OUR STORY
About the Owner
Sandy Bower is the Founder of both Empire Pays, a credit card processing company and Vets Returning Home, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. Sandy is also a proud lifetime Michigan resident. Beginning her “adult” life at only 14 she found herself homeless and a teenage mother at 15; Sandy knew she would have to work harder than most people to get ahead and raise her family. She developed respected community relationships with her strong work ethic, trustworthiness, and integrity. She has an almost 30-year history as a successful businesswoman in the credit card processing industry. Her desire to bring rectitude to the credit card processing industry prompted Ms. Bower to create her own company, Empire Pays (formerly EC Metro) in 1999.
After many years of hard work and dedication, Empire Pays is a highly respected company that prides itself on its fair, ethical, and competitive credit card processing program. In 2013, since most of Empire’s staff had been with the company since inception, Sandy knew she was leaving the company in good hands and decided to semi-retire in order to fulfill her philanthropic cause. Knowing her heart would lead to the homeless, her research led her to the plight of the veterans. More specifically, veterans in crisis – those facing homelessness.
As a direct result of the success with Empire Pays, Ms. Bower founded and is the full time Volunteer Program Director at Vets Returning Home in Roseville, MI. After finding that there are over 50,000 homeless veterans in Michigan alone, most of them not receiving the benefits available due to the 2 year wait list, in addition to many others that are disadvantaged, disabled and/or homeless; Sandy just knew she had to do something that would make a difference.
Sandy cashed in her retirement fund, purchased an 11,000 sq. ft. facility that was formerly used by the Red Cross (which now houses 43 beds, including a commercial kitchen) and she got to work building Vets Returning Home from the ground up. Sandy solely funded the organization for the first year. Once the organization established its 501(c)3 status, she was able to receive donations and sponsorships from the generous community as well as implementing several fundraising campaigns a year.
Due to the bureaucracy involved, Vets Returning Home has never nor do they ever plan to receive government funding! The organization is funded purely by donations, sponsorships and fundraising by the community.
Although Sandy redirected her efforts into building Vets Returning Home, she continues to be a vital member of Empire Pays.
Effective immediately, due to the devastating effects of COVID 19, Sandy will be coming out of retirement with Empire Pays. She is focused on helping struggling businesses save money on their credit card processing and in turn, donating the profits of Empire Pays to Vets Returning Home to help our American heroes.
About Empire Pays
Empire Pays was established in 1999 with now over 30 years of credit card industry experience. Our mission is to provide businesses of all sizes with state-of-the-art electronic payment solutions and to always go above and beyond to exceed our merchant’s expectations.
CEO and Founder, Sandy Bower started out as an Agent for another processor. She found it difficult to help and support her merchants the way they deserve due to the red tape of being just an Agent, so she started Empire Pays. Empire Pays is built on honesty, a high level of integrity and unparalleled personalized customer service. We have never nor will we ever lock our merchants into a long-term contract. We want them to feel happy and taken care of with our sensational pricing and services. Our goal is to retain our merchants for a lifetime because they are satisfied not because they are locked into a contract, forced to pay an outrageous cancellation fee to move and/or have to finish paying a multiyear equipment lease agreement.
Sandy built a strong team of dedicated individuals; many of whom are still with the company 20 years later. Below are a few comments from some of our seasoned staff:
Kristen is the National Director of Empire Pays and has been with the company since 1999. “Never having worked in the credit card processing industry before; it was a new, challenging, and exciting experience. I had no idea how cut-throat the industry was. However, it did not take long to realize the difference in the business structure and work ethic of Empire Pays versus other Merchant Service Providers. Although I did not have any sales background, it turns out that it was not needed when representing Empire. An extravagant sales pitch or smoke and mirror illusions have never been necessary. I found it extremely easy to simply talk about the program and show the merchants the cost savings that would come with choosing Empire. There have been opportunities for me to change to competitor companies, but my loyalty is with Empire Pays. I am confident that Empire is one of a kind in the credit card processing industry. I have had the pleasure of working with some of the same merchants for 20 years and cannot imagine working anywhere else. Empire Pays’ staff is like family and we try to take care of our merchants like they are all our family and friends! I greatly admire and appreciate Sandy for what she has done to help our veterans in crisis. I’m proud to be a part of Empire Pays and our ongoing efforts to support Vets Returning Home in any way that we can.” – Kristen M.-S.
Heidi is an Account Manager and Administrative Assistant at Empire Pays, starting in 2012. “Being a part of Empire Pays makes me proud. Our motto is, “merchants stay with us because they want to, not because they have to.” Honesty and trust are most important, and our merchants know they are taken care of. Working in the Midland office with Kristen is not only fun but very rewarding. I love learning new things every day and having pride in what we are doing, not only for our clients but for our veterans as well. We definitely make an amazing team!” – Heidi S.
Susie is the Director of Business Development and has been with Empire Pays since 2014.
“In an industry that has thousands of options, I chose to work with Empire Pays because of their long history of being an honest, ethical and sincere company. They truly mean what they say. As someone who has been a customer of Empire Pays for several years, I know without question that their pricing is fair and that they do not play the “hide the fees” game that so many other processors do.
When I decided to begin marketing payment processing to other businesses, the choice was simple, I went with the company that has proven themselves to me for over 20 years. When I meet with merchants to discuss our program, I know that what I am telling them is the truth. I’m proud of the program I’m marketing, and proud to be a member of the Empire Pays’ team.” – Susie M.
Kristy is an Account Executive and has been with Empire Pays since 2017.
“I am delighted that I made the choice to join the Empire team. Empire Pays not only offers their merchants excellent support, they are also there to support their employees. They want their employees to be successful and are always willing to offer a helping hand. When speaking with merchants I have full confidence in the program I am selling. I know that Empire Pays takes pride in their excellent customer service and because of this, we do not require our merchants to sign a contract. We know that merchants will stay with us because we are honest and are always looking out for their best interest.” – Kristy P.
The Empire Difference
Empire Pays offers merchants unsurpassed customer service. All our merchants are big fish in our pond! When you sign with Empire Pays, you will have a dedicated Account Manager that you can reach any time. We also have a 24 x 7 x 365 Technical Support Help Desk located in the United States (Forth Worth, Texas).
A lot of merchants get frustrated with PCI Compliance. We are proud to have a top-notch PCI Compliance partner, MAXpci. Their team of professional representatives provide personalized customer service to our merchants to simplify and streamline the PCI Compliance process. MAXpci makes complying with difficult but mandated requirements as easy as possible.
Whether your business is a storefront, multi-location chain of stores or restaurants, online shop, a non-profit or a weekend vendor; Empire Pays has the tools you need to process payment card transactions. Backed by a team of nationwide sales and a vast variety of payment processing options, every merchant has the peace of mind of knowing that they have found their merchant services “home” with Empire Pays.
Empire Pays is a proud sponsor of Vets Returning Home. By signing with Empire Pays, your business becomes a sponsor as well since we are donating our profits to Vets Returning Home. If you’d like more information on Vets Returning Home, please visit their website at www.vetsreturninghome.org.
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