Bank of America Merchant Services
Payment Processor
1.3 / 5.0(4,297 reviews)
C+
Expert grade
3.0/5
Fact-checked April 20, 2026
Founded
2009
Headquarters
100 North Tryon Street, Charlotte, North Carolina 28255
Company size
209,571
Website
Visit websiteThe takeC+
Reading Progress0%
4 min read
Chapter 1
Should you choose Bank of America Merchant Services?
The headline take, the audiences it's right (and wrong) for, and the genuine differentiators behind the verdict.
TL;DR
Bank of America Merchant Services offers a wide range of payment acceptance tools for retail, restaurant, personal services, on-the-go, and e-commerce businesses. Hardware options range from printers to scanners, weight scales, cash drawers, and more, and the company provides software, hardware, and infrastructure to accept payments, including virtual terminals, mobile point of sale, and e-commerce gateways. A standout feature is its banking integration: merchants who hold a Bank of America business checking account can access funds as soon as the same business day.
Another strength of Bank of America's Merchant Services is security. BofA provides strong measures to protect both merchants and customers, including PCI DSS compliance guidance, tokenization, and point-to-point encryption to reduce the risk of cardholder data breaches. The Preferred Rewards for Business program also allows qualifying merchants to receive rate discounts of up to 0.10%, which is unique among major bank-based processors.
On the downside, pricing has been one of the most debated aspects of Bank of America Merchant Services. Merchants may face multiple charges, including monthly account fees, PCI compliance fees, statement fees, and equipment lease costs. Small merchants often find the structure confusing and potentially more expensive than fintech competitors. Additionally, some businesses report receiving competitive rates, but others feel misled by sales representatives who failed to disclose additional costs, making it essential for merchants to carefully review contracts and clarify all fees before signing.
About
Bank of America Merchant Services is a large, bank-integrated payment processing solution ideal for existing BofA business checking customers who value brand stability, seamless funding, and broad payment acceptance though it lags behind fintech competitors on pricing transparency, modern integrations, and third-party review scores.
Pros, cons, and audience
Best for
- Existing Bank of America business checking customers
- Small-to-medium retail, restaurant, and personal services businesses
- Businesses that want a one-stop shop for banking + merchant services
- Merchants who value same-day funding and banking integration
- Non-profits with tax exemption needs
Skip it if you
- High-volume merchants who need interchange-plus transparency and negotiated rates
- Tech-savvy businesses needing robust APIs, SDKs, or developer tools
- E-commerce businesses needing deep platform integrations
- High-risk merchants
- Businesses needing international processing
- Startups that need instant account approval
Pros
- Same-day funding for BofA checking account holders
- No long-term contracts and no early termination fees (on simplified pricing plan)
- Testing/demo environment available for developers
- Dedicated specialists and in-person branch support
Cons
- Pricing can still be opaque outside the simplified plan
- Ancillary fees not always disclosed
- Real-world effective rates have been reported as extremely high for some merchants
- Requires a BofA business checking account (limiting flexibility)
- Onboarding can be slow compared to modern fintech alternatives
- Customer service quality is inconsistent; long hold times commonly reported
How we score it
2
Pricing Transparency
4
Feature Set
3
Ease of Use
3
Customer Support
3
Contract Terms
3
Industry Reputation
How we got there
Bank of America Merchant Services benefits enormously from its banking integration, same-day funding for account holders, and its extensive network of small business clients. However, it earns a lower grade due to historically opaque pricing, complaints about high effective rates, past (and potentially ongoing) long-term contracts with steep early termination fees, limited transparency on ancillary fees, a low consumer Trustpilot score, and serious regulatory actions by the CFPB. The company has improved in recent years by eliminating long-term contracts and ETFs for most customers and introducing flat-rate simplified pricing, but inconsistency across its sales channel and the complexity of its older pricing models still affect merchants negatively. For a company of this size and brand prestige, the merchant experience could be much stronger.
Chapter 2
What it costs
Real-world cost at three volumes, plus the rates, fees, payouts, and contract terms that drive them.
What Bank of America Merchant Services actually costs
Estimated annual cost at three realistic processing volumes, using Bank of America Merchant Services’s published online rate plus monthly fees. Real costs vary with average transaction size, chargeback rate, and any negotiated terms.
Small business
$10K/mo volume · ~$75 avg transaction
$3.6K/year
≈ $299/mo · 2.99% effective rate
Growing merchant
$50K/mo volume · ~$100 avg transaction
$18K/year
≈ $1.5K/mo · 2.99% effective rate
High volume
$250K/mo volume · ~$150 avg transaction
$90K/year
≈ $7.5K/mo · 2.99% effective rate
Processing Rates
Online Transactions
Card-not-present, e-commerce, and online payments
2.99% + .30
Per transaction
In-Person Transactions
Card-present retail and point-of-sale transactions
2.65% + .10
Per transaction
Keyed Transactions
Manually entered card-not-present transactions
3.50% + $0.15
Per transaction
International Transactions
Cross-border and foreign currency transactions
Not publicly disclosed
Per transaction
Fees
Monthly Fee
No standard monthly fee on the simplified pricing plan; POS software solutions require a monthly subscription fee
Recurring monthly account fee
Setup Fee
Not publicly disclosed
One-time account setup and onboarding fee
PCI Compliance Fee
Not publicly disclosed
Annual PCI DSS compliance and security fee
Statement Fee
Not publicly disclosed
Monthly account statement and reporting fee
Chargeback Fee
Not publicly disclosed
Per-incident chargeback dispute fee
Early Termination Fee
No early termination fees on simplified pricing plan. Older/legacy contracts through Fiserv/First Data had ETFs up to $500.
Fee for canceling before contract end
Payouts
Standard Payout Time
Next-day funding is available to all merchants (since all merchants must have a Bank of America checking account)
Regular deposit schedule to your bank account
Expedited Payout Time
Subject to credit approval
Faster deposit option (may have additional fees)
Minimum Payout Amount
Not publicly specified
Minimum balance required before payout
Contract Terms
Contract Length
Required commitment period
No length of term required. No penalty for closing the account.
Cancellation Process
How to terminate your account
Cancellation is handled through account closure with BofA
Bank of America Merchant Services Pricing Calculator
Estimate your monthly costs
Pick a published plan, enter your volume and transaction profile, and we’ll compute the math the same way an underwriter would. Real costs vary with card mix, chargeback rate, and any negotiated terms.
$
$
Estimated Monthly Cost
$299.00
Effective Rate
2.99%
Discount rate (2.99% × $10,000)$299.00
Number of transactions200
Flat all-in rate (interchange built in)
Chapter 3
What you actually get
Products, integrations, payment-type coverage, security posture, and how their support holds up in practice.
Special Features
Subscription Management
Manage recurring subscriptions and billing cycles
Supported
Invoicing
Create and send professional invoices
Supported
Marketplace Tools
Multi-vendor marketplace functionality
Not Available
Virtual Terminal
Accept payments manually via web interface
Supported
Recurring Billing
Automated recurring payment processing
Supported
Multi-Currency Support
Accept and process multiple currencies
Supported
Accepted Payment Types
Credit & Debit Cards
Visa
Mastercard
Discover
American Express
Diner's Club
JCB
Digital Wallets
Apple Pay
Google Pay
Samsung Pay
Bank Transfers
Electronic check acceptance via TeleCheck
Alternative Payment Methods
EBT
Prepaid cards
Integrations
E-commerce Platforms
Compatible shopping cart and online store platforms
WooCommerce (via a dedicated BofA extension)
1 integration available
Other Integrations
Additional third-party integrations and tools
Business Advantage 360
1 integration available
Security & Compliance
PCI Compliance
Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard compliance level
Various PCI SAQ levels depending on integration type
Fraud Prevention
Fraud detection and prevention tools
Supported
Data Encryption
Encryption standards for data at rest and in transit
End-to-end encryption
Tokenization
Supported
Replace sensitive card data with secure tokens
Support & Contact
Support Types
phonekb
Quality Assessment
Customer reviews across platforms consistently cite long hold times, unhelpful support staff, and difficulty reaching resolution on complex issues. The support experience tends to be better for merchants who work with a dedicated relationship banker or specialist.
Chapter 4
What others say
Synthesis of third-party platform reviews and industry ratings — agreements, disagreements, and which signals to weight.
Platform Ratings
Aggregated Trust Score
Based on 4,297 reviews across 2 rating platforms
1.3
out of 5
Overall Rating
Better Business Bureau
1,170 reviews
Reviewer Notes
BBB reviews reflect significant dissatisfaction with customer service, fraud resolution, account holds, and communication. Complaints include funds being held unexpectedly, difficulty reaching support, and unresolved fraud cases. BofA typically responds to complaints with a templated acknowledgment.
Trustpilot
3,127 reviews
Reviewer Notes
Most reviewers express significant dissatisfaction with customer service, including long wait times, unhelpful support staff, and a general lack of concern for customer needs. Customers also report issues with double charges, holds on deposits, and difficulties accessing funds. Merchant-specific reviews include complaints about BofA's handling of chargebacks and disputes, particularly with American Express transactions.
Chapter 5
Watch out for
Legal actions, regulatory matters, and signals from employee reviews that bear on how merchants get treated.
Legal Actions
CFPB July 2023
CFPB ordered Bank of America to pay more than $100 million to customers and $150 million in penalties to the CFPB and OCC. The findings included systematically double-dipping on NSF fees, withholding promised credit card rewards bonuses, and misappropriating sensitive personal information to open accounts without customer knowledge.
CFPB December 2024
Dropped
the CFPB filed a lawsuit against Bank of America (along with JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo) alleging the banks failed to protect consumers from rampant fraud on the Zelle platform. The CFPB later dropped this lawsuit in early 2025 under the new administration.
Employee Reviews & Sales Practices
3.9/5
Overall Employee Rating
Based on 42743 employee reviews
Sources
https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Bank-of-America-work-environment-Reviews-EI_IE8874.0,15_KH16,32.htm
Summary
75% of Bank of America employees would recommend working there to a friend. Employees praise the benefits package, including 401(k) matching, health coverage, tuition reimbursement, and flexible time off. Common criticisms include poor management, long hours, minimal bonuses, slow career progression, and frequent organizational changes and layoffs.
Chapter 7
Better choices if…
Direct comparisons to alternatives, framed around when each option makes more sense than this one.
How we evaluated Bank of America Merchant Services
We evaluate every payment processor independently — Payment Review does not accept paid placement. Our analysis combines hands-on product testing where possible, public pricing and policy documents, third-party reviews from BBB, Trustpilot, Google, and G2, and employee feedback from sites like Glassdoor and Indeed. We update reviews on a rolling cadence and flag the next review date so readers know how fresh the analysis is.
Reviewed by Kyle Hall
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