Sekure Merchant Solutions is a lesser-known merchant services provider in the market. It seems that this merchant services company is primarily resellers of North American Bancard, which has been rated very negatively in the merchant services industry. This is not similar to Host Merchant Services, which has received excellent reviews since the beginning of the company.
This contents in this article is not meant to review Sekure Merchant Solutions but provide an accurate side-by-side analysis of their services compared to Host Merchant Services.
This article sets out to analyze the company’s services and offerings and discover how it relates to its customers and if its terms are friendly to merchants who use the service. Throughout the article, comparisons are drawn with Host Merchant Services, a credit card processing solution for merchants. The aim is to help prospective customers gain sound information that would help their decision-making process.
Image source: Sukure
Overview of Sekure Merchant Solutions Company Branding vs HMS
Sekure Merchant Solutions started in 2006, and according to claims on the company’s website, it has over 25,000 customers. This is an impressive achievement however, perhaps Sekure would have continued to grow their customer base if only the company’s online identity was not so unclear.
For instance, besides ‘Sekure Merchant Solutions’, the company is also known by other names such as ‘Sekure Cost Review’ and ‘Sekure Bank Services’. This multitude of names can seem a little confusing for any merchant who wishes to use the service or even prospective partners. This is unlike Host Merchant Services, who has stuck with the same branding and same company name since the organization started in 2011. More so, in-depth research by some merchant review websites revealed that Sekure Merchant Solutions appears to have a reseller partnership with North American Bancard, a payment processing company.
On the other hand, companies like Host Merchant Services strive to maintain a meaningful and authentic brand identity. In fact, that is responsible for HMS’s growth over the past years. HMS has an ISO partnership with Wells Fargo Bank, and the details of the partnership are clear-cut from the get-go. As a credit card processing company, HMS remains an independent entity. However, its partnership with Wells Fargo Bank provides oversight and compliance with card association issues they may have.
How Much Does Sekure Merchant Solutions Cost vs HMS?
On Sekure Merchant Solutions’ website, the company claims to offer low rates and promises that customers will ‘get the right solution at the right cost.’ This seems enticing to every new customer, especially because Sekure Merchant Solutions also provides equipment leasing terms that promise to make switching from another merchant service seamless and easy for merchants.
However, the company does not list any fees or rates on its website, which seems rather strange, for a company that claims to provide low rates. After all, such rates need to be visible to be compared with those of other companies to determine if they are really as low as the Sekure claims. Therefore, such obscure Sekure Merchant Solutions pricing makes prospects suspicious and unsure of whether it is wise to go on conducting business with the company.
Sekure Merchant Solutions’ reviews suggest that the company’s rates might not be as low as the company claims. Besides hidden fees that individuals have noted, many Sekure Merchant Solutions complaints online have many people bemoaning its exorbitant cancellation fees. For instance, setup fees for its new customers may be up to $199 while yearly compliance charges are often over $100.
Unlike Sekure Merchant Solutions, services like HMS offer a clear pricing structure which is also affordable and displayed clearly on our website. For instance, Host Merchant Services does not charge merchants for setup, application, or early termination fees. Instead of yearly contracts, merchants sign up for monthly agreements, which they can end at any time. This is a big difference between Sekure Merchant Solutions and HMS, which gives the merchants lots of freedom. All of these features combined with HMS’s interchange-plus pricing has drawn several merchants to the service.
Sekure Merchant Solutions Contract Terms vs HMS
Since Sekure Merchant Solutions chooses not to be transparent about its actual rates and fees, it is important to determine what exactly they are up to when they issue agreements to merchants. From the information on the company’s website, it seems Sekure representatives assign customized rates to merchants. As such, requesting a quote is the only reliable way to get information about the merchant company’s fees and rates.
However, obscurity concerning the rates overflows into the obscurity of contractual terms. Being an apparent reseller of North American Bancard, it executes contracts through the payments company. Unlike HMS, they usually provide a long-term three-year contract with tiered pricing, which is often bypassed by merchants due to its expensive terms. There doesn’t seem to be an option for the cheaper interchange-plus pricing option in the way that Host Merchant Services offers.
More so, it should be noted that Sekure Merchant Solutions’ pricing contracts often come with a liquidated damages condition which forces merchants to buy out the rest of the contract, should they terminate it early. According to reviews scattered across the internet, this condition could make merchants spend up to $900 just to get out of a contract. For smaller merchants, it is clear to see how burdening such contracts can be.
When compared with Host Merchant Services, Sekure Merchant Solutions does not measure up to the former, with its prohibitive contractual terms. Rather, HMS offers merchant-friendly contract agreements that encourage more customers to sign up. To ease merchants qualms, HMS offers monthly contracts with no cancellation fee’s. This helps to build the trust of the merchant and show them in a transparent manner that the company is not looking to trap them into something they don’t understand.
How Accessible is Information From Sekure Merchant Solutions vs HMS
Sekure Merchant Solutions claims to assign dedicated sales representatives to every merchant who is a customer. However, while it is obvious that Sekure must have a large marketing budget, not all reviews shows that merchants are happy with their aggressive marketing tactics. Many merchants have denounced Sekure’s agents as relentless due to the fact that they mainly reach out to prospects through incessant telephone calls.
In fact, Sekure has had to settle lawsuits in millions of dollars for having violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act because of its aggressive marketing techniques. It is obvious that that marketing is a great strategy for any business. However, when a business’s marketing tactics begin to put off customers instead of drawing them to the product, that is a sure sign that something must be amiss.
In comparison, companies like Host Merchant Services continue to maintain impeccable five star ratings on review sites for maintaining a low complaints rate as well as fast resolution times. HMS prides themselves on holding a high degree of integrity and efficacy when working with new clients and prospecting customers. It is important that HMS makes their customers feel respected and heard while trying to conduct business with them.
