CKFR Checkfree Corp (MM)

-- New Product to Offer Spending Analysis and Expense Tracking alongside Online Banking and Electronic Billing and Payment -- ATLANTA, Nov. 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- CheckFree Corporation (NASDAQ:CKFR) today announced CheckFree Financial View(TM), a new suite of interactive financial management features that financial institutions can offer to retail customers adding value and personalization to online banking. The new solution provides consumers with a number of new tools to help them conveniently and effectively manage their cash flow, financial management and tracking. CheckFree Financial View takes electronic billing and payment to the next level of convenience and control. In 2004, CheckFree Analytic Research Services conducted an in-depth analysis of consumer preferences for new online banking features and tools that they viewed as most desirable. "Faster payment processing speed" topped the list of desired features, followed by a strong interest in an integrated check register and spending/budgeting tools. In response to consumer demand, CheckFree today can process about 80 percent of its electronic payments within one business day, and the Company is focused on increasing that percentage. CheckFree Financial View gives consumers the functionality they have requested to enhance the convenience of their financial services website. Banking institutions can now help their customers integrate electronic billing and payment activity with the other online management tools to get a holistic view of their financial situation. CheckFree Financial View integrates electronic bill payment transaction history, allows automatic payment categorization - such as "utilities" and "groceries" - and integrates account activity on bank-issued credit and/or debit cards as well as electronic and paper items to give consumers a single, consolidated view of all activity within their financial institutions. The four key components of CheckFree Financial View include: * Forecaster Calendar -- A calendar view of transactions allows consumers to predict future account balances and perform basic scenario planning. Consumers can use the Forecaster to move future transactions to different dates and determine how their cash flow would be impacted by performing "what if" planning. The Forecaster also features a "wizard" that enables consumers to enter and maintain estimated expenses and deposits. * Spending Analysis -- Consumers can assign categories and view detailed breakdowns of monthly expenses. The pie chart view shows monthly transactions by category, such as "Dining Out" or "Auto Expenses" and the associated percentages spent on each. Consumers can drill down on any segment of the pie chart for more detailed information and even view three, six or 12-month trending. Consumers who use their bank-issued credit/debit cards will benefit from this feature, as the system will more fully understand the consumers' spending habits across those accounts. * Expense Tracking -- This tool enables consumers to set goals and monitor their spending against those goals during the month. For instance, a monthly "Shopping" goal (or limit) could be set at $200, while "Groceries" might be set at $400. Green, yellow and red color-coded bars illustrate how closely the consumers are tracking toward their goals. Consumers can combine all of their tracked items at the end of each month to determine if they are over/under budget based on the goals set. * Transaction Register -- Provides consumers with enhanced check register functionality, including long-term access to data detail, advanced sorting and filtering capabilities and automatic categorization of transactions with the ability to alter those categories in the future. This feature can be useful at tax time in locating charitable deductions or business expenses for the year. "CheckFree listens to the voice of the consumer year-round and works to deliver new tools and features that a growing number of mainstream consumers want," said Jeff Weikert, senior vice president and consumer service provider channel executive at CheckFree. "Studies consistently show that electronic billing and payment services help increase customer satisfaction with banking relationships. Now, CheckFree Financial View helps financial institutions deliver more value through tighter integration among online services platforms." "Sovereign Bank has offered CheckFree's electronic billing and payment services for four years, enabling us to offer high quality and convenient online banking services to our customers," said Marianne Dorran-Collins, senior vice president and director of Online Banking for Sovereign. "CheckFree is extending the value it brings as a technology partner by helping us offer services that may seem simple to the consumer, but elegantly connect multiple, complex services, channels and merchants behind the scenes." "This new solution has the potential to appeal to well-defined consumer segments and is focused on essential financial elements, such as cash management, spending and budgeting," said Beth Robertson, senior analyst for TowerGroup's Global Payments service. "By giving consumers simple, easy-to-use tools for greater control over their money, a financial institution can position its website as the most valuable and preferred location for consumers to securely and confidently manage their financial lives." CheckFree Financial View is offered as a standalone solution for financial services companies, or as an additional suite that integrates with CheckFree WebSM, the company's leading electronic billing and payment service. Financial institutions can receive more information and a preview of the new CheckFree Financial View solution at the BAI Retail Delivery Conference and Expo, which is being held November 15-18, 2005 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida - CheckFree booth #1577. About CheckFree(http://www.checkfreecorp.com/) Founded in 1981, CheckFree Corporation (NASDAQ:CKFR) provides financial electronic commerce services and products to organizations around the world. CheckFree Electronic Commerce solutions enable thousands of financial services providers and billers to offer their customers the convenience of receiving and paying their household bills online or in person through retail outlets. CheckFree Investment Services provides a broad range of investment management solutions and outsourced services to thousands of financial services organizations, which manage more than $1.2 trillion in assets. CheckFree Software develops, markets and supports software applications that are used by financial institutions to process more than two thirds of the 12 billion Automated Clearing House transactions in the United States. The division also provides operational risk management, financial messaging, corporate actions, and regulatory compliance software to more than 1,500 organizations across the globe. Certain of CheckFree's statements in this press release are not purely historical, and as such are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These include statements regarding management's intentions, plans, beliefs, expectations or projections of the future. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including without limitation, the various risks inherent in CheckFree's business, and other risks and uncertainties detailed from time to time in CheckFree's periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including CheckFree's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended June 30, 2005 (filed September 2, 2005), and Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2005 (filed November 8, 2005). One or more of these factors have affected, and could in the future affect CheckFree's business and financial results in future periods, and could cause actual results to differ materially from plans and projections. There can be no assurance that the forward-looking statements made in this press release will prove to be accurate, and issuance of such forward-looking statements should not be regarded as a representation by CheckFree, or any other person, that the objectives and plans of CheckFree will be achieved. All forward-looking statements made in this press release are based on information presently available to management, and CheckFree assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements. DATASOURCE: CheckFree Corporation CONTACT: Media, Judy DeRango Wicks, +1-678-375-1595, or , or Investors, Tina Moore, +1-678-375-1278, or , both of CheckFree Web site: http://www.checkfreecorp.com/

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