Yahoo! Announces Availability of Bill Payment Services; Yahoo! Teams with CheckFree to Provide Millions of Users with Ability to Pay Bills Online - Company Business and Marketing

Edge: Work-Group Computing Report, Sept 13, 1999

Weary from writing checks? Spent on buying stamps? Yahoo! Inc. Wednesday unveiled Yahoo! Bill Pay, a service that allows Yahoo!'s millions of users in the United States the ability to securely pay bills from any computer connected to the Internet. Through a relationship with CheckFree Corporation, a leading provider of financial electronic commerce since 1981, Yahoo! users now have the ability to electronically pay anyone in the United States.

Yahoo! Bill Pay gives Yahoo! users ultimate flexibility when it comes to paying bills online, allowing users to pay bills not only to established companies, but also to individuals, including landlords, family members and friends. In addition to making payments of differing amounts every month, users can also schedule fixed monthly payments, such as car or mortgage payments. Yahoo! Bill Pay also affords users the ability to schedule single payments, such as car registration or tuition fees, up to one year in advance. The service is available through Yahoo! Finance (http://finance.yahoo.com), one of the Web's leading financial resources. Through the integration with Yahoo! Finance, Yahoo! Bill Pay allows Yahoo! users to manage their finances at one central location. Yahoo! users also have the ability to access Yahoo! Bill Pay through My Yahoo! (http://my.yahoo.com), the popular personalizable version of Yahoo!, so individuals catching up on the day's headlines, the latest sports scores, or the latest weather forecast, can now pay their bills from the same place.

"We are extremely pleased to announce the availability of Yahoo! Bill Pay, as this premium service is another way to make our users' financial lives more convenient," said Tim Brady, vice president of production and executive producer, Yahoo! Inc. "Yahoo! consistently brings our users the best of the Web, and providing them with the ability to pay bills online is an extension of this commitment. Making sure users have their varying personal financial needs met by Yahoo! Finance is one of the keys to its incredible success."

"CheckFree is very proud to support Yahoo! Bill Pay and the millions of consumers who have chosen Yahoo! as the online destination to manage their finances," said Pete Kight, chairman and CEO of CheckFree. "CheckFree's strategy is to facilitate the electronic delivery and payment of bills, as well as other electronic payments, at whatever site the consumer chooses, including Yahoo! Finance and My Yahoo!."

How to Get Started

Whether consumers are already paying bills with another provider or directly through their bank, getting signed up with Yahoo! is simple. To begin paying bills online through Yahoo!, a registered user needs to sign in to Yahoo! with a current Yahoo! ID. Online users not yet registered with Yahoo! may obtain a Yahoo! ID by visiting www.yahoo.com. Once users have signed in to Yahoo!, they may choose their Yahoo! Security Key. Introduced earlier this year, the Yahoo! Security Key is similar to a personal access code (or PIN) - a six (or more) character combination of numbers and/or letters.

When a Yahoo! ID and Yahoo! Security Key have been obtained, individuals can then begin setting up Yahoo! Bill Pay. Once signed up and payee lists have been created, individuals using Yahoo! Bill Pay may specify the date they want payments to be received by the payees. After a payment has been scheduled, it appears in the user's list of upcoming payments until the payment has been processed. When the payment has been processed, it appears in the user's Yahoo! Bill Pay payment history with a status of "Paid." (Those payees not able to accept electronic payments will be mailed a paper check in the U.S. mail by CheckFree.)

Safe and Secure

Yahoo! and CheckFree both employ the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) security standard that is widely used by popular Internet browsers and merchants transacting on the Web. During transmission over the Web, SSL encrypts data to protect it from being read by anyone other than the intended recipient. Yahoo! also has taken steps to provide additional security on its site in order to protect the user with the Yahoo! Security Key. Users will be prompted to verify their Yahoo! Security Key each time they sign in to Yahoo! Bill Pay. Verification of the Yahoo! Security Key, as well as any display of personal account information, is always done over a secure connection. All financial transactions will be conducted on the CheckFree Web site.

To ensure safe and reliable payments, all transactions are backed by the CheckFree Guarantee, a program that protects against unauthorized transactions or processing delays. Similar to credit card usage, users that suspect fraudulent activity need only to notify CheckFree within two days of when they suspect an unauthorized transaction. Their liability is then limited to no more than $50.00. CheckFree also assumes responsibility for any late-payment-related charges (up to $50.00 per transaction), in the event that a payment, scheduled in accordance with the terms and conditions, arrives late. More information about the CheckFree Guarantee and full terms and conditions are available at www.checkfree.com/guarantee.