Clearly Payments Review

Clearly Payments is a Vancouver merchant services company founded in 2018 that sells merchant accounts, terminals, a payment gateway and related tools to businesses in Canada and, since January 2023, the United States. It is a registered ISO of the Canadian branch of U.S. Bank National Association, the bank behind Elavon, so the merchant account sits with an acquiring bank rather than an aggregator. Its pricing is more open than most ISOs: as of October 2026 it publishes interchange-plus markups by annual volume, from 0.38% + $0.08 down to 0.15% + $0.04 in person and 0.48% + $0.23 down to 0.23% + $0.12 online or keyed, for businesses selling $150,000 to $10 million a year on cards. Canadian businesses can instead pay a monthly membership, from $99 plus 8 cents a transaction, with no percentage markup. Interchange is passed through on top of both. It advertises no locked-in contract and no cancellation fee, and next-day funding for most industries. The gaps: no published tier below $150,000 a year, terminal rental prices are quote-only, the pricing pages do not state currency or sales tax, the merchant services agreement is not public, and there are very few independent customer reviews.

Estimated annual cost at three realistic processing volumes, using Clearly Payments’s published online rate plus monthly fees. Real costs vary with average transaction size, chargeback rate, and any negotiated terms.

What Clearly Payments is

Clearly Payments Inc. is a merchant services company based in Vancouver, British Columbia. It announced its launch in Canada in March 2018, and its own January 2023 announcement of a US expansion says it was founded in 2018; the BBB lists a business start date of 1 December 2018. Its contact page gives a Canadian headquarters at 1155 West Pender Street in Vancouver and a US office in San Francisco. The leadership listed on its about page is Kalle Radage, who announced the launch as CEO in 2018, Chris Farmer, now CEO, and Ben Yua, the CFO. A March 2020 press release announced Farmer's appointment as CEO, with Radage moving to executive chairman, and described all three as former Payfirma executives. The company sells merchant accounts, payment terminals, point-of-sale systems, a gateway with hosted payment pages, a virtual terminal, recurring billing, invoicing, a mobile payments app and, in Canada, small business loans. We found no published merchant count beyond its own description of serving thousands of merchants.

Why we list it as an ISO

Clearly Payments does not run an aggregated account the way a payment facilitator does. Each merchant is underwritten for its own merchant account, and the site's footer states that Clearly Payments 'is a Registered Partner/ISO of the Canadian Branch of U.S. Bank National Association'. U.S. Bank is the parent of Elavon, so in Canada the acquiring bank is U.S. Bank and Clearly Payments is the sales and service organisation in front of it. The merchant account page adds that it works with multiple acquiring partners for subscription, ecommerce, B2B and higher-risk businesses. We could not confirm from a primary source which acquirer backs US accounts; the Clover POS it sells to US merchants runs on Fiserv's platform, and Merchant Maverick reports underwriting through Fiserv and Elavon, but Clearly does not say so itself.

What it costs: Cost Plus

Cost Plus is interchange-plus pricing. Interchange and card-network fees are passed through at cost, and Clearly adds a published percentage markup and a per-transaction charge. As of October 2026 the markup falls as annual card sales rise:

• $150,000 to $300,000 a year: 0.38% + $0.08 in person; 0.48% + $0.23 online or keyed.
• $300,000 to $600,000: 0.33% + $0.06 in person; 0.43% + $0.18 online or keyed.
• $600,000 to $1 million: 0.28% + $0.06 in person; 0.38% + $0.17 online or keyed.
• $1 million to $3 million: 0.23% + $0.05 in person; 0.33% + $0.14 online or keyed.
• $3 million to $10 million: 0.15% + $0.04 in person; 0.23% + $0.12 online or keyed.
• Above that, enterprise pricing is quoted.

There is no published tier below $150,000 a year, so a smaller business has to ask for a quote. The page promises no setup fee and no cancellation fee and says Clearly manages the PCI compliance process, but it does not list the account's other charges, such as a monthly, statement, PCI or chargeback fee, so ask for the full schedule. The pricing page also says Clearly does not raise its markup, although interchange and network costs can change. Neither page says whether the figures are in Canadian or US dollars, or whether GST, HST or other sales tax is added. Confirm both in writing before you sign.

What it costs: Membership (Canada only)

Membership replaces the percentage markup with a monthly fee. Basic starts at $99 a month plus 8 cents per transaction, for up to $50,000 a month in card sales. Pro starts at $189 a month plus 6 cents per transaction, for $50,000 to $250,000 a month. Above that, pricing is custom. Interchange and network costs are still passed through, and terminal rental is extra. The membership page says both plans include managed PCI support with no separate PCI fee, no statement fee, a free gateway and no cancellation fee. It is offered to Canadian businesses only. Clearly launched the model in March 2020 and said it believed it was the first of its kind in Canada.

Which model is cheaper depends on volume, transaction count and channel. As an illustration only, using the published figures and leaving interchange and network costs out entirely, a Canadian shop taking $30,000 a month in person across 600 transactions ($360,000 a year, in the $300,000 to $600,000 Cost Plus tier) would pay $99 + $36 = $135 a month in Cost Plus markup, against $99 + $48 = $147 on Basic. If the same $30,000 came in online, Cost Plus would cost $129 + $108 = $237, and Basic would be $90 a month cheaper. At $120,000 a month in person across 2,400 transactions ($1.44 million a year, in the $1 million to $3 million tier), Cost Plus would come to $276 + $120 = $396 and Pro to $189 + $144 = $333. The membership fee is charged in a quiet month too, and the plan prices are 'starting at' figures, so these sums are our own arithmetic, not Clearly's quotes; get both models quoted against your own statement.

Hardware, POS and online tools

Terminals are rented, and rental prices are not published. The terminal page lists the Ingenico Desk 5000 and Move 5000, the Newland N950, the Poynt smart terminal, the Axium DX8000, and the Clover Flex for US merchants only. The POS page offers Clover in the US and Talech. Online, Clearly provides a gateway with APIs and client libraries, hosted payment pages, card storage with tokenisation, recurring billing and instalments, email invoicing with automatic reminders, a browser-based virtual terminal, and plugins including WordPress and WooCommerce. The mobile app works with the Ingenico iCMP Bluetooth reader, or with keyed entry. Some product pages are dated: the mobile page still offers a reader that plugs into a phone's headphone jack.

Payouts, contracts and holds

The merchant account page says next-day funding is available for most industries, and other product pages say funds arrive the same day or the next, depending on when the transaction is made. Deposits can go to an existing bank or credit union account in Canadian or US dollars. The pricing pages say there are no locked-in contracts and no cancellation fee, and the merchant account page says most standard-risk merchants are not locked into long-term contracts. That wording leaves room for different terms on higher-risk accounts. The services agreement that governs the account is not published, so we could not check its notice period, reserve or hold clauses, or chargeback fees. Merchant Maverick reports that up to 30 days' notice may be needed to close an account. The privacy policy, the one legal document on the site, reads like a US template: it refers to Social Security numbers and US law and gives a West Vancouver mailing address that differs from the headquarters on the contact page.

High-risk and hard-to-place businesses

Clearly actively takes on businesses many processors decline. Its high-risk page lists travel, cruises and airlines; gaming and digital goods; supplements and pharmaceuticals; tobacco, CBD and vaping; firearms and ammunition; coaching and online courses; multi-level marketing and direct response; and financial services and lenders. A separate page covers licensed cannabis producers, dispensaries and CBD merchants in Canada. The page is candid that high-risk pricing can be higher and that accounts may carry transaction limits, extra monitoring or a reserve, and that approval is not guaranteed. High-risk rates are not published.

Reputation and complaints

There is little independent evidence either way. As of 16 October 2026 Trustpilot shows a TrustScore of 2.8 from just eight reviews, even though six of the eight (75%) are five-star. The other two are one-star, and both appear under the same reviewer name: June 2025 and May 2026 reviews from an applicant who says the application was declined without explanation. Only the May 2026 review falls in the past year. Older reviews praise lower costs, quick switching and helpful staff, and Trustpilot notes that the company has not replied to its negative reviews. The BBB rates Clearly Payments A+ but it is not accredited, and its profile shows no complaints in three years and no customer reviews. We found no lawsuit or regulatory enforcement action naming the company.

Who should use Clearly Payments

Clearly Payments suits an established business in Canada or the US, roughly $150,000 to $10 million a year in card sales, that wants its own merchant account on interchange-plus pricing and values being able to see the markup before it calls. Canadian merchants with high transaction values or a lot of card-not-present sales should price the membership plan, which charges no percentage at all. It is also worth a look for higher-risk businesses that need a bank-underwritten account. A very small or brand-new business that wants to start taking payments today at a fixed, published rate will find the quote-and-underwrite process slower. Before signing, ask for the full fee schedule, the terminal rental price and term, and a copy of the services agreement, and confirm the currency and tax treatment.