Clarke American and Equifax Form Alliance.

Business Editors

SAN ANTONIO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 20, 2000

Credit Unions Able to Assess Potential Fraud During

Account Opening Process

Clarke American, a provider of checks and related products and services for credit unions, announced an alliance with Equifax, a provider of automated fraud-management and decision-making solutions.

Under the agreement, Clarke American partners currently using clarkeamerican@branch(SM) for online check ordering can now begin the account opening process with two Equifax programs: Equifax Fraud Advisor(SM) and Equifax Decision Power Express(SM). Select credit unions began piloting this capability in November.

Equifax Fraud Advisor lets credit union personnel assess potential fraud, and Equifax Decision Power Express is used for product decisioning and comes with fraud warning tools. Member Service Representatives (MSRs) can choose which of the programs to use with a particular member. Decision Power Express confirms member-provided identification information and presents MSRs with a list of potential products for which the member is approved to purchase. These products can be offered to the member based upon the credit union's specific criteria. Both the identity verification and product decisioning functions are performed within seconds.

"The real beauty lies in the fact that during the time of account opening, the New Accounts person enters customer data into one system, clarkeamerican@branch, which can perform multiple functions. Information is data-entered only once and can be immediately routed to Equifax while populating the check ordering system at the same time," said Paul Springman, Equifax senior vice president. "This new offering provides the ability to confirm validity, offer appropriate bank products, complete the few remaining areas on the online order form and conveniently debit the new customer's account."

In addition, the Equifax solution can be custom-designed to each credit union's needs. Unlike other offerings, Decision Power Express provides dual scoring, exclusionary criteria and convenient Internet access. Branches can access an individual's full credit report with just one mouse click. This solution will be available to all Clarke American and Equifax prospects and partners.

"Equifax will add their sophisticated risk-modeling techniques and point-of-sale decision support to the clarkeamerican@branch ordering solution," Larry Patrick, vice president Customer Integration, Clarke American, said. "This combination of technologies will provide a high degree of partner and customer satisfaction. Offering this unique solution to the credit union industry sets Clarke American apart from the competition."

About Clarke American

Clarke American Checks, Inc., headquartered in San Antonio is the fastest growing provider of checks and related products and services in the United States. Since 1975, Clarke American has helped credit unions increase member satisfaction, reduce operating costs, gain primary financial institution status and streamline the check ordering process. Producing more than 10 billion checks per year, Clarke American has an unmatched 99.92 percent printing accuracy rate in the industry.

Clarke American's unique services include InTouch(R) Messaging and ServiceLine Plus(SM). InTouch digital printing technology can be used to send a general introduction message about new products and services, announce branch openings or make a targeted offer to a specific member. ServiceLine Plus is a service offered to partnering credit unions, and was developed as part of Clarke American's service innovations to facilitate the check reorder and inquiry process.

For additional information about Clarke American's Credit Union products and services, contact Liliana Puype at 210 697-6203, write 10931 Laureate Drive, San Antonio, Texas 78249 or email [e-mail]. Visit its Internet sites at www.clarkeamerican.com or http://creditunions.clarkeamerican.com.

About Equifax

Equifax (www.equifax.com), a worldwide leader in enabling and securing global commerce, brings buyers and sellers together through its information management, transaction processing, direct marketing, and customer relationship management businesses. Atlanta-based Equifax (NYSE: EFX) serves the financial services, retail, credit card, transportation, telecommunications/utilities, information technology and healthcare industries and government. Equifax adds knowledge, expertise, convenience and security to provide value-added solutions and processes for its customers wherever they do business, including the Internet and other networks. Equifax employs about 13,000 associates in 17 countries with sales in nearly 50 countries and has $1.9 billion in revenue.