Electronic billing and payment company CheckFree signed a multi-year agreement
with Equifax Inc. Wednesday, allowing it to incorporate
the
Equifax Secure authentication engine into its EBP enrollment process.
The move will allow faster verification of customer identity as they sign up
to view and pay bills electronically, CheckFree said.
Financial arrangements were not disclosed, but the multi-year agreement will
be exclusive to CheckFree in the aggregated EBP market, the companies said.
CheckFree said the real-time solution will enhance ease-of-use and
“immediate
gratification” as consumers try the service. The Equifax authentication
engine will virtually eliminate manual authentication processes, including
the need for consumers to enter an authentication code that arrives by mail.
Further, the Equifax technology will protect consumer privacy, reduce the
threat of identity fraud and reduce fraudulent payment risk for businesses.
“With faster authentication, CheckFree can more closely meet expectation
levels for immediacy that Internet consumers have come to expect as they try
new services, while maintaining the highest levels of security and privacy
required for authorizing transactions,” said Pete Sinisgalli, president and
chief operating officer at CheckFree.
The Equifax technology will also be used in CheckFree’s next generation
payment products, announced earlier this year, that will enable consumers to
send payments electronically for person-to-person and person-to-Internet
merchant payments.
Unlike traditional methods that rely solely on wallet information such as
Social Security number, driver’s license number and address to identify
users
online, the Equifax authentication engine requests both financial and
non-financial information that should be known only to the user. The engine
compares and analyzes multiple elements in the furnished information against
consumer data from Equifax and other consumer and business information.
“CheckFree’s decision to use the power of Equifax’s authentication
technology
will enhance the consumer experience by minimizing steps leading to adoption
and potentially accelerate e-commerce activity with greater efficiency and
protection for consumers and businesses,” said Rich Crutchfield, executive
vice president and group
executive for Equifax’s e-commerce initiatives.”
