CheckFree Improves Check Image Processing Efficiency by Combining Check Capture and ACH Processing Capabilities


New Workflow Solution Automates Check and ACH Return Handling

ATLANTA, July 23 / -- CheckFree Corporation (NASDAQ:CKFR) today announced it has integrated Source Capture Suite/Web Capture, provided by its Carreker subsidiary, with its CheckFree® PEP+ reACH(TM) check conversion and automated clearinghouse (ACH) payments solution. Financial institutions will now have a single vendor solution to process transactions from the point of check capture through check conversion and routing, while also being able to report the status of both check and ACH return items.

The Source Capture Suite is designed to identify items eligible for Back Office Conversion (BOC) and Accounts Receivable Conversion (ARC) during the check capture process by leveraging CheckFree PEP+ reACH. The solution is designed to identify ARC and BOC checks eligible for conversion across a wide variety of sources, including retail lockbox, remote deposit, bank branch capture and check returns processing. The designed result is smoother, more efficient processing of paper checks that move through a series of electronic payment processes.

To complement the integrated solution set, CheckFree is also introducing its new CheckFree PEP+ reACH Returns Workflow Manager. As opportunities for check imaging and ACH conversion increase, this new returns workflow tool will help banks:

o Streamline administrative returns handling by integrating ACH
return data with the check image, thereby providing more efficient
return handling through a single web interface;
o Expedite customer service by allowing administrative returns to be
quickly viewed, researched, corrected and resubmitted through the
ACH system;
o Provide a centralized back office solution for performing
administrative return handling across multiple check conversion
applications.

CheckFree acquired Carreker Corporation on April 2. The integration of the two products and the addition of the new returns workflow manager tool is the first combination of the companies' solutions that address payments convergence. The solutions combine CheckFree's 25 years of experience in ACH processing with Carreker's Source Capture Suite.

"Integrating CheckFree and Carreker solutions and adding the new CheckFree PEP+ reACH Returns Workflow Manager is designed to provide banks with optimized and streamlined payment processing for check capture and conversion." said Bert Harkins, vice president, global strategic marketing, for CheckFree Software. "Providing our customers with more robust functionality demonstrates CheckFree's vision of a pragmatic approach to payments convergence that can yield significant value to banks and their customers."

The Web Capture/CheckFree PEP+reACH solution is designed to enable banks to offer their customers:

o The ability to deposit funds by ACH cutoff times, assuring next day
availability of funds and easier reconciliation;
o Lower clearing costs;
o Increased funds availability by eliminating desk and mail float;
o A longer window of time to make deposits;
o The ability to clear all items electronically, even if the item is
not eligible for ACH processing;
o Consolidated deposits are consolidated, allowing customers to view
how each item and amount was processed.

CheckFree PEP+ reACH Returns Workflow Manager includes a web interface designed to automatically request data and images and assign work to the appropriate operators, thus improving staff efficiency and expediting administrative returns handling. The solution is fully integrated with PEP+ return processing features, so the PEP+ database of returns activity allows banks to create check return documents for transactions that cannot be re- deposited as ACH items.

About CheckFree (www.checkfree.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 the convenience of receiving and paying household bills online, via phone or in person through retail outlets. CheckFree Investment Services provides a broad range of investment management solutions and outsourced services to hundreds of financial services organizations, which manage about $1.8 trillion in assets. CheckFree Software develops markets and supports payment processing solutions that are used by financial institutions to process more than two-thirds of the 14 billion Automated Clearing House transactions in the United States, and supports reconciliation, exception management, risk management, transaction process management, corporate actions processing, and compliance within thousands of organizations worldwide.

Source: CheckFree Corporation

CONTACT:
Media Relations
Judy DeRango Wicks
+1-678-375-1595
jdwicks@checkfree.com

Web site: http://www.checkfreecorp.com/

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