PaymentCloud reviews
PaymentCloud rates 4.4 across 887 Trustpilot reviews, which is high for high-risk merchant services, and the reason is partly structural: it holds a paid Trustpilot subscription and invites its customers to review. Its Google listing is cooler at 4.1 from 221, where a quarter of reviewers give one star. The praise is overwhelmingly about being approved and getting a human. The complaints are about what happens months later.
This site
No merchant reviews yet
223 Google reviews
A handful of threads, mostly people choosing rather than reviewing.
What people say about PaymentCloud elsewhere
Summaries of the public reviews and discussion on other platforms, written by our editors and dated. None of it is counted in the rating this site publishes.
Google reviews
PaymentCloud on Google
Listed on Google as PaymentCloud, 16501 Ventura Blvd #300, Encino
- 5 star
- 168
- 4 star
- 3
- 3 star
- 1
- 2 star
- 0
- 1 star
- 51
223 reviews, 4.1 average, and the two halves are about different things. The 168 five-star reviews almost all name a person at PaymentCloud and thank them for getting a business approved that nobody else would touch: startups, CBD, high-ticket resale, firms already turned down three or four times. The 51 one-star reviews are almost all written after the account went live, and most of them are not about PaymentCloud at all. They name the acquirer PaymentCloud placed the merchant with, usually EMS or KurvPay, and describe reserve holds, chargeback and VAMP fees, and payouts stopped. Several say PaymentCloud told them it could not help once the account belonged to the processor. That gap is the thing to understand before reading the average: PaymentCloud is an ISO, it does not underwrite or hold your money, and its reviews are largely a rating of the introduction rather than of the terms you end up on.
What reviewers praise
- Gets hard-to-place businesses approvedThe praise is consistent and specific: a named rep stayed on it for weeks or months, and the merchant got a live account after being declined elsewhere.
What reviewers flag
- The complaints are about the acquirer, not the ISOOne-star reviews name EMS and KurvPay and describe reserves, VAMP and chargeback fees, and held payouts. One says over 37,000 dollars was held, another over 64,000 for four months.
- Support ends at the saleThe recurring line in the one-star reviews is that PaymentCloud was attentive during onboarding and told them afterwards it could not help with the processor holding their money.
- A declined application still costs weeksSeveral reviewers went through forms and signatures before being told no, and object to the way the refusal was delivered rather than to the refusal.
In their words
These guys are miracle workers. They stuck with me through many providers until we found the right fit! Startups have a tough time getting approved and Hovak stuck with me by my side for months, the whole time!
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My experience with PaymentCloud has been very frustrating, mainly because of the processor they placed us with, Kurv Pay (formerly EMS).
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They are kind and supportive during the onboarding process, but once you are set up, any problems you have suddenly become “not something they can help with.”
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What Reddit says about PaymentCloud
r/smallbusiness, r/cbdinfo, r/bigcommerce, r/dropship, r/PaymentProcessing · A handful of threads, mostly people choosing rather than reviewing.
There is not much, and what there is comes from people shopping rather than people six months in. PaymentCloud turns up in high-risk threads as one of three or four names that get suggested to merchants Stripe, Square or PayPal have already dropped, usually alongside Soar Payments and Durango. The tone in those threads is cautiously positive: commenters treat it as a legitimate placement service for CBD, adult and high-ticket categories rather than as a processor. The advice that keeps coming with the recommendation is worth more than the recommendation, which is to compare reserve policy and payout timing before signing, because that is set by whoever PaymentCloud puts you with. Nobody on Reddit has posted a long-term account of what happened after year one, which is exactly the gap the Google one-star reviews fill.
What comes up in its favour
- Named as a real option for declined merchantsCommenters in CBD and adult threads treat PaymentCloud as a legitimate route rather than a lead broker, which is not true of every name in those threads.
What keeps getting raised
- Check the reserve before you signThe standard caveat attached to the recommendation, because the reserve and payout terms come from the acquirer behind the placement.
- No long-term accountsEvery thread is someone deciding. Nobody has written up two years of processing, so Reddit cannot tell you how the placements hold up.
Threads worth reading
- PaymentCloud vs Soar vs alternatives? Real experiences appreciated.
r/smallbusiness · 4 May 2026 · 3 upvotes · 13 comments
A developer placing a high-ticket fashion resale client after PayPal froze them. The replies weigh PaymentCloud against Soar and warn against MCC games.
- Comparing High-Risk Payment Processors for BC
r/bigcommerce · 5 August 2026 · 4 upvotes · 11 comments
An adult store weighing the high-risk shortlist for BigCommerce.
- Opinion on paymentcloud?
r/dropship · 30 April 2022 · 3 upvotes · 7 comments
Asked by a merchant Stripe declined and then referred to PaymentCloud, which is how a lot of people arrive.
- PaymentCloud feedback.
r/PaymentProcessing · 5 October 2024 · 2 upvotes · 3 comments
Short, and mainly useful as evidence of how thin the first-hand record is.
Comments worth quoting
If you've already had issues with another processor, I'd stick with providers that actually support CBD instead of trying to make a mainstream one fit. PaymentCloud is a legit option and they already work with CBD merchants, Shopify, WooCommerce, ACH, and virtual terminals.
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Thanks. I really am leaning toward PaymentCloud because I've really liked what I've seen of their team so far, but I'll keep Davinci in my back pocket.
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PaymentCloud reviews
Reviews submitted directly to this site by merchants who use PaymentCloud, moderated before they appear. Separate from the Google and Reddit summaries above.
No merchant has reviewed PaymentCloud here yet
Reviews are written by merchants who use the processor and are moderated before they appear.
Write the first reviewWhat the third-party review record shows
As of 19 August 2026, PaymentCloud carries a TrustScore of 4.4 across 887 Trustpilot reviews and 4.1 across 221 Google reviews. Before weighing either, note what Trustpilot discloses on the page: PaymentCloud holds a paid Trustpilot subscription and invites its customers to review. That is legitimate, openly labelled and extremely common, and it is also why the solicited platform sits higher than the unsolicited one. The Google listing, where nobody is invited, breaks down as 167 five-star and 50 one-star out of 221, so roughly one reviewer in four there is deeply unhappy.
Read the positive reviews and a pattern jumps out immediately: most of them name an individual account representative rather than the company. Reviewers describe a specific person who explained the process, stayed reachable, chased the underwriter and got them live. That is real and it is the single most repeated point of praise across both platforms. It is also a fact about a sales organisation rather than about a payments platform, and the representative you get is the variable it depends on. Several reviewers arrive having been dropped by Square or Stripe with no explanation, which sets the bar they are scoring against.
The criticism is narrower and lands later in the relationship. The most substantial negative review on file is from a multi-year customer describing a reserve release that took the better part of a year, with the funds still held. Around it sit the familiar reseller complaints: fees on the statement that were not mentioned in the sales conversation, underwriting that goes quiet for days, and support that depends on who picks up. PaymentCloud replies to 94 percent of its negative Trustpilot reviews, which is a higher answer rate than most companies in this segment manage.
Themes across public reviews
Pros
- Merchants declined by Stripe, Square or PayPal report getting approved here, which is the reason most of them called in the first place
- Reviewers are assigned a named account representative and repeatedly say that person stayed reachable after the sale
- The company replied to 94 percent of its negative Trustpilot reviews, which is an unusually high answer rate for this segment
- The approval covers industries most processors will not touch, including CBD, firearms accessories, nutraceuticals, debt relief and adult
- Free virtual terminal and gateway setup comes up repeatedly as something reviewers expected to pay for
- Reviewers describe help with chargeback documentation rather than just being told their ratio is too high
- Several reviewers moving from an aggregator mention getting a stable account after repeated freezes elsewhere
Cons
- The Trustpilot pool is solicited on a paid subscription, so 4.4 there reads higher than the 4.1 on Google where nobody is invited
- 50 of 221 Google reviewers give one star, so roughly a quarter of that unsolicited pool is deeply unhappy
- A multi-year customer describes a reserve release taking nearly a year, with funds still held and departments passing them along
- Rates are quoted individually and not published, so reviewers cannot compare what they were offered against what anyone else pays
- Fees appearing on the statement that were not raised during the sales conversation is a repeated substantive complaint
- Underwriting takes days to weeks, and reviewers say they were left without status updates while waiting
- Praise attaches to individual representatives rather than to the platform, so your experience depends on who you are assigned
- Reserve requirements and rolling reserve terms are set by the backend acquirer and are a common source of surprise
What the review record will not tell you
PaymentCloud does not underwrite you and does not hold your money. It is an ISO that places your application with an acquiring bank, so the terms that actually govern your account, the discount rate, the reserve, the funding delay and the termination clause, are written by whichever backend you land on. Two merchants can both leave five-star reviews from opposite ends of that range. This is why a high average score means less here than it would for a direct processor: the reviews are rating the introduction, not the marriage.
The reserve review is the clearest illustration on this page of what that structure costs you, and it is worth being precise about the lesson rather than the grievance. The merchant acknowledged that some of the decisions came from the processor rather than from PaymentCloud, and still concluded that an ISO whose advocacy stops at the acquirer's door has not done the job it was hired for. That is the right test to apply before you sign. Ask what PaymentCloud does when the acquirer holds your funds, who at the acquirer they can reach, and what their escalation path looks like when the answer comes back as no.
Then do the part the reviews cannot do for you. Get the full schedule in writing before you sign: discount rate and per-transaction fee, monthly minimum, statement and PCI fees, the reserve percentage and how long it is held, the conditions for releasing it, the funding delay, and the early termination fee. The release conditions are the one most merchants never ask about and the one the worst review on file turns on. If you are comparing against a direct acquirer, Durango Merchant Services and Soar Payments serve the same high-risk categories and are worth quoting alongside so you have something to hold the numbers against.
What reviewers say in their own words
Excerpts below are quoted from reviews published on third-party platforms, with a link to each source. They are not reviews submitted to this site, and they do not count toward the PaymentCloud rating shown above. Five excerpts from Trustpilot, where PaymentCloud holds 887 reviews at 4.4. Two things to carry into them. First, that pool is solicited: the company holds a paid Trustpilot subscription and invites customers to review, which is disclosed on the page and lifts the average. Second, most of the positive reviews thank an individual representative by name, so the three positive excerpts here were chosen from the minority that describe something checkable instead. Both critical excerpts are included, and the longer of the two is the most substantial negative review on the platform.
- "I just got out of a long term partnership with Square, who suddenly just pulled out for no reason, and refused to provide any clarity."
a merchant dropped by a previous processor, 5 out of 5, Trustpilot, 9 April 2026 - "The staff from the account rep to the support team all have been great in working with me and helping me to understand the complete integration requirements"
5 out of 5, Trustpilot, 10 April 2026 - "My reps contacted me daily to ensure my request was being processed in a timely manner. Most of the time they were waiting on me and helped me stay focused on what step I was on."
a merchant going through underwriting, 5 out of 5, Trustpilot, 9 April 2026 - "What followed was nearly a year of delays, missed follow-through on committed timelines, and being passed between departments without resolution."
a customer of several years, on a reserve release, 1 out of 5, Trustpilot, 29 April 2026 - "Terrible experience. Honestly I advise against them. Terrible customer service."
1 out of 5, Trustpilot, 7 July 2026
Frequently asked questions
- Are these PaymentCloud reviews verified?
- They are published third-party reviews rather than reviews submitted to this site, checked on 19 August 2026. Trustpilot shows a TrustScore of 4.4 across 887 reviews, and two disclosures on that page matter: PaymentCloud holds a paid Trustpilot subscription, and Trustpilot notes that the company invites its customers to review. Soliciting reviews is legitimate and Trustpilot labels it openly, but a solicited pool is not the same as an organic one, because the people asked are usually the ones who just had a good experience. To Trustpilot's credit it also records that PaymentCloud replied to 94 percent of negative reviews, which is a real signal. The Google listing, which nobody is inviting anyone to, sits lower at 4.1 from 221 reviews with 50 of them at one star. No merchant has published a review here yet.
- Why is PaymentCloud rated so highly for a high-risk provider?
- Three reasons, and only one of them is about quality. First, the customers are merchants who were declined elsewhere, so the bar is being approved at all rather than being served well, and gratitude scores highly. Second, PaymentCloud pays for a Trustpilot subscription and invites customers to review, which reliably lifts both volume and average because the invitation usually lands right after a successful onboarding. Third, and genuinely to its credit, the company answers: it has replied to 94 percent of its negative Trustpilot reviews. The gap between its 4.4 on the solicited platform and its 4.1 on Google, where 50 of 221 reviewers give one star, is roughly the size of that effect. Neither number is fake. They are just measuring different rooms.
- What do PaymentCloud reviewers complain about most?
- Reserves and what happens after the sale. The most detailed critical review on file comes from a merchant of several years who asked for a reserve release after resolving chargeback issues and describes nearly a year of delays, missed timelines and being passed between departments, with the funds still held at the time of writing. That review is worth reading in full because it is scrupulously fair: it acknowledges the account team was polite throughout and that some decisions came from the backend processor rather than from PaymentCloud, while arguing that advocating for the merchant with that processor is precisely the job. Beyond reserves, the recurring complaints are fees appearing on a statement that were not raised during the sales conversation, underwriting that runs for days or weeks without status updates, and support quality that varies sharply by which representative you get. Notice what is missing: almost nobody complains that the payments fail.
- Does PaymentCloud actually process your payments?
- No, and this is the most important thing to understand before reading any review of them. PaymentCloud is a reseller, an ISO, which means it packages your application and places you with an acquiring bank and a backend processor. Your merchant agreement, your reserve, your funding schedule and your termination terms come from that acquirer, not from PaymentCloud. So a five-star review tells you the placement went well and someone answered the phone. It does not tell you what your account will cost or who will hold your money, because the reviewer may well be on a different backend than the one you would be placed with.
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