charges before signing, and should compare this written documentation against their actual first few months of statements to verify that the disclosed terms match what is actually billed.
Contract Terms and Early Termination Fees
Contract terms at Total Merchant Services have generated a consistent volume of complaints centered on expensive early termination fees and difficulty canceling accounts. The combination of these two issues, an ETF that is described as expensive and a cancellation process that is described as difficult to navigate, compounds the financial and administrative burden on merchants who want to exit the relationship.
Documented complaints describe situations where merchants continued to be billed monthly fees, in one case 39.95 dollars per month, for extended periods after they believed they had successfully cancelled their account and stopped using the service. The inability to reach a representative who could process the cancellation, combined with the observation that account representatives are described as responsive and helpful until the merchant wants to leave the relationship, after which they no longer respond, reflects a structural incentive problem common across the ISO industry where sales-oriented account management does not extend equal attention to retention-resistant cancellation requests.
Equipment return disputes have also appeared in the complaint record, with one merchant describing a collection action initiated for unreturned equipment more than a year after they had returned it, requiring them to provide proof of return shipment to resolve a dispute that should have been settled at the time of the original return. This kind of administrative breakdown, where equipment return tracking and account closure status are not properly reconciled internally, creates avoidable stress and financial risk for merchants who have already fulfilled their contractual obligations.
Merchants should document every step of the cancellation process in writing, retain proof of equipment, return shipment with tracking confirmation, and follow up with written confirmation requests if account closure or equipment receipt is not confirmed within a reasonable timeframe.
Security and PCI Compliance
Total Merchant Services maintains PCI DSS compliance across its processing infrastructure, providing the baseline security certification required for handling cardholder data. Independent reviews specifically highlight TMS’s security and PCI DSS compliance as a positive aspect of the company’s offering, suggesting that the technical security infrastructure itself has not been a significant source of merchant complaints relative to the commercial and contractual issues documented elsewhere.
Encryption and anti-fraud mechanisms are built into the processing system by default, providing a minimum level of security appropriate for both face-to-face and card not present transaction situations. The Groovv POS system offers chip card capability, which ensures that any transactions done in-store are secured against liability in the same way as transactions completed by chip card.
With regard to eCommerce merchants and use of the company’s virtual terminal and shopping cart functionality, the security of transactions will vary depending upon the individual gateway and shopping cart used, and merchants need to investigate what security certifications apply to their individual set-up.
The association with Global Payments due to the recent acquisition of the NAB group means that transaction security infrastructure benefits from Global Payments’ standards, a good aspect considering the large size of Global Payments compared to other companies in the industry.
Customer Support and Sales Practice Concerns
Customer support at Total Merchant Services presents a pattern that the company’s own independent reviewers have specifically analyzed: a meaningful distinction between issues originating from sales agent interactions during signup versus the quality of ongoing customer service after the account is established.
A significant portion of the complaints filed against TMS appear to stem from interactions with sales agents during the signup process, including deceptive sales tactics and rate misrepresentation, rather than from issues encountered with customer service representatives in subsequent account management. This distinction is meaningful but does not fully exonerate the company, since an effective customer service team should be capable of identifying and resolving issues stemming from problematic sales conduct before those issues escalate to public complaint forums and regulatory bodies.
The documented experience of merchants who found their assigned account representative responsive and helpful during the active relationship but unreachable upon attempting to cancel reflects a customer support model that is functionally oriented toward retention rather than balanced service throughout the full lifecycle of the merchant relationship. For merchants who are satisfied with their pricing and service and have no intention of leaving, this pattern may never become relevant. For merchants who eventually want to switch providers or close their account, the support experience at that critical juncture has been a consistent source of frustration.
The 68 BBB complaints documented over a three-year period, combined with upwards of 100 reviews across various consumer protection websites citing scam-like or ripoff characterizations, represent a volume of negative feedback that merchants should weigh seriously, while also recognizing that complaint volume should be evaluated in the context of the company’s overall merchant base of approximately 100,000 businesses.
Strengths, Limitations, and Who It Is Best For
Total Merchant Services is a long-established, mid-size payment processor with genuine product breadth covering standard card processing, mobile payments through Payment Jack, advanced POS capability through the Groovv platform, EBT acceptance, and a range of additional services including gift cards, loyalty programs, and merchant cash advances. The 48-hour funding commitment, the PCI DSS compliance infrastructure, and the backing of Global Payments’ processing infrastructure following the NAB acquisition provide a credible operational foundation for the company’s processing capabilities.
The limitations are well-documented and consistent across independent review sources. Pricing lacks public transparency and the gap between sales-quoted rates and actual billed amounts has been a recurring source of merchant complaint. Contract terms, including early termination fees and the difficulty of the cancellation process, have generated a meaningful volume of negative feedback. The pattern of responsive account management during the active relationship contrasted with unresponsiveness during cancellation attempts reflects a structural service gap that merchants should anticipate and plan around. The naming confusion with the unrelated Total Merchant Resources business funding company adds an additional layer of due diligence complexity for anyone researching the company online.
The merchants best positioned to engage successfully with Total Merchant Services are those who conduct thorough upfront contract review, obtain written and itemized fee disclosure before signing, negotiate firmly during the sales process recognizing that rates and terms are not fixed, and maintain careful documentation throughout their relationship with the company, particularly around any equipment returns and cancellation requests. Merchants who prioritize contract flexibility and pricing transparency above the convenience of free equipment and bundled additional services may find better-suited alternatives among processors with more transparent and merchant-favorable standard terms.
FAQs
Q1. Is Total Merchant Services the same company as Total Merchant Resources, which appeared on Shark Tank?
No, these are two entirely separate and unrelated companies whose similar names have caused significant confusion in online reviews and research. Total Merchant Services, the subject of this review, is a payment processing company founded in 1996, headquartered in Woodland Hills, California, registered as an ISO and MSP of Wells Fargo Bank, and acquired by North American Bancard in 2017. It provides merchant accounts, POS systems, and payment processing services.
Total Merchant Resources is a separate business funding and lending platform headquartered in New Jersey that gained visibility through an appearance on the television show Shark Tank, securing investment from Kevin O’Leary. Total Merchant Resources is in the business funding and loan space, not payment processing. When researching either company, verify the specific business activity described, the headquarters location, and the corporate history described to confirm you are evaluating the correct entity, since the naming similarity makes it easy to conflate reviews, complaints, and business activities between the two.
Q2. What is the relationship between Total Merchant Services, North American Bancard, and Global Payments?
Total Merchant Services was acquired by North American Bancard in 2017. Following this acquisition, TMS has continued to operate under its own brand name in the market, maintaining its distinct customer-facing identity, sales relationships, and product offerings rather than being fully absorbed into the North American Bancard brand. For back-end processing infrastructure, TMS relies on Global Payments, one of the largest payment technology companies in the world, to handle the underlying transaction processing and settlement functions.
This three-layer structure, where TMS is the customer-facing brand and sales organization, North American Bancard is the corporate parent and owner, and Global Payments provides the back-end processing infrastructure, is a common arrangement in the merchant services industry where branded ISOs maintain distinct market identities while relying on larger processing organizations for the technical infrastructure underlying their services. Merchants engaging with TMS today are entering a relationship that involves all three of these organizations in different capacities, even though their direct point of contact and account management relationship will be with TMS specifically.
Q3. What steps should a merchant take to avoid the early termination fee and cancellation difficulties documented in TMS complaints?
Avoiding the documented pattern of expensive early termination fees and difficult cancellation processes requires proactive steps both before signing and throughout the merchant relationship. Before signing, request the complete written merchant agreement and identify the specific contract term length, the automatic renewal provisions, the exact early termination fee amount, and the required cancellation notice period and submission method.
Ask specifically whether the contract term can be shortened or whether the early termination fee can be reduced or waived as part of the negotiation, since these terms are frequently more flexible than initially presented. During the active relationship, maintain a calendar reminder for the cancellation notice deadline well before the contract renewal date, since missing this window typically triggers automatic renewal for an additional term.
When initiating a cancellation, submit the request in writing through the specific channel identified in the merchant agreement rather than relying solely on a phone call to your account representative, and request written confirmation that the cancellation has been received and processed. If you are returning leased or company-owned equipment as part of the cancellation, use a shipping method that provides tracking and delivery confirmation, and retain that documentation indefinitely in case of a later dispute about whether the equipment was returned.
If continued billing occurs after a confirmed cancellation date, dispute the charges with your bank immediately and file a written complaint with the company, escalating to the Better Business Bureau or the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau if the issue is not resolved promptly.