Don't Know What To Do, Or When To Do It? Bankrate.com Launches New Mortgage Decision Making Calculators

Business Wire, Dec 6, 2002

Business Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 6, 2002

Bankrate.com, (OTCBB:RATE), the Internet's leading consumer banking marketplace wants to help you make smart personal finance decisions. A new, free feature titled "Ask Bankrate" launched today that helps consumers make those tough financial decisions with customized advice.

For a sampling of Bankrate.com's new mortgage decision making tools, click here: http://www.bankrate.com/brm/mortgage-advisers/home.asp

"These are 'expert systems calculators'", explained Cotter Cunningham, COO of Bankrate, Inc. "This is not a one size fits all calculator like we are all used to seeing on the web. This is a custom tool that is designed to offer both quantitative and qualitative advice. Simply plug in your information and let the calculators do all the work. They take your attitudes, habits and even up-to-date market conditions into account. Your question of should you rent or buy your next home or take out a 15 or 30 year mortgage is answered...and then they go to the next level. They also offer you the financial expertise that fits your particular situation. The results detail why we suggest you should chose option A over B, what that would mean to you financially and how that determination was made."

"We are very excited about these new tools, stated Elisabeth DeMarse, President and CEO of Bankrate, Inc. "Bankrate is dedicated to offering consumers timely and helpful articles, rates and tools that enable them to make smart financial decisions. We believe that these 'expert' calculators will allow users to see both ends of their decision...what they should do and why they should do it. As always, our desire to offer the highest caliber services is our main driver at Bankrate.com, and we hope that these new tools will assist our readers in their mortgage decision process."

"Bankrate is a great partner," noted Fred Parnon, President and CEO of Jnana. "Bankrate is making excellent use of the Jnana software platform to rapidly build and deploy a new generation of smarter, more useful, and more personalized financial calculators, tools, and services. These new solutions are being built without traditional programming, and take advantage of Jnana's sophisticated reasoning and 'business logic' capabilities to provide expert guidance to customers via the Web. We look forward to working with Bankrate to develop and launch many more of these 'smart' calculators, tools, and services, taking full advantage of the unique capabilities of the Jnana software platform."

                       MORTGAGE DECISION TOOLS

1. Rent or Buy Your Next Home: Which is right for you?
    http://www.bankrate.com/brm/mortgage-advisers/rent-vs-buy.asp

2. The Opinionated Mortgage Calculator: Compare your mortgage options
    http://www.bankrate.com/brm/mortgage-advisers/mortgage-calculator.asp
    (Due to the length of this URL, it may be necessary to copy and
    paste this hyperlink into your Internet browser's URL address
    field.)

3. 15-Year or 30-Year Mortgage: Which is right for you?
    http://www.bankrate.com/brm/mortgage-advisers/15-vs-30.asp

4. Fixed or Adjustable Rate Mortgage: Which is right for you?
    http://www.bankrate.com/brm/mortgage-advisers/fixed-vs-ARM.asp

5. Mortgage Points Adviser: Which rate/points combination is right for
    you? http://www.bankrate.com/brm/mortgage-advisers/interest-vs-points.asp
    (Due to the length of this URL, it may be necessary to copy and
    paste this hyperlink into your Internet browser's URL address
    field.)

About Bankrate Inc.

Bankrate Inc. (OTCBB:RATE) owns and operates Bankrate.com, the Internet's leading consumer banking marketplace. Bankrate.com averages 3.3 million unique visitors per month, according to comScore Media Metrix, which ranks Bankrate.com first in unique visitors in the "Financial information and advice" category. Bankrate.com reviews more than 4,800 financial institutions in 173 markets in 50 states. Bankrate.com is a destination site of personal finance channels, including banking, investing, taxes and small business finance. It is the leading aggregator of over 100 financial products, including mortgages, credit cards, new and used auto loans, money market accounts and CDs, checking and ATM fees, home equity loans and online banking fees.

Bankrate.com provides financial applications and information to a network of more than 80 partners including MSN (Nasdaq:MSFT), Yahoo! (Nasdaq:YHOO), America Online (NYSE:AOL), and Smart Money. Bankrate.com's information is also distributed through more than 100 national and state publications.