Companies to Offer TransPoint E-Billing Services To Their More Than 25 Million Customers

ENGLEWOOD, Colo., May 17, 2000 — TransPoint LLC today announced that the residential customers of Cinergy Corp. can begin receiving and paying e-bills online with TransPoint. An additional seven companies have signed contracts to distribute e-bills to their customers in the future through the TransPoint™
online bill payment service, including Sallie Mae, BellSouth Corp., South Carolina Electric & Gas, APS, Cellular One of the San Francisco Bay Area, Montana Power Co. and the San Diego Union-Tribune. These companies have a combined total of more than 25 million customers who are or will be able to pay their bills online through TransPoint.

Through TransPoint’s online payment service, consumers can view and pay bills that arrive electronically through TransPoint, pay bills that arrive in the U.S. mail, and pay almost anyone else they want.

With one fully integrated and convenient service, consumers with Internet access can pay all their bills with a few clicks of a mouse. Companies that deliver bills electronically through TransPoint benefit from targeted marketing, greater control over the billing process and personalized customer care. Their customers benefit from an easy, convenient service that is fast, flexible and secure.

“The addition of these eight billers demonstrates the continued momentum of the online billing and payment industry,”
said Lewis Levin, president and CEO of TransPoint.
“Their choice is based on the unique benefits that TransPoint technology offers billers. Since TransPoint launched its Pay Anyone feature on Feb. 1, our subscriber base has nearly tripled. As a result, more consumers are getting the benefit of paying all their bills, including e-bills, online.”

The e-bills industry is expected to grow rapidly in the next few years. According to recent statistics from Forrester Research Inc., a Boston-based research firm, 33 percent of households with Internet access will pay bills online in five years. By 2004, Forrester expects that 2 billion consumer bills — 13 percent of the U.S. total — will be presented and paid electronically.

“The TransPoint service is convenient and easy to use and is available from a secure place on the Internet — exactly what our customers have told us they want,”
said Patty Walker, vice president of Billing and Metering Services for Cinergy.
“Our customers appreciate TransPoint’s streamlined registration and the ability to pay anyone to whom they owe money in a quick and easy fashion.”

Customers can check the status of their TransPoint online payment account via their computers 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If more help is needed, the TransPoint online payment service includes Web-based site support and a fully staffed customer-service team.

“We’re excited about the many convenient features the TransPoint service will provide to our customers,”
said Nina K. Vellayan, director of Product Development at Sallie Mae.
“It offers interactive bill features, flexible payment options and more. Most beneficial will be the Web-based customer support we can offer. Customers will benefit by receiving more direct access to a customer service associate so their questions can be answered faster. They won’t have to wait long for simple answers to their questions.”

In addition, a major benefit for companies is the fact that the costs of customer inquiries are dramatically reduced with e-billing, because much of the user interface offers self-help options.

Currently, the TransPoint e-bills service is available to consumers through the MSN MoneyCentral online personal finance service at http://www.moneycentral.msn.com/ , the TransPoint Web site at http://www.transpoint.com/ , the Go2Net network at http://www.go2net.com/ , the Compass Bank Web site at http://www.compassweb.com/ , and the InterWest Bank Web site at http://www.interwestbank.com/ . Several other popular Internet destination sites and consumer service providers have committed to go live with TransPoint in the next few months.

About TransPoint

TransPoint, established in June 1997, is a joint venture of Microsoft Corp. and First Data Corp., with Citibank as a minority equity investor. Englewood, Colo.-based TransPoint is a leader in the emerging electronic bill presentment and payment industry with a seamless e-bills service built from the ground up. The TransPoint system uses innovative technology and integrates easily with billers’ and banks’ existing payment systems. The TransPoint service is designed to be the fast, easy way for consumers with Internet access to make all their payments online from a single, secure Web site. Consumers can pay their bills at multiple Internet locations, including the MSN MoneyCentral online personal finance service, the TransPoint Web site, and the Web sites of participating financial institutions.

On Feb. 15, TransPoint entered into a definitive merger agreement with CheckFree Corp., a leader in electronic billing and payment. The combined technologies and relationships of the two entities are expected to accelerate migration of the billing and payment process from paper to the Internet, and to advance the rate at which consumers sign up for electronic billing. The transaction will be accounted for as a purchase by CheckFree and is expected to be final in three to six months. More information about TransPoint is available at http://www.transpoint.com/ .

TransPoint is an exclusive U.S. trademark of TransPoint LLC. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

Note to editors: If you are interested in viewing additional information on Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft Web page at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/ on Microsoft’s corporate information pages. If you are interested in viewing additional information on First Data, please visit the First Data Web page at http://www.firstdatacorp.com/ . If you are interested in viewing additional information on Citibank, please visit the Citibank Web page at http://www.citibank.com/ .

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