Dirty Little Secret Of Equipment Leasing – Part Two $10,000 for a credit card terminal!

I have written about the many different ways the banks or Processing Companies can rip your business off taking hard earned money out of your pocket.  One of the worse in my opinion is leasing of credit card terminals.  When you lease a credit card terminal you are paying about four times of what it would cost you to buy the terminal out right.  Read more in my original post at Dirty Little Secret Of Equipment Leasing.

I bring this subject up again because a merchant I was dealing recently recently discovered a lease payment coming out of his bank account when he went to change his bank account. As it turns out it was for from a lease that was started more than 10 years ago. He was paying around $90 per month. That is around $10,000 for a credit card terminal! Not sure why the business owner did not catch this before. Or his accountant and / or bookkeeper did not notice or discover this payment all these years when they worked with his taxes and bank account?

Another situation for another business I came across, the merchant has one lease account / payment started two years ago, then a “new” rep came into the business around a year ago and added another lease account. Why? Good question, the rep left the industry so we cannot ask her. Keep in mind these two leases are with the same leasing company. I was helping the merchant sort this out and was on the phone with the leasing company and I asked them the question, why did they let her have two leasing? Did they do any due diligence? Well let’s say they had no real answer to the question.

​Again, to you a business owner, DO NOT LEASE. READ BEFORE YOU SIGN! ASK QUESTIONS. KNOW WHO YOU ARE DEALING WITH.