U.S. Bank Helps Retail Lockbox Customers Process Exception Payments Faster and More Easily

Business Wire, May 16, 2007

MINNEAPOLIS -- U.S. Bank Treasury Management is now offering three new services designed to accelerate the processing and deposit of retail lockbox exception payments, such as payments received without a remittance coupon. These services allow businesses to save time, improve efficiency and have quicker access to funds, streamlining the cumbersome review process inherent with exception payments. U.S. Bank's three newest exception-handling products are MICR Database Matching, Perfect Payment and Web Exceptions -- each with a unique approach to helping businesses address their particular lockbox exception-handling needs.

"At U.S. Bank, we know it's important to our retail lockbox customers to deliver superior service for their clients, and to ensure that payments are credited promptly and accurately," said Mary Lux, retail lockbox product manager at U.S. Bank. "Our full range of processing options enables them to tackle those exception challenges without any headaches."

MICR Database Matching takes advantage of payment history for a customer's lockbox. When a payment is received without a remittance coupon, the U.S. Bank Retail Lockbox system reviews the payment to determine if the same check has consistently paid the same account. If so, the payment is automatically matched to the prior payment account information and credited to the appropriate account.

Using the Perfect Payment service, businesses transmit a database file of their client information to U.S. Bank. When a check is received without a remittance coupon, U.S. Bank lockbox personnel search the database to locate the client and match the payment to the correct account information.

U.S. Bank Retail Lockbox Web Exceptions is a Web-based tool that allows retail lockbox customers to view images of their exception payments via U.S. Bank's Image Look imaging software. Customers can review their exception payments online throughout the day and decide how each one should be handled.

"We've been using U.S. Bank Lockbox Web Exceptions to handle our lockbox exception payments, and we've found that it has dramatically cut the amount of time and effort we spend handling exceptions," said Tim Dwyer, assistant treasurer at Nationwide Insurance. "Not only that, it also helps us ensure that those exception payments are posted in a timely manner, which is extremely important to us and to our customers."

U.S. Bank is a nationally recognized provider of lockbox services, processing more than 200 million retail lockbox payments per year. The company's lockbox network includes processing sites in Cincinnati, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Seattle and St. Louis.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB), with $221 billion in assets, is the parent company of U.S. Bank, the 6th largest commercial bank in the United States. The company operates 2,498 banking offices and 4,837 ATMs, and provides a comprehensive line of banking, brokerage, insurance, investment, mortgage, trust and payment services products to consumers, businesses and institutions. Visit U.S. Bancorp on the web at www.usbank.com.