I opened a very small business in a mall in Atlanta in May of and I signed a one year lease. A representative of First American Systems convinced me to accept credit cards through their company. I signed an agreement, thinking I was signing for one year only. I was given only a three-page agreement. I closed the business when my lease expired, because I was exhausted after working 363 days, 11 hours a day.
I then discovered that First American had charged my business account about $150.00 for a new system they have with Discover. When I contacted them to protest the charge, they referred me to Discover, who told me that they had sent me a letter advising me of the charge some time in March. I never received this letter, nor would I have ever agreed to this charge, because I knew that my lease was for one year only, and was about to expire. When they refused to refund the money, I decided to close my bank account to keep First American from further unauthorised charges and I closed my merchant account with them. I was told that I had signed a three years contract and that there would be a termination fee. I asked for a copy of the agreement, and they faxed me several ilegible pages which were never given to me by the representative with whom I signed the agreement.
I then got a phone call from First American Systems demanding that I pay them $460.00 ($300.00 for early termination penalty, an additional $100.00 for early termination of wireless service, and $60.00 for the two returned items fee from my bank). When I tried to explain to the Collections Specialist Crystal Whitehill that I thought I had a one year contract, that I could not find anything in the agreement about an additional $100.00 (I did find a statement in the fine print about a $300.00 for early termination), she kept interrupting me and would not give me a chance to explain that I had to close my account because of the unauthorised fee related to Discover. I told her that I would only be willing to pay $300.00. Of course, I would first want a refund for the unauthorised $150.00 Discover fee. She would not let me finish and demanded $460.00 and threatened that if I did not pay, "things would only get worse from now on".
And apparently, they did. She called me again to settle with me for $330.00. I told her that I would, if she would sent me a letter that I would be paid in full, and look in to the Discover matter. At that point she stated that American Systems had already reported me to the Credit Bureaus. I told her that I could not believe that she offered to settle AFTER they reported me, and that I would not pay anything until they removed the bad credit report; she refused. Things got even worse after that. Apparently, they ruined my perfect 40 years credit. American Express - which I paid faithfully on time for thirty seven (37) years - wrote me a letter advising me that they were suspending my "flexibility", and that I could no longer use their extented payment option. Another credit card wanted to raise my interest rate; I opted out, however, if I have any new charges on this card, the new rates would apply!
I just received a letter from Ms. Whitehill, stating that " First American Payment Systems will pursue this debt aggressively through third party for appropriate actions", that "all collections cost and Attorney's fees will be added to the balance of your account", and that "this debt has been reported directly to the Credit Bureaus".
I wish I had never heard of First American Payment Systems. This is a ruthless company that hides behind the fine print of their agreements, and that does not even provide it's customers with all the pages of the agreement when they sign up. They will ruin your credit without even trying to listen to you, and after they have messed you up really bad, they have the nerve to ask you to settle for what you had offered in the first place.
Please be extremely careful before signing a merchant credit card processing agreement with first american payment systems. My advice is to have the agreement reviewed by a lawyer before siging anything. They will offer you low discount fees, but will hide early termination fees and other fees in the fine print, and they could debit your bank account for unrelated charges without your permission; that's tantamount to stealing, in my opinion.
Apparently, I am not the only one who had a bad experience with FIRST AMERICAN PAYMENTS SYSTEMS. Here is what the BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU had to say about them:
"Based on the BBB files, this company has an unsatisfactory record with the bureau for failure to correct the underlying reason for complaints. Complaints processed by the BBB in our three-year reporting concern selling practices and customer service issues. Specifically, consumers allege the service was misrepresented and others allege the company continued to debit the complainants bank account after the service was canceled. The company has responded by furnishing a signed copy of the contract. The contract includes a cancellation fee."
Thank you for your time.
Lee
Atlanta, Georgia
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