United Bank Card / Harbortouch $27.95 charged three-times/year for IRS form 1099-K reporting compliance fee Allentown, Pennsylvania

$27.95 was deducted from our business checking account on Wednesday, November 30th, 2011 that was outside our expected fees for the month.

We waited for our monthly statement to arrive to see if the fee was listed and explained - the monthly statement usually arrived by the 10th of each-month.

On Friday December 16th, 2011 we contacted United Bank Card (now known as Harbortouch) by telephone since we we hadn't received the monthly statement yet.

We were told that the $27.95 charge was for a required fee for providing the IRS with details of our gross receipts.   This is charged three-times/year bringing the annual fee to $83.85 for reporting information to the IRS.

Doing a google search provides an abundance of information regarding this new requirement and the fact that most credit card processing companies are padding their bottom-line by charging a fee for meeting this requirement.

We were told on December 16th, 2011 that this fee would be refunded as a one-time courtesy since we started processing earlier in the year and was not informed of this fee.

This is the second time that United Bank Card (now known as Harbortouch) has taken money from our account that was not detailed in the contract we signed for merchant processing services.  We have been a merchant with United Bank Card since June 2011.

So in the first seven-months of service  - they removed $79.00 on October 25th for an annual terminal fee which was returned on November 4th because we purchased our terminal.  And now most recently, United Bank Card removed $27.95 from our checking account which was explained as three-times/year fee for IRS reporting compliance - that was yet to be returned.

We gladly pay all fees and charges associated with using their service but these two charges were not detailed in our contract nor were we informed before-hand of the amount and reason for these charges.

It is in our opinion then that United Bank Card (now known as Harbortouch) is quick to take any fees/charges they want from your account and hope that most merchants won't notice and for those that do and should not have been charged - they take weeks to return that money.

With the $83.85 annual IRS compliance fee, standard discount rates and the PCI Compliance fee (which we haven't paid yet but I'm sure it will be deducted without notice) - it might be worth switching to squareup which does not charge IRS compliance fee or PCI compliance fee.

It's just unsettling that a credit card processor like United Bank Card (now known as Harbortouch) apparently just deducts fees without knowledge, consent or even the common courtesy of informing their customers.