Usio Review

Usio, Inc. (Nasdaq: USIO) is a San Antonio, Texas payments company that started in July 1998 as Billserv.com. It became Payment Data Systems in 2003 and Usio in 2019. Its main pitch is to software companies: through its PayFac-in-a-Box or Payfac-as-a-Service program, a software platform can sign up its own customers as sub-merchants and share in the processing revenue, without registering as a payment facilitator itself. Around that sit ACH processing (Usio is a Nacha Certified Third-Party Sender), card processing, PINless debit, remotely created checks, prepaid card issuing, and a bill print, mail and e-billing business. In 2025 Usio processed $8.4 billion across all payment types and reported revenue of $85.4 million and a net loss of $2.5 million. Usio does not publish its processing rates. Pricing is quoted per account, and its terminals are the only prices on its website. Its 2025 annual report says most of its merchant customers sign long-term contracts, generally for three years. There is very little public feedback from merchants: the BBB has no complaints and no rating, Trustpilot has no reviews, and G2 shows 24 reviews, all five-star.

What Usio is

Usio, Inc. is a payments company based at 3611 Paesanos Parkway in San Antonio, Texas, and listed on the Nasdaq as USIO. Its 2025 annual report describes it as a cloud-based fintech payment processor that both accepts and disburses payments, and it reports two segments: Merchant Services (ACH and related services, card processing and prepaid cards) and Output Solutions (bill printing, mailing and electronic billing). At 31 December 2025 it had 107 full-time and three part-time employees. In 2025 it processed $8.4 billion across all payment types, up 19% on 2024, and 60.8 million transactions. Revenue was $85.4 million, with a net loss of $2.5 million. In the first half of 2026 revenue rose to $49.1 million, from $42.0 million a year earlier.

The company's name has changed twice. It was founded in July 1998 as Billserv.com, Inc., an electronic bill presentment and payment business, and later shortened its name to Billserv, Inc. In July 2003 it sold substantially all of its operating assets, its e-billing technology, for $4.8 million (including a $700,000 earnout), and that year renamed itself Payment Data Systems, Inc. and moved into electronic payment processing. It took the name Usio, Inc. on 26 June 2019. Acquisitions shaped what it sells today. The assets of Akimbo Financial (December 2014) became its prepaid card business, run through its subsidiary FiCentive. Singular Payments (2017) became its payfac platform. The assets of Information Management Solutions (December 2020) became Usio Output Solutions, and in November 2025 it bought the assets of PostCredit, an expense management product. Louis Hoch is founder, chairman and chief executive.

Why we list Usio as a payment facilitator

For card processing, the merchant's contract is usually with Usio. In the copy of Usio's sub-merchant processing agreement we read, the merchant signs with Usio, Inc. (doing business as Singular Payments in that 2019 copy) for a sub-merchant account. Usio approves the account, holds and disburses funds on the merchant's behalf and can set up reserves. That is the payment facilitator model. Usio sells it mainly through software companies with PayFac-in-a-Box, also branded Payfac-as-a-Service, in which the software partner integrates once and its customers are onboarded as Usio sub-merchants. Usio is not a bank. Its 10-K says member banks sponsor it with Visa and Mastercard as an Independent Sales Organization and Merchant Service Provider, and that processors including TriSource Solutions and Global Payments settle its card transactions. Usio also still serves older ISO-style card portfolios, which its filings say are shrinking. We chose payfac rather than iso because the payfac platform is where its card growth comes from, and its own agreement makes Usio the sub-merchant's counterparty.

What it costs

Usio does not publish processing prices. As of October 2026, no Usio-owned page lists a card rate, an ACH or PINless debit fee, a monthly or statement fee, a PCI fee or a termination fee, so rates are quoted per account. Its card processing page promises 'the most simple and transparent pricing model in the market' and a 90-day savings guarantee, but does not show the price. Its FAQ for software companies says there is no charge to integrate or test in the sandbox, and no gateway set-up or monthly cost, with the merchant paying per transaction. For software partners, Usio advertises a revenue share without saying how much. The only published prices are for six Android EMV terminals, listed at $207 to $389 each plus tax and shipping.

Because nothing is published, ask for a full written fee schedule. It should cover the card rate and pricing model (interchange-plus or flat), per-transaction fees, ACH debit and credit fees, ACH return and notification-of-change fees, chargeback and retrieval fees, any monthly minimum, PCI fees and the cost of Same-Day ACH. For a software partner, it should also show the revenue share split and who sets the merchant's price.

ACH, PINless debit and payouts

ACH is where Usio stands out. It is a Nacha Certified Third-Party Sender, and its 10-K says it is one of nine companies holding that certification and was the second to receive it. It originates through more than one bank (its filings name North American Banking Company and TransPecos Bank) and sends files to the Federal Reserve through a sponsored Direct Access connection. It offers Same-Day and Next-Day ACH with late cutoffs, Sunday processing on some gateways, REST APIs and SFTP batch files, automated return handling and instant account validation that sits outside the ACH network. Its FAQ says high-risk clients must prefund, and post-funding needs underwriting approval. PINless debit, sponsored through TransPecos Bank, pushes or pulls funds on debit cards in real time, which Usio markets for instant loan funding. Remotely created checks are offered as an ACH alternative for recurring billing, call centres and debt repayment.

On the payout side, Usio's prepaid business issues Mastercard prepaid cards through FiCentive with Sunrise Banks as sponsor bank. Its Consumer Choice product lets a business pay a recipient by prepaid or virtual card, ACH, paper check, PINless debit, PayPal or Venmo, and Usio began offering real-time payments in 2023. Prepaid volumes fell in 2025: load volume dropped 40.6% after one client lost a large downstream customer. ACH transactions rose 29.3% and card dollar volume rose 12.7%.

Funding, reserves and contract terms

Usio does not publish its merchant agreement or funding schedule. Its 10-K for 2025 says most of its merchant customers have signed long-term contracts, generally with three-year terms and volume-based transaction fees, and are under contract to use its services exclusively. The only version we could read is a 2019 sub-merchant agreement filed in a city council's public records. It was sold through a reseller for municipal payments, so treat its specifics as an example, not as today's terms. Under that 2019 copy, funds were credited at the end of every business day and payouts 'normally register within 2-3 business days'. Usio could defer payouts for as long as it deems necessary during an investigation. It could also set up a reserve account in an amount it reasonably determines, change it at any time, and fund it from the merchant's payouts or bank account. Where chargebacks were pending or likely, it could withhold funds until the later of 270 days after termination or 180 days after the last chargeback. Usio could change fees on 30 days' notice. The merchant could cancel at any time, with or without cause, but stayed liable for fees and chargebacks; that cancellation right sits uneasily with the three-year terms the 10-K describes, so read the current contract's term and exit clauses closely. The agreement was governed by Texas law, with venue in Bexar County, and the services could be used only in the United States. Its attached fee schedule, a convenience-fee deal in which customers paid 2.95% + $0.20 on some card types and $2.95 per ACH payment, listed a $0.00 early termination fee and an $18 ACH return fee. Those were negotiated figures for one contract, not published rates.

Reputation and complaints

Public merchant feedback on Usio is thin. As of October 2026, its BBB profile shows no rating, no accreditation and no complaints in the past three years. Its Trustpilot page has no reviews and has not been claimed. On G2 it has 24 reviews, all five-star, for a 5.0 rating. Seven of the ten most recent were posted between 18 and 22 March 2026, and several reviewers use its prepaid and disbursement products rather than card processing. Reviewers mostly praise responsive support staff, and G2's summary names an outdated user interface as the common criticism. Usio promotes these G2 awards heavily on its own blog. With so few reviews, they say little about how Usio handles reserves, holds or disputes at scale.

Usio's 10-K for 2025 lists two lawsuits, both now closed. In September 2021, KDHM, LLC, owned by the former owners of Information Management Solutions, sued Usio's subsidiary Usio Output Solutions in Bexar County, Texas, over customer deposits under the 2020 asset purchase agreement, and Usio counterclaimed. A Texas appeals court ruled for Usio on one claim in April 2025, the Supreme Court of Texas declined KDHM's appeal in January 2026, and KDHM agreed to Usio's settlement in February 2026. Usio said it would record the $120,000 settlement as a reduction of its expenses. The dispute was between Usio and the sellers of a business it bought, and did not involve merchants or payment processing. Separately, Usio was the plaintiff in a trade-secrets suit against two former Singular Payments executives and their new company, Triple Pay Play. That case settled in 2025, and Usio recorded the $115,000 settlement as a reduction of its expenses. Usio's 10-Q for the second quarter of 2026 says it was not party to any legal proceedings. We found no regulatory enforcement action naming Usio or Payment Data Systems.

Bank partners and a disclosure inconsistency

Usio's 2025 10-K names its card sponsors in two places, and they do not match. The business section says Central Bank of St. Louis and Fifth Third Bank sponsor it, through processing agreements with TriSource Solutions and Global Payments. A later passage names Central Bank of St. Louis and Wells Fargo Bank, through TriSource, Card Connect/First Data and Global Payments. The footer of Usio's card processing page says Usio is 'a registered Independent Sales Organization of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., Concord CA.' Its 10-Q for the second quarter of 2026 does not restate the sponsor arrangements; it names Fifth Third Bank, Sunrise Bank and TransPecos Bank among its banking relationships and does not mention Wells Fargo. It is common for an older disclosure to linger in a filing, but if your sponsor bank matters to you, ask Usio which bank and processor your account will use.

Who should use Usio

Usio fits a US software company that wants to add payments for its customers with a revenue share, especially in billing-heavy fields such as healthcare, legal, property management, utilities, insurance, lending and nonprofits. It also fits a biller or lender that wants card collection, serious ACH capability, real-time debit card payouts, prepaid cards and even printed bills from one provider. It is less suitable for a single small business that wants a published flat rate and online sign-up, and anyone outside the United States should look elsewhere. Because neither the price nor the terms are published, compare a written quote and the current sub-merchant agreement against at least one provider with published pricing before you commit.