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Technology Stocks : CheckFree (CKFR) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Brooks Jackson who wrote (4476)	5/22/1998 2:35:00 PM
From: Benny Baga	Respond to of 8545

Thanks for the update. Benny

To: Brooks Jackson who wrote (4476)	5/22/1998 2:46:00 PM
From: Eric Jacobson	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 8545

>>The Visa deal gives CKFR REAL-TIME debit capability it didn't have before, based on VISA's checkcard debit connections.<< Thanks. I'm still trying to understand this. Currently, when I buy something on line, the only option I really have is to charge it to Visa or Discover. Are you saying I will have a second option, which is to have Visa/Checkfree automatically debit my checking account, and Visa/Checkfree will split the customary fee 50/50?

To: Brooks Jackson who wrote (4476)	5/22/1998 2:50:00 PM
From: jjs_ynot	Respond to of 8545

>>> The Visa deal gives CKFR REAL-TIME debit capability it didn't have before, based on VISA's checkcard debit connections. This is already in place at many banks and is scalable -- meaning it can be ramped up to huge volume easily. That is the key. CKFR absolutely needed a point of sale real-time capability. Otherwise they could be outflanked by the likes of CYCH/ICVERIFY and MSFDC who have instantaneous point of sale credit card processing.

To: Brooks Jackson who wrote (4476)	5/23/1998 9:19:00 AM
From: Brian K Crawford	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 8545

Brooks, thank you for the details you have dug up and shared on the CF/VISA e-pay announcement. In reading Pete Kight's comments, I was struck by the number of superlatives he was using in describing the joint venture. He got almost hype-o: [* emphasis mine ] "This is a huge win * for America's financial institutions, billers, and ultimately consumers," said Peter J. Kight, chairman and CEO of CheckFree. "It * absolutely delivers on the power and efficiency * of electronic payment processing -- and it's built for financial institutions, billers and consumers and backed by the payments expertise that Visa delivers. This alliance marks the * beginning of a new era * as we move to all-electronic delivery and settlement for electronic bill payments and even small business and consumer-to-consumer payments." "It's important to note that this open infrastructure is designed to support the * most cost-efficient and effective delivery of electronic billing and payment ," said Kight. "To that end, the system will support transactions from any electronic billing sources, including other electronic bill presentment services companies . [ Note: I interpret the above comment to refer directly to MSFDC !! ] continuing from press release... Visa will also join Integrion in leveraging CheckFree's E-Bill solution. "It's important to our members and to the billing community that CheckFree has created open solutions that use the banking infrastructure * for distribution and payment of bills," said Stewart. "We will work closely with CheckFree and Integrion to make E-Bill an excellent choice for our members." ================================================================== My interpretation is that through this announcement CF and VISA are saying to the bankers, "Here is your answer to MSFDC trying to get into your commercial customer relationships. Utilize your existing VISA settlement/authorization channel and CF as your back end servicing partner to keep your relationship with your billers and add a new service, too. You can continue your lockbox services and your credit card settlement services, and also offer to become their concentration and origination point for E-Bill. My guess is the bankers in Integrion are still nervous about CF controlling too much power, and this is another major step by Pete to reassure them. And CF just got the VISA stamp of approval. And VISA is the dominant banker controlled entity for setting standards in the bankcard market. Lots of built in goodwill and trust there. This may be overstating it a little, but it almost appears as if CF and Integrion are effectively merging. Integrion can lead electronic commerce standards (anywhere CF says they can...) Pete has to do a delicate dance of leadership without being too heavy handed. He's good at it. I think that is why the superlatives from Pete in the press release. Pete feels he just did the e-commerce equivalent of getting the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval. And it sets up a direct banker controlled answer to his main competitive threat, MSFDC, at the same time....therefore its "Huge" and a "New ERA". The above involves a few assumptions and leaps of logic. If anybody has a better insight I would love to hear from you. Bob ? Kurt ? Good luck to all you patient CF longs.... Brian

To: Brooks Jackson who wrote (4476)	5/26/1998 9:14:00 AM
From: Kurt Peterson	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 8545

Brooks: your source is pretty clued in. One of the obstacles to implementing home banking and bill pay was the need for a connection to CKFR so the consumers acct could be debited when they ordered their bills to be paid. If Joe consumer says pay Merchant A $50 on 5/25/98, CKFR can do what it needs to get the money to the merchant, but the $50 needs to get from the consumers acct to CKFR. In the past CKFR did one of three things: 1)set up a dedicated line and sent point of sale auths to the bank which the bank said "yes" or "no" to: 2)used the Fed ACH to send the debits, overnight, and paid the bills without the money, or 3)batched up all of the debits, sent them to the bank each night in ACH format, and the bank sent back a file with the ones which were no good. All of these methods had problems associated with them. So the VISA VJ enables CKFR to get around this issue by giving them access to a debit system that almost every bank is connected to: VISA. It is truly great news for CKFR, the banks, merchants, everyone. It is good for merchants because VISA today electronically remits payments to millions of merchants for credit card transactions, so this jv will let CKFR use that existing payment pipe to send bill payment $'s, instead of using checks or the ACH or whatever. The merchant will have to very little to accept these payments electronically. The other small but fascinating point regarding this jv is in regards to bill presentment. This may give CKFR/VISA a leg up on MSFDC for presenting VISA bills. You know that FDC is the largest processor of credit cards in the country so they could have made it tough on CKFR to deliver VISA bills. Well now VISA itself has an interest in making sure that those bills can be presented, and there is nothing FDC can do to prevent it. I would have thought that this announcement, along with the Bank One pr would have done more for the stock price, but I guess CKFR remains impervious to pr. Good Luck!