If your business banks with U.S. Bank or was referred to merchant services by a bank, there is a good chance you are on Elavon with the Converge gateway. It is a competent, widely used platform. It is also one where merchants tend to have been priced once, at account opening, and never again. This page describes Converge, what to check, and what leaving involves.
What Converge is
Elavon is a large acquirer owned by U.S. Bank. Converge is its gateway, sold as ConvergePay and formerly VirtualMerchant. From Elavon’s materials and 2026 reviews:
- Virtual terminal for card-present (with a connected reader) and MOTO transactions.
- Hosted online payment pages and ecommerce integrations.
- Card on file: stored customer profiles for repeat, recurring and subscription billing.
- Mobile acceptance.
- Electronic checks, PayPal and digital wallets, all major card brands including JCB and Diners.
- Reporting and user management for multi-user businesses.
In October 2024 Elavon announced a new payment gateway to unify in-store and online acceptance. Converge remains in service and is still the gateway most Elavon merchants use.
Pricing
Quote-based. Elavon publishes no standard rate. Converge accounts typically show:
| Line | Notes |
|---|---|
| Gateway monthly fee | Converge access; varies by agreement |
| Per-transaction gateway fee | Cents per item |
| Processing | Elavon’s pricing: interchange-plus, tiered or flat depending on how the account was sold |
| PCI, statement, annual fees | Common on bank-referred accounts |
| Term | Often multi-year with early termination fee; check the agreement |
Bank-referred accounts from years ago are frequently on tiered pricing. The tell is qualified, mid-qualified and non-qualified lines on the statement. How to read them is in the statement guide.
Converge is tied to Elavon
Independent gateways (NMI, accept.blue, Fluidpay, Authorize.net) connect to many processors, so you can change processing pricing without touching your integration. Converge runs only on Elavon. Two consequences:
- Re-pricing means negotiating with Elavon, which is worth trying first if the integration is deep.
- Leaving means a gateway and processor migration together: new merchant account, new gateway, plugin or virtual terminal change, card-on-file export and import.
That is more work than a gateway swap, but it is routine. Allow three to five weeks with stored cards.
When to stay
The integration into your practice management, property management or vertical software is Converge-specific and would be a project to change. The processing has been re-priced recently to a fair interchange-plus rate. You value the bank relationship and the single point of contact. In those cases, ask Elavon for a review and stay.
When to move
The statement shows tiered pricing or an effective rate over 2.5% on a normal mix. The agreement is auto-renewing with a termination fee you are about to pass. You want dual pricing at the counter (available through independent processors on Clover and Dejavoo) with online processing on the same account. Or you want a person to call rather than a bank queue.
Migration outline
- Statement analysis: effective rate, fee schedule, contract end date and termination fee.
- New merchant account on interchange-plus and an independent gateway with the integration your software supports.
- Card-on-file export request to Elavon, encrypted to the new gateway.
- Import, token remap, recurring schedules recreated after the last Elavon billing run.
- Live tests, cutover, close Elavon after two clean cycles.
The gateway comparison for the receiving side is on the Authorize.net alternatives page, which covers NMI, accept.blue and Fluidpay in the same terms.