AlternativePayments.com SEPA-Compliant and Processing EuroDebit Transactions

    PASADENA, CA, May 22, 2014 /24-7PressRelease/ -- While the EPC has issued a six-month grace period extending the compliance deadline to August 1, Alternative Payments CEO Wolfgang Kring said his company completed its preparations and testing in advance of the original EPC deadline.

"We worked diligently to assure that the transition of our existing customers' transactions will be smooth and seamless," said Alternative Payments CEO Wolfgang Kring. "We are managing the conversion of the transactions and rebills for our many, many EuroDebit merchants into SEPA- compliance, and thus our testing had a success rate of 100%."

SEPA stands for the Single Euro Payments Area, a set of regulations designed to harmonize the way consumers and businesses in Europe make payments using the Euro currency. SEPA standardizes the means by which European banks and other financial institutions interact, providing a single, standard method for transferring funds between banks, and turning all European purchases into "domestic" purchases throughout the EU.

"Under SEPA, for the first time ever, a business in Germany can directly debit from an Italian customer's bank account, and a Spaniard on holiday in Austria can utilize a card issued by his home-area bank to make purchases in Vienna," Kring said, citing just two of the countless purchasing scenarios that will be enabled by the introduction of SEPA.

In an e-commerce context, SEPA's unification of the online payment space with respect to the EU and its standardization of payment methods will make billing in Europe far easier, and possibly create price-reducing competition in geographic areas where traditionally a very limited number of companies have offered processing services.

"Since the SEPA regulations were first promulgated and the February 2014 deadline was set, we have worked to ensure that our merchants get the full benefit of SEPA from day 1," Kring said. "For American merchants who have shied away from making a full-fledged marketing effort directed at the European market due to the current complexity of billing there, SEPA is a game- changer that will open up Europe like never before. Alternative Payments is positioned to immediately help e-commerce merchants take advantage of the huge opportunity SEPA presents."

For more information on the services offered by Alternative Payments like EuroDebit, go to www.AlternativePayments.com. For more information on SEPA, visit www.WhatIsSEPA.com

Alternative Payments has been a leading processor of global payment methods for 15 years. Headquartered in Pasadena, CA with offices in Germany and Serbia.

Outside the US credit cards are not a preferred payment option. By consolidating all currencies, countries, and languages into one button, Alternative Payments makes it easy for your business to accept payments on a global scale. For more information contact us at (626) 773 7194 or AlternativePayments.com

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