Midwest Payment Systems has won a three-year contract to process credit card payments for CompUSA, the Dallas-based chain of 135 computer superstores.
The subsidiary of Fifth Third Bank will process an estimated 13 million transactions annually for CompUSA, which would be among the processor's top customers, a bank spokeswoman said.
Bank officials said MPS converted CompUSA's systems in a single weekend. Thirty-day conversions are more typical, and 60- to 90-day changeovers are quite common, said Barry L. Boerstler, the Fifth Third senior vice president who oversees MPS.
Mr. Boerstler received a call from CompUSA on a Friday afternoon last December asking whether Midwest Payment Systems could convert the retailer's processing system right away. The companies worked out an interim agreement that day, and the conversion began that night.
A 10-person team worked around the clock to complete the conversion by a Monday morning during CompUSA's peak season, Mr. Boerstler said. Each retail store was alerted to the change that morning and was told how to change its procedures.
"This was really condensed," Mr. Boerstler said. "I really haven't heard of anything like this happening in the past."
He said the processor's efforts were rewarded this month when CompUSA extended MPS' contract.
The experience, Mr. Boerstler said, "gives me confidence that, should we need to for whatever business reasons, we could do it again."
