Equipment leases

Their "free" POS is a 48-month lease. Ours is free.

A single-screen POS station we sell for $1,600 gets leased to small businesses at $149 a month for 48 months. Non-cancellable. Personally guaranteed. With a buyout at the end. The same station through us comes free under our equipment offer or costs $1,600 at our cost, and we never write a lease. Here is how the trap works and what you can do if you are in it.

✓The real total of a lease next to the same station free through us, or bought at our cost
✓Why a rep pushes a lease: the leasing company pays the sales office a lump sum the week you sign
✓What the fine print says about cancelling, guarantees, renewals, and the end of the term
✓A way out that is cheaper than riding it to the end, when one exists

✓We never lease equipment ✓Free equipment offers, nothing to sign for them ✓Free lease review

Lease math

Type what the rep offered, or what you already pay.

Monthly lease payment$ Months

Stations or terminals Our price for the same unit$

You pay over the lease$7,152

Buying it outright from us$1,600

The lease costs you an extra$5,5524.5 times the price, and you may still owe a buyout at the end

Before the loss and damage waiver, tax fees, and the end-of-term buyout, which add more. $1,600 is what we sell the single-screen POS station for, at our cost with no markup; under our equipment offer the same station is free. A countertop terminal is a few hundred dollars.

The math

$149 a month sounds small. $7,152 does not.

The lease we see most often in the 209 is $149 a month for 48 months on a single-screen POS station. We sell that same station for $1,600, our cost with no markup, or it comes free under our equipment offer. Here is the whole picture.

Typical lease

Monthly payment$149

Term48 months, non-cancellable

Paid over the term$7,152

Loss and damage waiverAbout $5 a month unless you insure it yourself

Property tax and "compliance" feesBilled yearly on top

At the endBuy it (a quoted amount, often 10 to 20% of list), return it, or keep paying month to month

If you close or miss paymentsEvery remaining payment plus the equipment's value comes due at once, from you personally

What you own after four yearsNothing, unless you pay the buyout

Through EBS

PriceFree under our equipment offer, or $1,600 bought outright at our cost

TermNone. Processing is month to month

PaidNothing, or once

WarrantyFour years on the device through us

FeesNone

At the endBought: it was yours on day one. Free offer: keep using it as long as you process with us

If you closeBought: sell it, keep it, or hand it to the next owner. Free offer: the device comes back to us and that is the end of it. Nothing owed, no guarantor

What you own after four yearsThe equipment, or four years of use for $0

A lease can also be called "free" because nothing is due at signing. Nothing is due at signing on a four-year car note either. Free means there is nothing to sign for it.

Why it happens

Why a rep would do that to you

Because the lease pays the rep now, and the equipment pays the rep never.

You sign a lease

Often buried in a stack of "equipment delivery" paperwork, sometimes on a tablet. The signature is for a lease with a third-party leasing company, not for the processing account.

The leasing company buys it from the sales office

Published rate tables and court records put the lump sum at roughly 25 to 35 times the monthly payment on a 48-month lease, which works out to about 55 to 72 percent of everything you will pay. On $149 a month, that is somewhere between $3,700 and $5,200 to the sales office, usually within days.

You pay the leasing company for four years

The sales office is already paid. The processor is a separate company. Cancelling the processing account does not touch the lease, and the lease says so.

The comparison the rep is making, in their head: give you the station free or at cost and earn nothing on the hardware, or lease it and collect several thousand dollars up front. Free equipment is real when there is nothing to sign for it; we offer it. Paired with a lease, the "free equipment" line, the "it pays for itself with your savings" line, and the "zero down" line all exist to get past the moment you would otherwise ask what it costs.

The fine print

What the lease usually says

From leasing agreements, agent program contracts, and court filings. Yours may differ. Read the actual lease, not the processing agreement.

Non-cancellableFor the full term, with no exceptions for closing, selling the business, or the equipment not working the way it was promised.

36 to 60 months48 is the most common. The monthly amount is set to look small; the term does the damage.

Personal guaranteeAn owner signs personally. If the business closes, the owner still owes it. Courts have seen guarantees signed by employees and even visitors.

Automatic renewalMany leases roll month to month after the term unless you send written notice, often 60 to 90 days before the end.

End-of-term buyoutPay a quoted "fair market value" to keep it, or return it in good condition at your expense.

Add-on feesA monthly loss and damage waiver unless you provide insurance, plus yearly property tax and compliance charges.

AccelerationMiss payments and the entire remaining balance plus the equipment's value becomes due at once.

Separate from processingReturning the equipment or cancelling the merchant account does not end the lease.

Someone else's courtsDisputes often have to be brought in the leasing company's home state, far from you.

The script

Lines that should end the meeting

"The equipment is free."Good. Then there is nothing to sign for it. Ask whether a lease is involved and get the answer in writing. If a lease shows up, it was never free.
"It pays for itself with the savings."The savings, if real, are yours either way. A lease does not create them; it spends them.
"Zero down."Zero down on a four-year obligation. Ask what the total is and what happens at month 48.
"Just sign here for the delivery."Read what you are signing. If it says lease, lessee, or guarantor anywhere, stop.
"We'll buy out your old lease."Get the buyout in writing, with who pays it and when. Regulators have fined companies for this exact promise.
"You can cancel any time."Leases cannot be cancelled. A processor was fined millions for telling owners this.
"We'll throw in a free app and website."Ask what they cost after the first year, and whether they live on the same lease.
"Let's put a station on every counter."Every extra station is another $7,000. Owners regularly find more equipment on the lease than in the building.

Not just us saying it

Regulators are on this

New York Attorney General, 2020A court rescinded years of equipment leases from one leasing group, vacated 29,617 default judgments against small business owners, and ordered the company dissolved. A judgment of more than $680 million followed in 2023.Read the release →

Federal Trade Commission, 2022A payment processor paid $4.9 million after its reps told owners they could cancel any time while the agreements carried three-year terms and exit fees. Refunds went out in 2025.Read the release →

Washington Attorney General and the FTC, 2014A sales organization settled after telling merchants their working terminals were obsolete and leasing them new ones for two to four years.Read the release →

New York Assembly, 2025A bill in committee would require disclosures on card terminal leases and prohibit some of the practices above.Read the bill →

We are a merchant services company, not a law firm. This page is general information from public records. For your own lease, talk to a lawyer or your state attorney general's office.

Already in one

If you're stuck, do this in order

Get the actual lease

Not the processing agreement. Ask the leasing company for a copy of the signed lease and the delivery acceptance. Check the term, the monthly amount, the equipment list, and who signed as guarantor.

Count the equipment

Match the lease's equipment list against what is in the building. Owners find stations on the lease that were never delivered, or were delivered and never used.

Get a buyout quote in writing

Ask for the payoff to end the lease today. It is usually the remaining payments, sometimes less. If you are in the last year, finishing it is often cheaper than buying out.

Write down what you were told

Who said the equipment was free, that it could be cancelled, or that an old lease would be bought out, and when. If it was misrepresented, that matters.

Report it if it was a lie

Your state attorney general's consumer protection office and the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov take these complaints. California's is oag.ca.gov.

Separate the processing from the lease

The lease is one contract; the card processing is another. You can usually move the processing to a better program while the lease runs, and stop the bleeding on the fees at least.

What we do

Send us the lease. We read it with you.

We have helped other owners out of equipment leases. We go through the lease, run the buyout against riding it out, check the equipment list, and tell you the cheapest way through, even when the answer is to finish the term. If switching makes sense, the replacement equipment is at our cost with no markup, the processing is month to month, and your menu and data come with you. No charge for the review.

Send us your lease →Call (209) 600-3453

Our rule

We don't lease equipment. Ever.

Equipment through EBS is sold at our cost, with no markup, or comes under the free equipment offers on each system page, with the terms printed there. Processing is month to month with no early termination fee. If anyone selling under our name offers you a lease, call the office and ask for Paul.

See the equipment offers →How we price processing

FAQ

Lease questions

Almost never on your own. Leases are written as non-cancellable for the full term. Your options are a buyout, finishing the term, or, if the lease was misrepresented or the signature is not yours, a complaint to your state attorney general and a lawyer. Some leasing companies will negotiate a reduced payoff; it never hurts to ask in writing.

That you, not just the business, owe the payments. If the business closes or the LLC is dissolved, the leasing company can collect from you personally. Check whose name is on the guarantor line; it is sometimes an employee or a manager who was handed the tablet.

Usually, yes, because the lease and the processing agreement are separate contracts. Whether the leased equipment can be reprogrammed for another processor depends on the device and the leasing company; some lease terms say they have no obligation to make it compatible. We check that before recommending anything.

Rarely. A fair lease would cost about what a loan at a reasonable rate costs. Paying three to four times the purchase price, personally guaranteed, with a buyout at the end, is not that. If cash is tight, ask about the free equipment offers or a monthly hardware payment plan with a real total and a real end.

Three things can happen: you pay a quoted buyout and keep it, you return it in good condition at your expense, or, if you do nothing, it keeps billing month to month. Most leases need written notice 60 to 90 days before the end. Put the date on your calendar now.

Bought outright at our cost, or provided under the free equipment offer on the system you choose, with that offer's terms printed on the page. There is no lease, no third party, and no guarantor line.

Free lease review

Send us the lease and the numbers.

A person reads it, runs the buyout against finishing it, checks the equipment list, and calls you back with the cheapest path. If the answer is to ride it out, we say so. No charge, and we do not share it.

Prefer to talk first? Call (209) 600-3453, English or Spanish.