USPS™eBillPay Background Information

With USPS™eBillPay, the Postal Service is offering electronic billing and payment service in partnership with leading technology providers to give customers the option of paying bills online through a secure Web site. The Postal Service is partnering with CheckFree Corporation and YourAccounts.Com, the e-commerce division of Output Technology Solutions (OTS), to provide USPSTMeBillPay.

USPS™eBillPay is one of the ways the Postal Service is using the Internet to provide convenience and options for its customers. This new service offers billers and payers what they've been asking for-a central site for bill-paying transactions, without the separate passwords and navigation systems for each biller that consumers have to deal with now.

How it works

Customers can click on the USPS™eBillPay button at the Postal Service home page at www.usps.com to enroll in the service and select the billers they want to receive electronic bills through the secure postal Web site. The billers send their bills electronically through the Postal Service system for distribution to the customers. The customers then view and pay the bills online, sending the payment electronically, at their convenience. Customers can also electronically pay billers who do not send e-bills, creating a "pay everyone" service. They also have the option of specifying the exact payment date.

The Postal Service ensures that any bills delivered through USPS™eBillPay are secure. And this new service is able to verify the sender is who they claim to be, adding another layer of security to electronic bills and payments for the consumer.

Cost

New customers get to use USPS™eBillPay free for the first six months after enrolling. After that, there are two service plans: Pay Everyone at $6.00/month, which includes 20 payments and 40 cents for each additional payment; and Pay As You Go for $2.00/month and 40 cents for each payment. Both plans offer the same functionality for receiving and paying bills.

The Postal Service will also work with CheckFree and YourAccounts.Com to help billers prepare and distribute their bills to the Postal Service's Web site and to other online bill payment sites. The Postal Service and its partners will offer services that convert bills to Internet-ready formats, distribute those bills over the Internet, and deliver the resulting payments to the billers' bank accounts.

Unique customer value

For over two hundred years, the U.S. Postal Service has provided trusted, secure, universal service to the American people for the movement of messages, money and merchandise. USPS™eBillPay is the next step by providing new services the American people expect of us using the Internet. In the future, the Postal Service plans on offering other online options for secure services.

The Postal Service's historical reputation as a trusted American institution that guards the security and privacy of the documents it delivers, and its relationships in the billing community, combined with the best-in-class technological capabilities and guaranteed services offered by its partners, will provide unique customer value and address customers' concerns about conducting business over the Internet.

The Postal Service role

The Postal Service plays a unique and critical role in the financial infrastructure of the United States. Two-thirds of all recurring bill payments in the United States are now delivered through the mail. The explosive growth in electronic commerce is changing customers' behavior patterns and expectations in this area. In a time when Americans have access to the Internet at home or at work, customers increasingly expect the Postal Service to offer the same immediate, one-stop access to its services as they receive from other organizations doing business online. This expectation applies as much to transactions customers conduct with the Postal Service, such as paying postage, as to transactions customers conduct through the Postal Service, such as paying bills.

USPS™eBillPay offers consumers a convenient, secure, virtual "location," through www.usps.com, at which they can receive and pay all of their bills. CheckFree will host the application and operate the service. YourAccounts.Com will provide integrated electronic and print services to large commercial customers. This service combines the Postal Service's reputation for and commitment to privacy and security.

Market demand

Business customers, particularly billers, are asking the Postal Service to help them bring the advantages of the Internet to all of their customers just as the mail serves all households today. In fact, some of the Postal Service's largest mailers, like Output Technology Solutions, have asked the Postal Service to work with them to develop electronic payment services that are as safe, private, and universal as the mail, but as convenient and fast as the Internet.

Consumers also are looking to the Postal Service for leadership in online electronic payments. The Postal Service is a known, trusted institution that will provide stability, trustworthiness, longevity, and financial security to electronic billing and payment - key traits for any enterprise offering online financial transactions.