ENGLEWOOD, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU), a leader in global payment services, today announced that it will launch WU® Pay, a new and innovative electronic payments platform that will significantly improve the customer experience and safety for millions of people seeking to make online payments or transfer money.
The new WU Pay platform allows online shoppers in the U.S. to pay for online purchases from their existing bank accounts or in cash at Western Union Agent locations. WU Pay is based on the eBillme platform, which Western Union acquired in October 2011.
The service is available as a payment option through hundreds of online merchant sites, including Sears, Kmart, Buy.com, Tiger Direct, RedCats USA and others. The payment option can also be used to purchase over 60 leading virtual gift cards including Amazon, jcpenney, The Home Depot, Dell, American Airlines and many others.
“WU Pay is an integral part of the ongoing change taking place at Western Union,” said Hikmet Ersek, President and CEO of Western Union. “WU Pay not only propels us further into the digital payments space, it improves our core money movement capabilities by combining the strengths of our brick-and-mortar Agent network and WesternUnion.com with the proven eBillme platform we acquired last year. This is a truly powerful combination of physical and online assets that will make safe and secure e-commerce possible for just about anyone.”
WU Pay places a premium on safety. Customers who use WU Pay are not required to share any account, credit card or other financial information to do a transaction online. The way it works is simple: Shoppers choose the option at checkout page, and the order is confirmed with a bill sent to their e-mail address. Consumers pay the bill the same way they pay utilities, loans, insurance, and other bills, either through their online bank account or at one of over 44,000 Western Union® Agent locations in the U.S.
Merchants were drawn to eBillme because it allows them to offer more payment options, which helps acquire new customers. WU Pay also will be a lower-price option compared to other e-payment alternatives currently available.
In addition, customers using WesternUnion.com will have WU Pay as a payment option so they can pay for their money transfer transactions directly from their bank accounts.
“Western Union’s ownership and capabilities make WU Pay a significantly stronger offering than we had as eBillme alone,” said Marwan Forzley, eBillme founder, who leads the WU Pay program with Western Union. “WU Pay’s payment capabilities, reach and safety create a platform that will have significant appeal to both merchants and consumers.”
Additional information about WU Pay is available at: www.westernunion.com/wupay.
About Western Union
The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU) is a leader in global payment services. Together with its Vigo, Orlandi Valuta, Pago Facil and Western Union Business Solutions branded payment services, Western Union provides consumers and businesses with fast, reliable and convenient ways to send and receive money around the world, to send payments and to purchase money orders. As of December 31, 2011, the Western Union, Vigo and Orlandi Valuta branded services were offered through a combined network of approximately 485,000 agent locations in 200 countries and territories. In 2011, The Western Union Company completed 226 million consumer-to-consumer transactions worldwide, moving $81 billion of principal between consumers, and 425 million business payments. For more information, visit www.westernunion.com.
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