ATLANTA -

In a move executives say will benefit buy-here, pay-here dealerships and other participants in the auto finance space, Realtime Electronic Payments (REPAY), a full-service provider of advanced payment technology products and electronic transaction processing services for the consumer lending industry, has acquired Sigma Payment Solutions, which offers related services.

Both companies said on Monday that they will continue growing in their respective industries, now with shared technology, resources and relationships.

“REPAY had already planned to expand into auto finance, so Sigma’s established footprint and well-respected leadership in that space made this an attractive acquisition for us,”, REPAY chief executive officer John Morris said

“We are also thrilled to welcome Susan Perlmutter to our team. She is highly regarded in the industry and has negotiated numerous beneficial dealer management system integrations for Sigma, with more on the horizon,” Morris continued. “We’re excited to join forces to offer an even higher level of service to our consumer finance and auto finance customers.”

Perlmutter is now chief revenue officer for both REPAY and Sigma. She added, “This acquisition brings greater resources to Sigma, as well as broader and deeper underwriting capabilities. It could not be a more perfect union, as each company fills a gap for the other.”

Perlmutter said Sigma’s clients have already begun to experience the benefits of the acquisition in the form of more competitive pricing.

“REPAY has a direct relationship with TSYS and with REPAY’s processing partners. As a result, Sigma can now offer more customized solutions and better pricing to our customers,” said Perlmutter, who also shared her industry perspective here as a part of BHPH Report’s annual issue dubbed, “Best of BHPH.”

Both REPAY and Sigma will continue to invest heavily in new technology to automate consumer payments 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Sigma pointed out that it will continue all its current integrations with the industry’s top DMS platforms. Customers will experience no change to their Sigma service, except for more competitive pricing.

“We are also working hard to increase the pace by which we can integrate with loan management and dealer management systems,” Morris said. “We believe a customer’s choice to work with REPAY or Sigma should be an easy one, because we offer true plug-and-play functionality.”