I work at PowerPay which is a payment processor. Unless the person or organization you sign up with is a registered ISO than you are actually doing business with a company such as PowerPay. Visa and Mastercard require the ISO to be clearly stated on the merchant account application. Most of the time merchants go through sales agents who are working for or with a registered ISO. Just an FYI, as the industry can be a bit sketchy. I've been at PowerPay for a few years and for what it's worth I've always been impressed with how we do business.