|
8/28/2007
Travelex Launches Planet Payment's "Pay in Your Currency" at All US Locations Through Humboldt Merchant Services
International Travelers Can View Charges and Pay in Their Home
Foreign exchange specialist Travelex Americas and Planet Payment [LSE: AIM: PPT and PPTR], a leading international multi-currency payment and data processor, today announced the availability of a new service which provides greater convenience to international travelers that use their MasterCard® or Visa® cards to obtain currency exchange and other services at Travelex locations across the United States. Provided through Humboldt Merchant Services, Travelex’s acquiring bank, the new “Pay in Your Currency” service, allows international customers to pay for their foreign exchange transaction in the currency they know best – their own.
Traditionally, an international customer paying with a credit card can only have their charges posted in the merchant’s local currency. Conversion of those charges back to the customer’s home currency occurs only after the transaction and is performed by the card provider. The exchange rate and the final cost of the charge are not known to the customer until later – when they receive a billing statement from their card provider.
Now, with the availability of the Pay in Your Currency service, international travelers using eligible MasterCard® and Visa® cards for foreign exchange services at all 125 Travelex locations across the United States have the option to complete the transaction in their home currency. The amount the customer pays in their home currency matches the amount they see on their credit card statement -- eliminating the uncertainty experienced with the conventional process.
“We believe that visitors to the United States choose Travelex for their foreign currency needs because we provide superior service and greater convenience,” said Jon Dario of Travelex Americas. “This new service is a perfect complement to our suite of foreign exchange products and services -- now our international customers can enjoy the convenience using their credit card for foreign exchange services with the added comfort and certainty of knowing the final amount of the transaction in their home currency immediately, at the time of the transaction.”
“Humboldt Merchant Services and Planet Payment are excited to be working with Travelex to deliver our Pay in Your Currency service to Travelex locations across the United States,” said Philip D. Beck, Chief Executive Officer of Planet Payment. “This service was developed to provide greater clarity, choice and simplicity to international transactions by eliminating all of the guesswork that exists when international cardholders use their cards overseas. We are confident that Travelex customers will appreciate the convenience which flows from the service.”
Enquiries to:
Travelex
Jerry Cordano, Manager of Operations Tel: 212-701-0468
Gerard.Cordano@travelexamericas.com
Planet Payment
Joel Mayer, Director Corporate Development Tel: (800) 489-0174
jmayer@planetpayment.com
Redleaf Communications Ltd (for Planet Payment)
Emma Kane / Paul Dulieu / Tom Newman Tel: +44 20 7822 0200
Fax: +44 20 7822 0201
ek@redleafpr.com
Humboldt Merchant Services
Ken Musante, President Tel: (707) 269-3200
kmusante@hbms.com
About Travelex:
Travelex is the world's largest foreign exchange specialist with over 700 retail branches and 16,000 business customers. There are retail branches at key airport, seaport and rail locations, in addition to tourist and business centers around the world. Over 40% of travellers and 1.5 billion passengers pass through airports at which the business operates including the major gateways at London, New York, Hong Kong, Frankfurt and Sydney.
Travelex is also the world's largest non-bank provider of international payment services, providing integrated payment solutions for businesses. The group is also one of the world's leading providers of outsourced travel money to banks, travel agencies and other financial institutions and one of the world's oldest issuers of Travellers Checks. Further information on Travelex Americas can be found at: http://www.travelex.com/us/
About Planet Payment:
Further information on Planet Payment [LSE: AIM: PPT and PPTR for unrestricted and Reg S common shares respectively] can be found at: www.planetpayment.com.
Planet Payment is a multi-currency payment and data processor, enabling processors, acquiring banks and their merchants to accept, process and reconcile credit card transactions in multiple currencies, allowing cardholders to view prices and settle transactions in their native currency. Planet Payment’s systems also enable it to provide enhanced data reporting and data management to merchants who are using multiple systems in different countries. The “Pay in Your Currency Service” is a component of Planet Payment’s suite of multi-currency processing solutions, which include a multi-currency pricing e-commerce service and a Dynamic Currency Conversion service.
The Planet Payment business was established in 1999. Planet Payment is headquartered in New York and has offices in Atlanta, the United Kingdom, Bermuda, Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing.
About Humboldt Merchant Services:
Humboldt Merchant Services can facilitate the processing of Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express, JCB and debit cards. Humboldt Merchant Services helps businesses increase their sales by increasing the purchasing power of your customers. With state-of-the-art products and services we assist a wide range of merchant types in accepting credit cards. We have expertise in retail, restaurant, motel/hotel, Internet businesses, MOTO, New Businesses and Home Based Businesses. For more information, please visit our website at www.hbms.com.
|