BENEFICIAL CORPORATION SUBSIDIARIES TO PURSUE LITIGATION-- Aggressive Collection Procedures To Be Initiated --.

WILMINGTON, Del.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 24, 1995-- Beneficial Corporation (NYSE: BNL) subsidiaries, Beneficial National Bank and Beneficial Tax Masters, Inc., today were denied a temporary restraining order in a Federal lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service. The subsidiaries said they would continue to pursue the litigation in U.S. District Court in Wilmington, Delaware, to prevent the Internal Revenue Service from ignoring taxpayers' direct deposit instructions. In the lawsuit filed February 21, Beneficial National Bank and Beneficial Tax Masters, Inc., asked that the Internal Revenue Service be forced to honor the deposit instructions of the taxpayer. Beneficial National Bank said recent actions by the IRS to change the manner in which the Service processes the earned income tax credit (EITC) affected the tax refunds of hundreds of thousands of taxpayers.

Beneficial National Bank ceased offering refund anticipation loans on the EITC portion of the taxpayers' refunds on February 4, after its own internal analysis detected the signs of the Internal Revenue Service change. On February 16, the Internal Revenue Service confirmed that, when finally released, the retained EITC portion of the returns will be sent to taxpayers as paper checks, rather than sent directly to Beneficial National Bank to pay off the applicant's RAL loan, as taxpayers had directed the IRS. The Service's decision to divert these refunds to paper checks mailed directly to the consumer creates significant collection problems for the Beneficial companies. Finn M.W. Caspersen, chairman and chief executive officer of Beneficial Corporation, stated, "The Beneficial subsidiaries will aggressively pursue all collection remedies for the full amounts due. Three state-of-the-art Beneficial collection centers have been assigned this task and, earlier this week, had commenced contacting borrowers. Additionally, all available avenues will be pursued to assure that electronic filing and refund anticipation loans remain a viable product in future tax seasons."

Beneficial National Bank and Beneficial Tax Masters, Inc., indicated they would continue to pursue the litigation and would commence discovery and seek a preliminary injunction. Further, Beneficial National Bank and Beneficial Tax Masters, Inc., noted that the Federal Judge had requested the parties to commence discussions to find a practical solution, and, accordingly, the Internal Revenue Service will be contacted as soon as possible to initiate such discussions.

Beneficial Corporation is a $14 billion, New York Stock Exchange-listed financial services holding company. Subsidiaries of the Company provide financial services through their various consumer finance, banking and insurance operations located throughout the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Germany. The Beneficial finance system includes more than 1,000 offices offering products and services that meet a broad range of consumer credit needs, including credit-related insurance.

CONTACT: Karen Pagonis

Andrew C. Halvorsen

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