PaymentCloud

PaymentCloud is a merchant services provider founded in 2015 by Shawn Silver and Neal Hoffman and based in Encino, in the Los Angeles area of California. Electronic Merchant Systems acquired it in January 2024, and both founders moved into executive roles at the parent company. PaymentCloud is not an acquiring bank. It is a sales, underwriting and onboarding layer that matches a business with an acquirer, a sponsor bank and a gateway, most often Authorize.Net or NMI, which is how it can place categories that flat-rate aggregators such as Stripe and Square decline outright.

Pricing and how it works

PaymentCloud publishes no rate card. Every account is individually underwritten and priced, and the company offers flat-rate, tiered and interchange-plus structures depending on the merchant. Reviewers who have obtained quotes report roughly 2% + $0.25 for low-risk accounts, 2.7% + $0.25 for mid risk and 3.5% to 3.95% + $0.25 for high risk, a monthly account fee somewhere between $5 and $25, and a gateway fee around $19.95 where Authorize.Net or NMI is provisioned. There is no application or setup fee and a terminal is normally supplied free for the life of the account. Low-risk accounts run month-to-month with the early termination fee waived in writing, while high-risk accounts commonly sit on a two-year term with automatic renewal, a reported early termination fee near $495, and a rolling reserve held by the acquiring bank. PCI Level 1 protection comes from the gateway PaymentCloud provisions rather than from a card vault of its own. Because every number is negotiated, treat published figures as reference points and insist on a written schedule of fees.

Who it is for

PaymentCloud is aimed at businesses that struggle to get approved anywhere else: CBD and hemp, nutraceuticals, firearms, adult, vape, debt relief, travel, tech support, dropshipping and continuity billing. It serves merchants in the United States, Canada and Europe, and it does not offer true offshore accounts. Low-risk merchants who are easy to approve will usually find cheaper and far more transparent pricing from a published-rate processor, so the value here is approval odds and account management rather than cost.