CheckAGAIN adds leading national authorization database to services

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
January 3, 2001

For further information:
Susan Buck
Media Relations
Tel. (800) 666-5222, ext. 342

CheckAGAIN Adds Leading National Authorization Database to Services

Herndon VA, January 3, 2001 - CheckAGAIN, a leading provider of electronic check processing solutions with web-based reporting, has expanded its check authorization offerings to include Rocky Mountain Retail Services (RMRS) National Check Information ServicesSM (NCISSM), one of the nations largest and most cost-effective check verification databases.

NCIS is the highly successful offshoot of RMRSs Velocity PlusSM software product that gave collection and guarantee agencies control of data by housing regional databases in contained geographic areas. As the collection industry used Velocity PLUS more and more successfully, they identified a need for a national database incorporating all of the features of the initial product and providing a much higher transaction handling capacity and database size. To meet this need, RMRS launched NCIS in 1995 and it has expanded rapidly ever since. Today it rivals the size and performance of the largest check verification systems at a much lower cost.
"Our customers value choice in verification services, adding NCIS to our list of preferred vendors strengthens our position in the marketplace by being able to provide high quality, cost-effective verification services to complement our electronic check management services for our customers," says Tim Robinson, CheckAGAIN's President.

Combining front-end check verification with Electronic Re-presentment and Centralized Returns is the ideal solution for retail business experiencing a high volume of checks.

CheckAGAIN's Electronic Re-presentment is the collection of NSF checks returned through the Automated Clearing House (ACH) network eliminating the need to process paper checks, reducing the costly and cumbersome process of transporting checks all across the country. And because of the increased efficiency, CheckAGAIN returns the full face value of the bad check to the merchant upon successful re-presentment. Check principal and fees are presented directly to the consumer's account electronically. As a result, retailers can increase their recovery rate of bad checks, decrease their internal costs in loss prevention, and save their customers the hassle and embarrassment of making good on bounced checks in person.

CheckAGAINs CENTRALIZED RETURNS catches returned checks early on in the processing cycle and cuts the time to know about check returns down to as little as 72 hours compared to up to 10-14 days through traditional processing by the banking system NSF items as well as quicken the recovery process.

About CheckAGAIN

CheckAGAIN's mission is to use innovative technologies to simplify the recovery process on returned checks for both merchants and customers. The CheckAGAIN system is helping merchants nationwide recover more of the funds lost to check returns, while lowering the fees and costs involved. CheckAGAIN is also assisting customers by significantly reducing the hassle involved in clearing up misunderstandings due to check bounces.

CheckAGAIN is a privately held company with headquarters in the heart of the Northern Virginia high-tech corridor in Herndon, Virginia. An online tour of CheckAGAIN's services is available at www.checkagain.com.

About NCIS
Rocky Mountain Retail Services NCIS (www.rmrs.com) is the sixth largest check verification database in the country according to the 1999 ranking in the Nilson Report (The Nilson Report, Oxnard, CA). RMRS is a wholly owned subsidiary of Electronic Clearinghouse, Inc. (ECHO).
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For more information about CheckAGAIN, contact CheckAGAIN Media Relations, at (800) 666-5222, x. 342.