SunTrust Review

• How can SunTrust help me process payments?
  • Card Processing
  • Checks
  • Gateway and Virtual Terminal
  • PAYware Mobile
• What other services are offered?
  • Gift Card
  • Perka Loyalty Program
  • TransArmor
  • Insightics
• What equipment is offered through SunTrust?
• SunTrust Merchant Services Rates and Contract Terms
• SunTrust Merchant Services Reviews          

How can SunTrust help me process payments?

Whether your business is online, in store, or wherever the sale takes you, if you want to accept card payments or checks, SunTrust can help. Along with traditional methods of accepting payments with a terminal, SunTrust provides a gateway and virtual terminal to help with ecommerce and mail/phone orders. Mobile processing is also available with PAYware Mobile from Verifone.

Card Processing

Taking cards minimizes the amount of times you need to turn down a sale and say, “Sorry, we can’t accept that here.” Suntrust processes all major brands of credit and debit cards, as well as other forms of payment cards.

Checks

While checks may seem a little old fashioned, many people still prefer to use them and processing them isn’t what it used to be. With SunTrust you can convert checks into electronic transactions helping to both eliminate extra trips to the bank and decrease the chances of checks bouncing. SunTrust offers TeleCheck to facilitate the conversion, authorization, and deposit of funds into your account.   

Gateway and Virtual Terminal

To clarify these terms, a gateway is what allows you to connect with your customer and accept payments through your website; a virtual terminal is what allows you to use your own computer to take payments (keyed in or using an attached card reader). SunTrust offers Global Gateway e4 and it acts as both for those interested in ecommerce or in need of a mail/phone order option. The program also helps with securing card data and back office support.

PAYware Mobile

If you are looking for a convenient way to accept payments while traveling from place to place, SunTrust offer’s Verifone’s PAYware Mobile. Your smartphone or tablet slips into a sleeve that allows you to accept swiped cards, PIN payments, and contactless-enabled cards and phones. It comes with a built-in barcode scanner and the customizable app can integrate with customer data for digital couponing and loyalty programs.

What other services are offered?

SunTrust Merchant Services goes beyond payment processing to help you with various other aspects of your business. The company offers gift cards, loyalty programs, added security, and business insights with the following features:

Gift Cards

Gift cards are more than a nice amenity to offer your customers; they help expand the influence of your business. With SunTrust, you have the option to customize cards or choose from standard designs. Reporting features are also included for things like tracking trends and spending patterns.

Perka Loyalty Program

People gravitate to rewards and personalized experiences; with SunTrust you can incorporate those allures into your business. SunTrust offers Perka, an interactive, digital loyalty program that you can customize to offer rewards to repeat customers. It also allows you to connect with customers and make special offers to draw more business.

TransArmor

Security breaches are frightening to think about; but knowing that you are PCI complaint and that your data is safe can put any worries to rest. TransArmor, First Data’s security suite offered through SunTrust, can help. TransArmor uses encryption and tokenization to protect you customer data by rendering it useless to hackers. It also helps to reduce the effort and cost needed for PCI compliance.

Insightics

If you wonder about ways to market or expand your business then knowing things like spending habits of customers and how much business competitors are getting can help inspire new ideas. First Data’s Insightics, as the name suggests, offers these business insights with tools to help analyze a database of customer spending information.

What equipment is offered through SunTrust?

If you are looking for a terminal, PIN pad, or full featured point of sale system, SunTrust offers a variety of equipment from its partner, First Data. Compatible equipment will include some FD terminals and the Clover family of processing equipment, including the popular Clover Station.  

SunTrust Merchant Services Rates and Fees

You won’t find rates, fees or contract information on SunTrust’s website because pricing information varies depending on services needed and type of business. Instead of enduring a sales associate giving you their longwinded pitch just to find out how much SunTrust would cost you, you can request fully disclosed pricing through CardFellow. Our free service allows you to privately get and compare pricing information from any processors you choose. Sign up here.

SunTrust Merchant Services Reviews

Since SunTrust Merchant Services is part of SunTrust Bank, teasing apart the reviews can be a bit tricky. The company does not have its own profile with the Better Business Bureau, and if there are any complaints about SunTrust Merchant Services they are buried within the 836 complaints on SunTrust Bank’s profile.

When searching SunTrust Merchant Services specifically, you will find 7 reviews on Ripoff Report. The reviews allege rigid cancelation terms hidden in the contract with a $500 early termination fee. Others claim that there are hidden fees and that working with the business is much more costly than advertised. Also, poor customer service was indicated.

With only 7 reviews to be found, and others possibly hidden among the reviews for SunTrust Bank, it is difficult to make a solid judgment about the service. It could be that these complaints are outliers among the many businesses that SunTrust serves. Either way, looking closely at the contract, making sure it does not auto-renew, and knowing how much it would cost you to cancel the service if you found it lacking; these are all good things to keep in mind no matter what processor you choose.  

If you have worked with SunTrust, share your experience with us! Leave a review!