About CardWatch

Independent since day one.

CardWatch started as a simple question: why is it so hard to find a clear, jargon-free explanation of how a specific payment processor actually works? CardConnect — now a Fiserv-owned brand with roots going back to Financial Transaction Services in 2006 — sits in the middle of a lot of merchant-services conversations, and yet most of what's written about it is either official marketing copy or ISO sales material.

We set out to fill that gap: plain-language guides on CardConnect's CardPointe platform, its pricing structure, its security model, and how it stacks up against other processors, written the way we'd want it explained to us.

Independence, in practice

CardWatch is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or operated by CardConnect, Fiserv, or any reseller of their services. We don't sell merchant accounts, and we don't take payment from CardConnect or its competitors to shape what we publish. When we get something wrong or out of date, we'd rather hear about it and fix it than leave it standing.

How we research

• Primary company sources — public statements, product pages, and disclosed corporate history.
• General payments-industry knowledge about interchange, PCI DSS, and processing models that applies across processors, not just one.
• Plain observation of how features are typically described and sold, cross-checked wherever possible.

We're upfront where a claim is general industry practice versus something specific to CardConnect, and we flag anywhere pricing or features are likely to vary by reseller or change over time.

What this site is not

It's not a substitute for talking to CardConnect directly, reading your own merchant agreement carefully, or getting a second quote from another processor before signing anything. Treat what you read here as a starting point for better questions, not a final answer.

Get in touch

Spotted something outdated, or have a topic you'd like covered? Visit our contact page — we read everything that comes in.