Yodlee Launches BillDirect; New Solution Offers Better Customer Experience, Lower Cost Approach to Electronic Bill Presentment & Payment -EBPP-.Business Editors/High-Tech Writers REDWOOD CITY Redwood City, city (1990 pop. 66,072), seat of San Mateo co., W Calif., on San Francisco Bay; inc. 1868. Manufactures include commmunications, electrical, electronic, and medical equipment. , Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 16, 2004 BillDirect Powers AOL (A division of Time Warner, Inc., New York, NY, www.aol.com) The world's largest online information service with access to the Internet, e-mail, chat rooms and a variety of databases and services. Bill Pay: AOL's New Service Which Enables Members To Conveniently Pay Bills Online Yodlee, Inc. today launched BillDirect -- a unique new approach to Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment See EBPP. (EBPP (Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment) Sending invoices to customers over the Internet. When payment is due, an e-mail is sent with a link to a Web page that contains the billing information and the payment services that are supported. ). BillDirect is the only EBPP solution that leverages the convenience of the biller direct model for bill payment with the utility of consolidated bill presentment See EBPP. plus value-added alerts, charting, and management tools for a comprehensive, easy-to-use bill pay and financial planning Financial planning Evaluating the investing and financing options available to a firm. Planning includes attempting to make optimal decisions, projecting the consequences of these decisions for the firm in the form of a financial plan, and then comparing future performance against tool. America Online See AOL. , the world's leading interactive services company, is the first customer to utilize BillDirect's powerful technology solution. BillDirect powers AOL Bill Pay, a new service which offers AOL members a streamlined way to pay bills online as well as manage their personal finances. "What makes BillDirect different is its ability to take the best features of the biller direct model and the best features of the consolidator model and bring them together to give bill pay users a far superior experience," said Hill Ferguson, General Manager for Yodlee's EBPP Group. "We're very excited to be working with an industry leader like AOL to bring this unique capability to millions of online users." EBPP has become one of the fastest-growing web services (1) Loosely, any online service delivered over the Web. Such usage appears in articles from non-technical sources, but not in IT-oriented publications, because definition #2 below describes the correct use of the term. , rivaling online auctions and dating, according to research firm ComScore Networks. In 2003, nearly 14.4 million households paid bills directly at billers' sites, compared to 9 million who did so at bank sites, according to Forrester Research (US Banker, October 2003). The reason for this consumer trend is the user-friendly functionality of the biller websites, including same day payment, acceptance of credit cards and other alternative payment options, immediate confirmation of payment, bill presentment, and free payment. What becomes cumbersome to users, however, is the need to visit ten or more websites each month and an inability to centrally manage and track their bills in one place. BillDirect is the first solution to enable users to easily view, manage, and consolidate all their online bills while providing deeplinks to the biller sites for payment. "We're getting a lot of interest from the financial services community in the BillDirect approach because it offers a better, more affordable, and more compelling alternative for EBPP," noted Anil Arora, CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of Yodlee. "We believe BillDirect will help drive significant increases in online banking and bill pay usage while reducing EBPP costs and creating new revenue opportunities for financial service providers." "AOL Bill Pay empowers members with a simple and convenient way to pay bills online, along with a suite of other relevant tools that gives them greater control over the day to day management of their personal finances," said Tina Sharkey, Senior Vice President of Life Management and Community, America Online. "Online bill paying is the number one online financial activity by AOL members and they have told us that they are looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. an easier way to manage their finances online. We are pleased to partner with Yodlee to bring this powerful solution to our members." BillDirect leverages Yodlee's core iFinity aggregation platform -- which has the unique ability to read from and write to over 8,000 sources, including billers, brokerages, banks, credit card issuers, insurance providers, lenders, travel agents, email providers, etc. This enables Yodlee to present and pay bills for more than 2,500 billers and offer value-added capabilities like historical charting and transaction-level alerts to help users proactively manage their bills throughout the month. Benefits of BillDirect for Financial Service Providers: -- Superior Consumer Product Offering - BillDirect give consumers more convenience, flexibility and choice, as well as industry leading bill presentment (more than 2,500 bills presented) and unparalleled account management capabilities -- Cost Savings - BillDirect leverages the efficiencies of the Biller Direct model to offer institutions a significant cost advantage -- almost 4:1 versus alternative solutions -- for a more robust EBPP offering -- New Revenue Opportunities - BillDirect can drive new revenue opportunities for financial service providers through interchange fees for credit and debit card debit card, card that allows the cost of goods or services that are purchased to be deducted directly from the purchaser's checking account. They can also be used at automated teller machines for withdrawing cash from the user's checking account. payments Benefits of BillDirect for Consumers: Only BillDirect offers consumers the benefits of both the Bill Direct site functionality and convenience of bill consolidation and management. End user benefits include: -- Same Day Payments for improved cash management and avoidance of late payments -- Ability to Maximize Card Loyalty Plans -- Convenience of Payment Consolidation -- Bill Presentment & Account Management, including automatic charting, expense reporting, and personalized alert capabilities, all with no manual input required Accessing AOL Bill Pay AOL members can sign up for AOL Bill Pay at no extra charge at AOL Keyword: Bill Pay. They can access their Bill Pay account on the AOL Service or on the web at www.aol.com. About America Online, Inc. America Online, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary Wholly Owned Subsidiary A subsidiary whose parent company owns 100% of its common stock. Notes: In other words, the parent company owns the company outright and there are no minority owners. of Time Warner Inc. Based in Dulles, Virginia, America Online is the world's leader in interactive services, Web brands, Internet technologies and e-commerce services. About Yodlee Yodlee is the trusted leader in enabling financial service providers (FSPs) to develop and deliver superior financial products and services, increasing customer profitability. Yodlee's unique aggregation technology powers and enhances a multitude of online financial offerings, including Bill Pay, Funds Transfer, Alerts, Expense Management, Savings Finders, Portfolio Management, Browser Toolbars, Password Management, Financial Calculators, Goal Planning, Single Sign-On, Advisor applications, and more. Yodlee operates in the U.S., U.K., Australia, and Japan, and has amassed more than four million users, over $180 billion aggregated across its network, and more than 150 clients, including the world's top financial institutions and portals: AOL, Bank of America
Bank of America (NYSE: BAC TYO: 8648 ) is the largest commercial bank in the United States in terms of deposits, and the largest company of its kind in the world. , Citibank, CUNA Cuna Chibchan-speaking Indian people who once occupied the central region of what is now Panama and the neighbouring San Blas Islands and who still survive in marginal areas. In the 16th century they lived in federated villages under chiefs who wielded considerable power. , Fidelity, Wachovia, J.P. Morgan Chase, Merrill Lynch, MSN (1) (MicroSoft Network) A family of Internet-based services from Microsoft, which includes a search engine, e-mail (Hotmail), instant messaging (Windows Live Messaging) and a general-purpose portal with news, information and shopping (MSN Directory). and Yahoo. Yodlee is headquartered in Redwood City, California Redwood City is a suburb located on the San Francisco Peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area of California. Redwood City is the county seat of San Mateo County. As of the 2005 census, the city had a total population of 76,000. and can be reached at www.yodlee.com. NOTE TO EDITORS: See accompanying AOL press release: "America Online Launches AOL Bill Pay" also announced today. |
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