Our intra-country money transfer business outside the U.S. grew transactions at a double-digit rate in the quarter. The dot com service is available in 14 some countries, including the top five European some markets. The profitable and high growth channel posted double-digit transaction growth in the third quarter, including over 40% transaction growth internationally.
Our account-to-cash transactions have grown more than 60% year-to-date with 10 banks currently offering the service. Account-to-cash provides Western Union connectivity to millions of account holders, many of whom who are new to our brand. As we focus on expanding partnerships with banks, we expect our account to cash offering to become a more significant part of our business.
Turning to global business payments, revenue declined 3% while transactions increased 2%. Revenues were aided by $8 million from the Custom House acquisition which closed on September 1st.
Our consumer bill payment offering in the United States provides same-day bill payment through our relationships with more than 4,000 billers. We can leverage these relationships in our systems to offer convenience to mainstream bank consumers as well and we are pleased that Western Union''s expedited bill pay services is now being offered to Wells Fargo online banking customers.
Overall, we were pleased with the company''s operational performance in the third quarter as revenue and transaction trends stabilized.
Now, I would like to turn the call over to Scott for a more detailed financial review.
Scott T. Scheirman
Thank you, Christina. Revenue for the third quarter was $1.3 billion, down 5% on a reported basis and down 2% constant currency adjusted. Custom House added $8 million to revenue and had a $5 million operating loss, primarily due to acquisition related expenses including amortization and integration costs.
We reported GAAP earnings per share of $0.26 or EPS of $0.33, excluding the settlement accrual. On a constant currency basis, EPS excluding accrual was $0.01 lower, earnings per share in the third quarter of 2008 was $0.33.
During the quarter, the company recorded a pre-tax accrual of $71 million related to the anticipated resolution of issues with the State of Arizona in a multi-state agreement to fund a not-for-profit organization.
A significant portion of the accrual relates to funding this organization, which will promote safety and security along the entire U.S. and Mexico border.
In addition, as part of the agreement, the company anticipates committing to make further investments to its compliance programs in the U.S. and Mexico border area over the next two to three years. The incremental EPS impact from these investments is estimated to be less than $0.01per year over that period.
We do not expect the terms of anticipated settlement agreement and the related compliance investments to have a material adverse impact on the company''s future performance. We''ll work closely with our agents, customers and other key stakeholders to reinforce confidence in our compliance programs.
Turning back to the business performance, third quarter transaction fee revenue, which made up 79% of company revenue declined 5%. Foreign exchange revenue represented 18% of total company revenue and it was flat year-over-year, both transaction fee and foreign exchange revenue were negatively affected by foreign exchange translation.
Key trends in the business were consistent with the prior quarter. We experienced year-over-year C2C transaction growth of 3% while the average principal per transaction was down 4% constant currency adjusted.
Revenue and principal amounts per transaction were comparable to the first half of 2009. Most importantly, we find that our customers continue to send money and we believe we gained share in the cross border [remit] markets.
In the third quarter, the amount of consumer-to-consumer cross border principal transfer through our network declined 5% or was down 1% constant currency adjusted. Through the first nine months, the amount declined 5% or was flat constant currency adjusted.
The World Bank estimates the full year 2009 market for remittances to developing countries will decline 7% to 10%, while it forecasts a 7% decline for cross border remittances. These organizations are forecasting slight market growth in 2010.
Cost of services represented 56.5% of revenue and improved 50 basis points compared to the third quarter of 2008. Operational improvements enabled the company to maintain strong gross margins despite lower revenue and included the benefits of taking FEXCO direct, cost reductions, selective agent commission initiatives and overall expense management.
SG&A was 22% of revenue in the quarter as reported including an impact of 5 percentage points related to the $71 million settlement accrual, excluding the accrual, SG&A as a percentage of revenue was consistent with the second quarter. Costs related to the FEXCO and Custom House acquisition also impacted SG&A trends.
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