Progressive Insurance and CheckFree i-Solutions Launch Electronic Billing and Payment Program for Insurance Customers
Automobile Insurance Innovator Now Offers Customers the Control and Convenience of Turnkey Online Billing and Payment
ATLANTA, Georgia — April 10, 2002 —CheckFree i-Solutions, the leading provider of interactive e-billing and e-statement software and services and part of CheckFree Corporation (NASDAQ:
CKFR), and Progressive Auto Insurance (NYSE: PGR), the nation's fourth largest auto insurer, today announced that electronic billing and payment services are now available to Progressive customers across the country. A recognized leader in using technology to provide better customer experiences, Progressive has allowed customers to make direct online payments since 1998, and now gives them the ability to receive and pay bills at their choice of CheckFree-powered Web sites, including banks, brokerages, credit unions and Internet portals.
Progressive customers can now use this online service to gain more control over the payment of their monthly bills. Customers can quickly retrieve and review the same billing information they currently receive by mail. Additionally, by clicking on links that appear directly on the e-bill, customers can access personal.progressive.com, a comprehensive password-protected customer service site, where they can review additional billing detail and manage their policy information online.
With a few clicks of the mouse, the customer can choose the payment date, rather than trying to remember when they need to mail the payment to ensure arrival by the due date. As a result, Progressive customers will no longer have to spend time writing checks, manually recording the payments, stuffing envelopes and locating stamps to pay their insurance bill. Unlike paper payments, customers who pay their bills electronically through CheckFree are protected by the CheckFree Guarantee against late fees resulting from processing delays, as well as liability for unauthorized transactions. All payment information is stored on a single, secure online site for record keeping purposes.
"E-bills give our customers greater control over how and when they pay their auto insurance bill," said Dave Huber, personal.progressive.com manager. "Since the launch of personal.progressive.com, we have been committed to improving the online customer experience. By offering e-bills over the CheckFree network, we make it easier for our customers to manage their auto insurance policy online."
"Leading insurance companies, such as Progressive, are embracing electronic billing and payment as a better way for customers to control their finances and pay bills, such as insurance premiums, on time, every time," said Tom Stampiglia, president of CheckFree i-Solutions. "Progressive customers who enroll can enjoy the convenience of receiving not only their automobile insurance bill, but also a growing number of other local and national bills online."
Progressive customers can use their choice of online sites to receive and pay other bills from a growing number of telephone, mortgage, utility and credit card companies. Consumers can also use "pay everyone" services to make payments from their computers to anyone to whom they would write a check. This includes all payments, even day care centers, charitable deductions and money sent to individuals, such as children in college.
A sample of current financial service providers making the Progressive bills available electronically include:
With this move, Progressive joins other forward thinking national companies that make their bills available including AT&T Consumer Long Distance, Sears, Countrywide Home Loans and more. For a complete list of sites that offer CheckFree electronic billing and payment, visit www.checkfree.com/ebillservices.
About Progressive
Progressive Insurance (NYSE: PGR), headquartered in Mayfield Village, Ohio, is the nation's fourth largest auto insurance company. In business since 1937, the company provides all drivers with competitive rates and 24-hour, in-person and online services. The company sells its products over the phone at 1-800-PROGRESSIVESM, online at progressive.com, and through more than 30,000 independent agencies throughout the U.S. More information about the company can be found at progressive.com.
About CheckFree i-Solutions
As a software group within CheckFree Corporation, CheckFree i-Solutions is the leading provider of end-to-end business-to-consumer and business-to-business solutions for e-billing and payment and e-statement delivery. CheckFree i-Solutions offers CheckFree i-Series software for e-bill and e-statement creation, i-Processing services that include payment and distribution through about 430 financial services sites and customer care, and i-Hosting services that accommodate software hosting and full-service outsourcing. With 244 billers under contract, CheckFree i-Solutions is committed to helping billers, financial services organizations and biller service providers leverage electronic bills and statements as interactive conduits to customer relationship management, marketing and customer self service applications.
About CheckFree (www.checkfree.com)
CheckFree (NASDAQ: CKFR) is the leading provider of financial electronic commerce services and products. Founded in 1981 and celebrating its 21st year in e-commerce, CheckFree is comprised of three divisions: Electronic Commerce, Software, and Investment Services. CheckFree launched the first fully integrated electronic billing and payment solution in 1997. As of December 31, 2001, CheckFree's Electronic Commerce division enabled 5.9 million consumers to receive and pay bills electronically. The company has multi-year contracts with 244 of the nation's top billers to provide online billing and payment through about 430 financial services organizations, including banks, brokerage firms, Internet portals and content sites and personal financial management (PFM) software. CheckFree Investment Services provides a broad range of investment management services to thousands of financial institutions nationwide. The division's clients manage about 1.2 million portfolios totaling more than $500 billion in assets.
CheckFree's Software division provides solutions through three operating units: CheckFree ACH Solutions, CheckFree Financial and Compliance Solutions (CFACS), and CheckFree i-Solutions. CheckFree ACH Solutions provides software and services that are used to process more than two-thirds of the nation's six billion Automated Clearing House payments, while CFACS provides reconciliation and compliance software and services to more than 400 organizations in the banking, brokerage, utility, retail, insurance and credit card industries, among others. CheckFree i-Solutions is the leading provider of e-billing and e-statement software and services for both business-to-consumer and business-to-business applications, with more billers as clients than all of its competitors have combined.
Certain of the Company'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 the Company's business, and other risks and uncertainties detailed from time to time in the Company's periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Company's Form 10-K for the year ended June 30, 2001(filed September 27, 2001), subsequent amendments and Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2001 (filed November 13, 2001) and Form 10-Q for the quarter ended December 31, 2001 (filed February 13, 2002). One or more of these factors have affected, and could in the future affect, the Company'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 document will prove to be accurate, and issuance of such forward-looking statements should not be regarded as a representation by the Company, or any other person, that the objectives and plans of the Company will be achieved. All forward-looking statements made in this press release are based on information presently available to management, and the Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements.
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