Leaders, Leaders The Merchant Services Company Holding our funds for 180 days for having a good business week Calabasas California

LEADERS would like to clarify a few comments that this merchant has made. Please remember that in the merchant services industry, Risk is a very serious issue for the customer, for the merchant, and for the merchant service provider. LEADERS follows the rules of the Visa and MasterCard Associations in order to protect all parties involved.

First of all, please understand that LEADERS never claimed that the merchant's transactions were illegal. They are not illegal. The transactions were prohibited per LEADERS' guidelines, and the transactions were NOT what the Merchant Application stated and was approved for. Merchant accounts are approved based on the truth and validity of what the merchant signs to on the Merchant Application, and when merchants alter their manner of business without letting LEADERS know - especially what they are selling, as in this case - LEADERS has the right to hold funds or shut down the merchant account. This is clearly stated in the Merchant Application and Program Guide.

The merchant signed the application stating that the business would be selling grips. The merchant also applied for and was approved for an average ticket of $300 and an average monthly volume of $15,000. Upon holding funds that were over this limit and requesting documentation to support the transactions, LEADERS found that the merchant was selling adult products, which is a prohibited business type per our guidelines. The merchant claims that the transactions were payments for doctor's offices. There are two problems with this 1. Third party billing (this company billing patients for the doctors) is prohibited per our guidelines and 2. The merchant application stated that the merchant was selling grips, not billing for medical practices. Therefore even though LEADERS did receive documentation supporting the transactions (which were not illegal, nor do we claim they are), they were not transactions represented on the Merchant Application, and they were over the approved limits of the merchant account.

The merchant also claims that LEADERS never told him about the held funds until he called. This is untrue. On October 25th, the first day the account was placed on hold, Tiffany in Risk called and left a voicemail for James regarding the hold and the need for documentation. A few days later an Allan called and spoke with Cris in Risk and was fully informed about the situation. Cris was able to verify some of the transactions and do a partial release of the funds for the merchant at that time.

LEADERS currently has on hold less than half of the $7700 that the merchant has processed, only $2947.16. The 180 days that the funds will be held is due to Visa and MasterCard's liability timeframe. LEADERS is only holding up the terms of the contract and the rules and regulations of Visa and MasterCard. We are sorry for the inconvenience to the merchant, but we must stress the importance of the truth and validity of the Merchant Applications.

Have you ever completed one of the applications for one of these Companys, they have all of our information up front. So this is why they feel they can hold your money not because of an INCORRECT OR ILLIGAL transaction. The purchases have been sent out and we are now waiting for the funds. NOTICE they did not say they were illegal transactions.

The purchase was from patients from our Dr's Offices. We have over 20 medical offices we work with, if you would like we can post them also. The question is have you called the 2 customers to verify the high transactions, you know the 2 that went over the average transactions and if so then all is good send us our money. Owners beware of this company; they feel that they can hold your money even if it was fully legitimate and even after an investigation.

I mean this Co has to many customers to stop and call 2 people to make sure this was valid. This has been over a month and still no response from them as to when we will be receiving or if we will be getting these funds. When this happened it was 11 days of processing and nothing hitting our bank, this is when WE called them to find out what had happened, not them calling us to say there had been a problem. You would think that they would CALL us to find out a little more information, like the information that I sent them for the investigation.

This Co. has not even sent us any information on this holding of funds. I would think that a professional outfit would have a complete report to follow this type of activity but nothing and I mean NOTHING. No report, no funds, no nothing. Now is this type of Co you want handling your money. Hey LEADERS how about a letter showing the funds you held and why just for our records, is that asking so much. I got more out of them in this forum than dealing with them on the phone. I guess this is my official report.

Have you ever completed one of the applications for one of these Companys, they have all of our information up front. So this is why they feel they can hold your money not because of an INCORRECT OR ILLIGAL transaction. The purchases have been sent out and we are now waiting for the funds. NOTICE they did not say they were illegal transactions.

The purchase was from patients from our Dr's Offices. We have over 20 medical offices we work with, if you would like we can post them also. The question is have you called the 2 customers to verify the high transactions, you know the 2 that went over the average transactions and if so then all is good send us our money. Owners beware of this company; they feel that they can hold your money even if it was fully legitimate and even after an investigation.

I mean this Co has to many customers to stop and call 2 people to make sure this was valid. This has been over a month and still no response from them as to when we will be receiving or if we will be getting these funds. When this happened it was 11 days of processing and nothing hitting our bank, this is when WE called them to find out what had happened, not them calling us to say there had been a problem. You would think that they would CALL us to find out a little more information, like the information that I sent them for the investigation.

This Co. has not even sent us any information on this holding of funds. I would think that a professional outfit would have a complete report to follow this type of activity but nothing and I mean NOTHING. No report, no funds, no nothing. Now is this type of Co you want handling your money. Hey LEADERS how about a letter showing the funds you held and why just for our records, is that asking so much. I got more out of them in this forum than dealing with them on the phone. I guess this is my official report.

Have you ever completed one of the applications for one of these Companys, they have all of our information up front. So this is why they feel they can hold your money not because of an INCORRECT OR ILLIGAL transaction. The purchases have been sent out and we are now waiting for the funds. NOTICE they did not say they were illegal transactions.

The purchase was from patients from our Dr's Offices. We have over 20 medical offices we work with, if you would like we can post them also. The question is have you called the 2 customers to verify the high transactions, you know the 2 that went over the average transactions and if so then all is good send us our money. Owners beware of this company; they feel that they can hold your money even if it was fully legitimate and even after an investigation.

I mean this Co has to many customers to stop and call 2 people to make sure this was valid. This has been over a month and still no response from them as to when we will be receiving or if we will be getting these funds. When this happened it was 11 days of processing and nothing hitting our bank, this is when WE called them to find out what had happened, not them calling us to say there had been a problem. You would think that they would CALL us to find out a little more information, like the information that I sent them for the investigation.

This Co. has not even sent us any information on this holding of funds. I would think that a professional outfit would have a complete report to follow this type of activity but nothing and I mean NOTHING. No report, no funds, no nothing. Now is this type of Co you want handling your money. Hey LEADERS how about a letter showing the funds you held and why just for our records, is that asking so much. I got more out of them in this forum than dealing with them on the phone. I guess this is my official report.

Have you ever completed one of the applications for one of these Companys, they have all of our information up front. So this is why they feel they can hold your money not because of an INCORRECT OR ILLIGAL transaction. The purchases have been sent out and we are now waiting for the funds. NOTICE they did not say they were illegal transactions.

The purchase was from patients from our Dr's Offices. We have over 20 medical offices we work with, if you would like we can post them also. The question is have you called the 2 customers to verify the high transactions, you know the 2 that went over the average transactions and if so then all is good send us our money. Owners beware of this company; they feel that they can hold your money even if it was fully legitimate and even after an investigation.

I mean this Co has to many customers to stop and call 2 people to make sure this was valid. This has been over a month and still no response from them as to when we will be receiving or if we will be getting these funds. When this happened it was 11 days of processing and nothing hitting our bank, this is when WE called them to find out what had happened, not them calling us to say there had been a problem. You would think that they would CALL us to find out a little more information, like the information that I sent them for the investigation.

This Co. has not even sent us any information on this holding of funds. I would think that a professional outfit would have a complete report to follow this type of activity but nothing and I mean NOTHING. No report, no funds, no nothing. Now is this type of Co you want handling your money. Hey LEADERS how about a letter showing the funds you held and why just for our records, is that asking so much. I got more out of them in this forum than dealing with them on the phone. I guess this is my official report.

Risk is a dangerous issue in this industry and the merchant's processing activity compelled us to divert funds until we could establish the propriety of the transaction in question. This is done to protect both the processor and the merchant and is a practice followed by all processors.

LEADERS is very sorry that this merchant was unhappy with the way in which we handled the diverted funds process. When we encounter a risk issue in the nature of the business or the transactions that are run, certain precautions need to be taken to make sure all parties involved do not face a loss. Sometimes this requires that we hold funds until we validate the activity.

The merchant's credit card processing account was opened with LEADERS on September 27, 2007. The merchant provided our sales representative with his average transaction value as well as the type of goods he would be selling and signed for that on the application. The merchant processed charges above his approved limit in addition to selling adult products that were not disclosed and are prohibited. Therefore, LEADERS had no choice but to immediately close the merchant's account. A reserve is being held for a ninety day review.

We at LEADERS pride ourselves in providing our merchant's with quality service and regret that the merchant feels our service was less than satisfactory. Under the circumstances we followed standard industry practices.