CheckFree: A Payments Revolution 25 Years in The Making

Bank Technology News, February, 2006 by Holly Sraeel, Editor-in-Chief

The evolution of electronic payments has come a long way. By 2010, Forrester projects 52 percent of U.S. online households will be paying bills over the Internet-with Gen Xers and Gen Yers comprising 67 percent of electronic bill presentment and payment users.

But 25 years ago, the idea of electronic payments was in the basement-Pete Kight's grandmother's basement. The founder and current chairman and CEO of CheckFree Corp. had what some believed a good idea: streamline payments by removing paper, automating process and, eventually, giving bank customers the ability to pay bills electronically.

If it were not for Kight's vision-helped along by Bank One's then-president John McCoy, who "loaned" Kight ACH time at the bank at night to get CheckFree off the ground-the...

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