The Processor Scoreboard

Wholesale Payments

A Lubbock, Texas processing company, legally The Credit Wholesale Company, with a sales network of more than 300 agents and a “no fee” cash discount pitch. BBB accredited and A+ rated, with a complaint file about charges that keep coming after merchants leave.

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.

43out of 100

Regulatory and Legal21 / 25

Fee Practices6 / 25

Complaints and Resolution7 / 20

Transparency5 / 15

Sales Channel4 / 15

What to know before you sign.

“No fee” processing is not free. The cash discount program passes about 3.5% to 4% to your customers. Built wrong, it is a surcharge in disguise, and in weAudit’s audits more than 95 percent of surcharging merchants were not compliant.
Charges after you leave. Recent complaints describe debits continuing for months, and in one case over two years, after cancellation and returned equipment.
The quote and the bill don’t match. Merchants describe being told a single monthly fee would be the only cost, then finding more. weAudit has seen a Wholesale Payments statement of its own where the merchant was clearly overbilled.

Who you are signing with

Wholesale Payments was started in Lubbock in 2006 as an equipment business and grew into a full processing company. Its legal name is The Credit Wholesale Company, Inc., and it also trades as Absolute Merchant Solutions. Its BBB profile lists Mark T. Hodges as CEO and Greg Bernstein as President. The company describes more than 80 employees and a sales agent network of more than 300.

Like any independent sales organization, it places merchant accounts with a sponsor bank and processor. That bank is the institution that holds your money, so find its name in your agreement and statement.

Fee practices: free processing, paid by someone

Wholesale Payments does not publish its pricing. Its best-known product is a cash discount program, sold as “no fee” or “free” processing, that adds a service charge of about 3.5% to 4% to card payments. Reviewers have also reported three-year merchant agreements.

A cash discount program can be compliant when it is a genuine discount for cash. Many are not: they are surcharges with a different label, applied to debit cards that can never be surcharged, or set above the merchant’s real cost. The card networks now enforce those rules with fines. Read our guides to the cash discount program and surcharge laws by state before you sign.

Complaints: A+ rated, still billing

Wholesale Payments has been BBB accredited since May 2024 and holds an A+ grade. The complaints on its profile in 2025 and 2026 describe a consistent set of problems: debits continuing after accounts were cancelled and equipment returned, sometimes for years; a sales representative saying a $45 monthly fee would be the only cost; deposits arriving short; and bank debits that did not clearly name the company, so that one merchant said it took months to find out who was taking the money.

Older complaints, reported by independent reviewers, describe salespeople presenting themselves as the merchant’s current processor. A reviewer who said they worked for the company acknowledged that some tactics were used “independently” by sales reps, which is exactly the problem with a large commissioned sales network.

Regulatory and legal

We found no Federal Trade Commission or state attorney general actions against Wholesale Payments. In 2025 it was the plaintiff, winning a temporary injunction in Texas against former insiders and suing a competitor in Florida, both over diverted merchant accounts. A 2021 announcement by plaintiffs’ counsel named it as a sales agent in allegations against Priority; that was not a judgment against Wholesale Payments.

Transparency and sales channel

No published pricing, multiple trading names, bank debits merchants say they could not identify, and a sales force of more than 300 agents. Those are the reasons it scores lowest in these two categories.

If you have a Wholesale Payments account

Check your cash discount setup against network rules, including whether debit cards are being charged.
Find every name the company debits you under on your bank statement, and ask in writing for the full list.
Work out your effective rate from three statements. The fee calculator does it in seconds.
If you cancel, do it in writing, get written confirmation, return equipment with tracking, and dispute later debits quickly.
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. Wholesale Payments 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.

Common questions

Is Wholesale Payments legit?

Yes. Wholesale Payments, legally The Credit Wholesale Company, Inc., is a real Lubbock, Texas payment processing company in business since 2006, BBB accredited and A+ rated. Its complaint record is the issue: merchants describe charges after cancellation, costs higher than their sales rep described, and difficulty identifying the company on their bank statements.

Who owns Wholesale Payments?

Its Better Business Bureau profile lists Mark T. Hodges as CEO and Greg Bernstein as President. The company also trades as Absolute Merchant Solutions.

Is the Wholesale Payments cash discount program really free processing?

No. It moves the cost to your customers, typically as a fee of about 3.5% to 4% on card payments. Done properly, a cash discount program can be compliant. Done badly, it is a surcharge in disguise, and the card networks now fine non-compliant programs. Your processing fees also still exist; they are simply paid from what your customers are charged.

Why can’t I find Wholesale Payments on my bank statement?

Merchants have complained that debits did not clearly name the company, and one said it took months to work out who was taking the money. Check your merchant agreement for the names and descriptors your processor uses, and ask Wholesale Payments in writing which ones appear on your account.

Why is Wholesale Payments still charging me after I cancelled?

Several recent complaints describe exactly this, from a few months to over two years after cancellation. Cancel in writing, get written confirmation, return equipment with tracking, and dispute any later debit with your bank promptly.

What lawsuits involve Wholesale Payments?

In 2025 Wholesale Payments sued former insiders in Texas and a competitor in Florida, alleging they diverted its merchant accounts; it won a temporary injunction in Texas. A 2021 announcement by plaintiffs’ counsel also named it as a sales agent in allegations against Priority, which was not a judgment against Wholesale Payments.

Send us the statement. We will tell you what is in it.

Our first audit is free and takes about five minutes of your time. We check your Wholesale Payments rate and fees, and whether your cash discount program would survive a card network review. If there is nothing to find, you will know that too.

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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, court and counsel announcements, independent review sites including CardFellow, and weAudit’s own client records, with no client named. Wholesale Payments is a name of its owner.