RTS Financial Fuel Card Review 2026

Pros Explained

Factoring Integration That Actually Works -- If you are already factoring with RTS, the fuel card integration removes friction from your daily operations. Fuel purchases and invoice advances flow through one system. Settlements happen automatically. You are not logging into three different portals or reconciling statements from multiple vendors. For small fleet owners who wear every hat in the business, that consolidation has real value. One dashboard. One account manager. One phone number when something goes wrong. The fuel card becomes an extension of your factoring relationship rather than a separate product to manage.

Zero Fees Without Asterisks -- I have reviewed enough fuel cards to know that "zero fees" often comes with fine print that adds up. Not here. RTS charges nothing to activate the card. Nothing monthly. Nothing per transaction at in-network locations. Nothing annually. The fee schedule is genuinely empty. Your savings at the pump are your actual savings. For an owner-operator fueling 80 times a year, avoiding even a $1.50 per-transaction fee that competitors charge saves $120 annually. That is not going to change anyone's life, but it adds up over time, and it reflects a pricing philosophy that respects the carrier's margins.

No Credit Check Option Opens Doors -- The Self-Funded prepaid card requires no credit check and no credit history. If you just received your authority last month and have no business credit profile, you qualify. If you went through a bankruptcy three years ago and are rebuilding, you qualify. If you simply refuse to put your personal credit on the line for business expenses, you qualify. The requirement is cash to fund the card, not a credit score. In an industry where a significant percentage of owner-operators have credit situations that disqualify them from traditional fuel programs, this accessibility matters.

Pilot Flying J Is Where Truckers Already Stop -- The RTS partnership with Pilot Flying J covers 850-plus locations where long-haul carriers already fuel, eat, and shower. You are not rerouting your day to chase a discount at an unfamiliar truck stop. If Pilot and Flying J are already on your route, the savings appear automatically. The brand familiarity, the consistent amenities, and the driver-friendly facilities add value beyond the fuel discount itself. Pilots have parking. They have showers. They have restaurants. The fuel discount is gravy on stops you were making anyway.

Cons Explained

The BBB Rating Tells a Story Marketing Will Not -- A 1.51 out of 5 customer rating from 67 BBB reviews, with 63 formal complaints in three years, deserves attention.[^5][^6] This is not a company with one or two unhappy customers who went online to vent. This is a pattern documented across dozens of complaints on a platform specifically designed for consumer grievances. The contrast with Google (4.6/5) and Trustpilot (4.2/5) ratings is striking. Both things can be true: most customers have good experiences, and a meaningful minority has experiences bad enough to file formal complaints. The BBB data suggests that when things go wrong at RTS, they go wrong in ways that escalate to official channels.

Leaving Appears to Be the Hard Part -- The most consistent complaint theme across negative reviews is difficulty terminating the relationship. Carriers describe requesting cancellation and continuing to see charges. Escrow funds held for extended periods, sometimes months, after accounts should have closed. Phone calls and emails that go unanswered when the topic is termination rather than new business. One reviewer described trying to cancel for three months while charges continued accruing. Another said their escrow deposit was not returned until they threatened legal action. These are not isolated incidents. The pattern appears too frequently across too many review platforms to dismiss.

UCC Liens Before You Even Start -- Several complaints describe RTS filing UCC liens after carriers submitted initial applications but before any factoring relationship was finalized. One trucker wrote that they "NEVER completed the factoring application" but discovered RTS had already filed a UCC lien against their business. UCC liens show up on business credit reports and can complicate financing for equipment, insurance, and other services. If a lien gets filed before you decide whether to proceed, you face the administrative burden of getting it removed if you choose a different direction. Ask direct questions about UCC filing timing before submitting any application paperwork.

Customer Service

The customer service story at RTS Financial is what I call the Communication Paradox, and understanding it is important before you sign up.

During normal operations, when you are factoring invoices and fueling trucks and everything runs smoothly, carriers consistently describe the experience as positive. Account managers get named by name in reviews. Representatives are described as helpful, responsive, and knowledgeable. The 24/7 support line works. Questions get answered. Problems get solved. The factoring integration means your fuel card support and your invoice support come from the same team, which simplifies getting help.

The experience shifts when the relationship hits friction. Billing disputes trigger slower responses. Questions about contract terms get vague answers. And attempting to leave the relationship altogether seems to change everything. The attentive account manager stops returning calls. Emails requesting cancellation confirmation go unanswered. The warmth of routine service gives way to silence.

I have seen this pattern described too many times across too many platforms to attribute it to a few outlier experiences. Google reviews, Trustpilot, BBB complaints. Different carriers in different years describing the same transition from responsive to unreachable once they decided to leave.

What does this mean practically? If you sign up with RTS, assume the service will be good while you are a happy customer using the services as intended. But plan for the possibility that exiting will require more effort, more documentation, and more persistence than you expect. Keep records of every communication. Note dates and names. Send important requests in writing rather than relying on phone conversations. And understand that the experience described in the good reviews is the experience of people who stayed, not the experience of people who tried to go.

RTS responds to 96 percent of BBB complaints, which indicates they do engage when issues get elevated to formal channels.[^5] If you hit a wall with standard customer service during a dispute or termination, escalating through BBB or other formal channels may be necessary to get resolution.

Who Should Use This

RTS Factoring Customers -- If you are already factoring with RTS Financial and planning to stay, the fuel card is a logical addition. The integration creates operational simplicity you will not get running separate vendors for factoring and fuel. One dashboard. One relationship. Settlements that happen automatically. The fuel card becomes an extension of services you are already using rather than another vendor to manage.

Pilot Flying J Loyalists -- Carriers whose routes run through Pilot and Flying J locations regularly will capture the discount naturally without rerouting. If you are already stopping at Pilots for fuel, showers, and parking, the RTS card puts money back in your pocket at stops you were making anyway. The 850-plus location partnership covers most major corridors.

New Authorities Needing Access -- The Self-Funded prepaid option requires no credit check. If you just got your authority and have no business credit history, or if credit issues would disqualify you from other programs, RTS provides an entry point. Fund the card with cash and access the same discounts as credit-based users.

One-Stop-Shop Operators -- Small fleet owners who want to minimize vendor relationships will appreciate having factoring, fuel cards, and related services under one roof. Fewer logins. Fewer statements. Fewer phone numbers to track. The consolidation has value for operations without dedicated office staff.

Who Should Look Elsewhere -- Carriers seeking maximum per-gallon savings should compare TCS, Mudflap, and other programs reporting higher discount averages. RTS's 25 cents trails the 45 to 63 cents some competitors deliver. If your routes run primarily through Love's, TA, or Petro locations, the Pilot-focused RTS network is a poor fit. Operators who prioritize contractual flexibility and easy exit options should think twice given the documented complaints about termination difficulties. And carriers who want a standalone fuel card without factoring services may find better fits elsewhere, since RTS's primary value proposition is the integrated relationship.

Final Verdict

RTS Financial Fuel Card earns a 4.0 out of 5 and the badge for Best Factoring Integration in our 2026 fuel card rankings. The core product works. Zero fees mean your savings are real savings. Pilot Flying J partnership delivers discounts at locations truckers already use. Factoring integration simplifies operations for carriers already in that relationship. The Self-Funded option opens doors for credit-challenged operators who get rejected elsewhere.

The concerns are real and documented. The gap between Google/Trustpilot ratings and BBB complaints is not a statistical anomaly. It reflects a pattern where customers who stay have good experiences and customers who try to leave have bad ones. The UCC filing complaints describe a practice that can create problems before any business relationship is established. These are not minor quibbles. They are substantive issues that affect your ability to control your own business relationships.

My recommendation comes with conditions. If you are already factoring with RTS, plan to stay for the foreseeable future, and your routes align with the Pilot Flying J network, the fuel card makes sense. The integration value is real. The savings, while not industry-leading, are genuine. The zero-fee structure is honest.

But go in with your eyes open. Document everything. Understand the contract terms before you sign. Keep records of every communication. And if you ever decide to leave, budget extra time and patience for that process. The product works well for carriers who fit the profile and stay in the relationship. Getting out appears to be a different experience.

The score is 4.0 out of 5. Solid for carriers who match the use case. Problematic for those who need flexibility or an easy exit. Know which category you fall into before committing.