FastTransact Review

The company doesn’t have the most informative website, but we’ve gathered information directly from FastTransact in order to provide you with a fuller picture of the company’s services and costs.

Here’s how FastTransact describes themselves to CardFellow: FastTransact is an all-in-one solution that supports any processing model. We have a large portfolio of merchants across the board in many spaces, such as eCommerce, Retail, Education, Hospitality, Medical, Petroleum, Automotive and more.  We have a fully trained Customer Support staff offering after hours support. If you’re looking for a low cost, fast, friendly efficient processor, look no further than FastTransact.

FastTransact does not currently offer high risk merchant accounts, so if you’re looking for a processor for a business in a high risk industry, you’ll want to look elsewhere. Otherwise, let’s take a closer look at the company’s services, pricing models, and reviews.

• Card Acceptance
  • In-Person
  • Online and By Phone
  • Level II and Level III Enhanced Data
• Gift Card and Loyalty Programs
• Equipment Options
• Security, PCI Compliance, and Chargebacks
• FastTransact Rates and Fees
  • Sales Channels
  • Deposit and Fee Policies
• FastTransact Reviews

Card Acceptance

FastTransact allows you to easily accept major credit and debit cards. The company supports businesses in traditional brick-and-mortar settings (such as retail, restaurants, and hospitality) as well as ecommerce and specialty businesses like hospitals and gas stations. That means you’ll also have the option to accept specialty payment methods, including EBT/food stamps or fleet cards such as Wright Express and Voyager.

However, the company does not support high-risk specialty processing, such as supplements, airlines, and gambling.

In-Person

Options for accepting cards in person include countertop credit card machines or POS systems (ideal for traditional retailers and restaurants) as well as mobile swipers (designed for delivery businesses, food trucks, and others on the road.) When you get a merchant account through FastTransact, you’ll also get set up with equipment for accepting in-person transactions.

Online and By Phone

The exact options for online payments will vary a little depending on which gateway and payment option you choose. FastTransact offers hosted payment pages that minimize the need for programming and allow you to securely accept online payments. Hosted payments pages can be customized to match your branding. Alternately, if you have development staff, you can choose to a completely customizable solution through the gateway API. In either case, you can choose to set up automatic billing for customers that pay for a recurring service.

If your clients need to pay by phone, the virtual terminal option allows you to take card details over the phone and enter them into FastTransact’s secure web portal for processing.

Level II and Level III Enhanced Data

Crucial for businesses that handle a lot of corporate or government cards, enhanced data refers to additional information required with those transactions. If you don’t provide the appropriate enhanced data, your transactions will cost more.

Fortunately, FastTransact offers options for both level 2 and level 3 data. Level 2 data is the less stringent of the two and applies primarily to corporate credit cards. You can utilize FastTransact’s ArgoFire gateway or a dedicated POS terminal for level 2 data. FastTransact can only process level 3 data using the ArgoFire gateway.

Gift Card and Loyalty Programs

In addition to credit and debit acceptance, FastTransact offers gift card and loyalty programs. The gift card program offers customizable cards with a low minimum order quantity of 250 cards. FastTransact wouldn’t provide specifics on pricing, telling CardFellow that the fees such as cost per card, setup fees, per-transaction redemption fee, and monthly fees vary depending on the program.

However, the company did confirm that the program integrates with major POS systems for easy redemption.

The loyalty program can be set up as either a punch card-style system or a points-based reward system. An app allows customers to check their loyalty rewards. As with the gift cards, FastTransact wouldn’t confirm specific pricing, only saying that “some programs” have a monthly cost.

Equipment Options

If you need equipment, it’s often easiest to get it right from the processing company. FastTransact offers universal credit card terminals (including Verifone and Ingenico models) as well as First Data proprietary models. The company sells equipment instead of leasing, which is a positive thing. (At CardFellow, we recommend not leasing credit card equipment due to the unfavorable contracts and high prices.)

For full POS systems, you can choose from the Clover or Poynt solutions, both of which offer greater functionality than a basic countertop terminal. FastTransact also sells optional accessories such as cash drawers, receipt printers, and barcode scanners so that you can create the right POS system for your needs.

Businesses that prefer readers for their smartphones can pick from Magtek or Clover Go, including EMV chip capable models for increased transaction security when you’re accepting cards on the road.

If you’re taking cards online instead of in-person, FastTransact offers a choice of gateways: its own proprietary ArgoFire gateway, or the universal Authorize.Net gateway. The gateway with virtual terminal option is also how you can accept payments over the phone. When customers provide their card details, you’ll enter them into a secure web portal for processing.

The company can also support specialized processing equipment, such as Ruby systems for gas stations. If you need specialty equipment, it’s a good idea to contact FastTransact directly to inquire about compatibility, pricing, and other details. You can send a message to FastTransact through your CardFellow account. Don’t have an account yet? It’s fast, free, and no-obligation. Sign up here.

Security, PCI Compliance, and Chargebacks

It’s important to have secure systems when accepting credit cards. Businesses are required to comply with PCI requirements to ensure security. FastTransact provides PCI Compliance Assistance to help you complete the yearly self-assessment questionnaire. If you don’t complete the SAQ and become compliant, you may be subject to non-compliance fees. FastTransact will notify you before charging a non-compliance fee, giving you a chance to become compliant.

However, even compliant businesses sometimes experience data breaches. FastTransact includes data breach protection with all accounts. The PCI compliance tools and breach protection will cost you $9.95/month.

An equally big concern is chargebacks. Chargebacks occur when a customer initiates a refund through their bank or credit card company, claiming that they didn’t receive an item / service or that it was not the correct item. It’s important to minimize your chargebacks, because even chargebacks that are ruled in your favor count toward your chargeback ratio. If you have too many, processors may shut down your account.

In order to help you manage chargebacks, FastTransact will fax and / or mail you notification about chargebacks. Be sure to monitor those channels for communication from the processor so that you don’t miss deadlines to respond to chargebacks.

FastTransact Rates and Fees

Like many processors, FastTransact doesn’t publish pricing on its website. The company sets pricing individually for each specific business.

FastTransact confirmed to CardFellow that it offers several different pricing structures, including interchange plus and flat rate. However, the company seems to prefer tiered or bundled, calling them out specifically. When considering FastTransact, be sure to carefully review the fee structure options. If you haven’t already, check out our article that explains credit card pricing models.

It’s also worth noting that FastTransact does have an early termination fee that varies. You may be able to have the fee waived by explicitly requesting it.

Sales Channels

Like many processing companies, FastTransct uses independent sales agents as well as inside sales staff. The inside sales team undergoes training and follows standard operating procedures set by FastTransact, which ensures some degree of uniformity. However, outside agents are able to price merchants on any pricing schedule and aren’t necessarily adhering to those same SOPs.

Deposit and Fee Policies

Many businesses want to know how quickly they’ll receive their funds. FastTransact offers next-day deposits when you batch out by 9pm EST.

As for paying your processing fees, FastTransact primarily utilizes monthly discounting, a method of billing where they will deduct your monthly processing fees once per month. We recommend that method at CardFellow, as most businesses find it easier to reconcile. However, if you strongly prefer daily discounting (where your fees are deducted every day) FastTransact may be able to set you up that way.

Not sure which is best? Check out our article on the differences between daily and monthly discounting.

FastTransact Reviews

Any time a company changes names (or spins off from another company) it makes it a little difficult to assess reviews. Some reviews that reference activities under the old name may not apply to the new company.

That said, there are very few available reviews for FastTransact under that name, and not many for its parent company/former name (FrontStream Merchant Services), either. While there are joint FastTransact / FrontStream profiles at the Better Business Bureau, they list the company as “out of business.” This is likely due to FrontStream now operating outside of merchant services and FastTransact operating under its own name.

The company does not appear to have an official Facebook page, nor does it come up in search on Google reviews or Yelp.

With so little information to go on, we’d love to hear from current or former clients of FastTransact. If that’s you, do us a favor and leave a review!