The Processor Scoreboard

Payment Depot

Payment Depot built its name on a simple promise: a flat membership and wholesale interchange with no markup. Since Stax bought it in 2021, that published pricing has gone. Today it quotes interchange-plus account by account, with a markup reported as high as 1.95%, and its reviews have followed the price.

Written by Robert Day, Founder and Managing Partner of weAudit.com, previously an executive at Fifth Third Processing Solutions, later Vantiv and Worldpay, now part of Global Payments, the world’s largest card processor. Published October 2026.

49out of 100

Regulatory and Legal21 / 25

Fee Practices8 / 25

Complaints and Resolution6 / 20

Transparency6 / 15

Sales Channel8 / 15

Who you are signing with

Payment Depot was founded in California in 2013 and sold processing through sponsor banks as an independent sales organization. In 2021 it was acquired by Stax, its biggest competitor, and it now operates as Payment Depot by Stax. Many customers are routed to Stax for support. See our Stax rating (50/100) and Stax fees.

Fee practices: from published price to quoted markup

Every fee, explained: see Payment Depot pricing and fees.

For most of its history Payment Depot’s pitch was the membership model: a fixed monthly fee, a few cents per transaction, and interchange passed through with no percentage markup at all.

	The old membership model	Today
Monthly fee	$79, $99 or $199	No subscription
Markup on interchange	None	Reported 0.2% to 1.95%, quoted per business
Per transaction	15, 10 or 7 cents by plan	Quoted
PCI	Varied	$10 a month
Published?	Yes	No

Sources: Payment Depot’s former published plans and current pricing as reported by independent reviewers including NerdWallet and Merchant Maverick in 2025 and 2026. Your agreement shows what applies to you.

Our read. “Interchange-plus” is a structure, not a price. A markup of 1.95% on top of interchange can put a merchant’s total cost above 4%, worse than almost any flat rate. Payment Depot still uses the language that made it popular, but the number that matters is no longer published. One long-time customer reported an average cost of about 2.6% before the acquisition and about 3.5% after it. See what a fair interchange-plus markup looks like.

Complaints: the reviews followed the price

Payment Depot’s Trustpilot rating is about 2.3 out of 5 on more than 1,200 reviews, a long way from the 4.6 to 4.7 it was known for before the acquisition. Its Better Business Bureau profile is not accredited and lists a failure to respond to complaints among its reasons, with ten complaints in three years and several 2025 billing complaints marked unanswered.

The complaints are consistent: fees higher than expected, funding that went from next day to several days, deposits that went missing after an account issue, difficulty reaching support, and billing that continued after cancellation. Complaints filed against Stax itself in 2026 describe large withheld and unexplained debits.

Regulatory and legal: nothing found

We found no FTC, CFPB or state actions and no class actions against Payment Depot. That earns most of the available points. We hold some back because the company now operates inside Stax, and the complaint pattern since the acquisition is the kind regulators pay attention to.

Transparency and sales channel

Payment Depot sold on transparency, and the move from published membership plans to account-by-account quotes is the biggest single reason it scores poorly here. It sells mostly direct, which helps its sales channel score, but customers who signed up for one model have found themselves on another.

If you have a Payment Depot account

Work out your effective rate from three recent statements and compare it with what you signed up for. The fee calculator does it in seconds.
Find your markup in writing. If you are on interchange-plus, it should be a stated percentage and cents per transaction.
Check your funding times and any change to them.
Check your PCI status and stop any non-compliance charge.
Get the statement audited before you stay or switch.

Independence, right of response and corrections. weAudit takes no money from any processor, ISO or referral arrangement, and no company can pay to change its score. Payment Depot or Stax may submit a response or correction at any time, and we will review it and update this rating if the evidence warrants. Scores reflect the evidence available at publication. See the full Processor Scoreboard and the credit card processing fees comparison.

Common questions

What are Payment Depot’s fees?

Payment Depot now quotes interchange-plus pricing account by account, with a markup that independent reviewers report ranges from 0.2% to 1.95% on top of interchange, no monthly subscription and a $10 monthly PCI fee. It used to publish fixed membership plans, from $79 a month plus 15 cents a transaction, with no markup on interchange.

Who owns Payment Depot?

Stax acquired Payment Depot in 2021, and it now operates as Payment Depot by Stax. It was founded in California in 2013.

Is Payment Depot interchange-plus?

Yes, but interchange-plus only describes the structure. A markup of 1.95% on top of interchange is not a good price; it can put the total cost above 4%. What matters is the markup you are actually quoted.

Does Payment Depot have a contract or cancellation fee?

Payment Depot has long marketed no long-term contract and no cancellation fee. Check your own agreement, and complaints suggest also checking your statements after you cancel.

Why are Payment Depot’s reviews so poor?

Its Trustpilot rating is about 2.3 out of 5 on more than 1,200 reviews, and its BBB profile cites a failure to respond to complaints. Common complaints are fees higher than expected, slower funding and difficulty reaching support, many dating from after the Stax acquisition.

Is Payment Depot the same as Stax?

Payment Depot is owned by Stax and many customers are routed to Stax support, but its pricing is different. Stax charges a monthly subscription with no markup on interchange; Payment Depot now quotes a percentage markup.

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About this rating: scored on weAudit’s five categories, Regulatory and Legal (25), Fee Practices (25), Complaints and Resolution (20), Transparency (15) and Sales Channel (15). Evidence was gathered in October 2026 from Better Business Bureau records, Trustpilot, and independent review sites including NerdWallet and Merchant Maverick, which are credited by name; reported figures from third parties are labelled as such. Payment Depot and Stax are names of their owner.