Checkgateway Offers Merchants Credit Card Processing and Extra Fraud Protection Using Experian

Phoenix, AZ – January 30, 2006 -- Checkgateway, a leading provider of electronic payment services, takes substantial steps to assure the safety of consumer information when processing credit card payments with its fraud scrubbing software FraudChek. Checkgateway’s fraud scrubbing product FraudCheck works by accessing credit bureau information via Experian's powerful data networks to verify the identity of the customer.

“We are one of the few processors that use Experian linked to the credit card processing,” says John Kirchhefer, President of Checkgateway. “By using this powerful authentication solution, we provide merchants with the most secure environment for transaction processing, especially in non face-to-face interactions.’

Fraud scrubbing is a tool that is being used increasingly by financial establishments to ensure consumer fraud protection. It’s estimated that 85 percent of all Internet transactions are paid for by credit cards. Fraud scrubbing software allows financial institutions to examine a transaction in real time against a number of criteria to ascertain its validity.

FraudChek is the industry's first and only merchant-defined, weighted scoring system. Checkgateway is the only processor that allows the merchant to fully customize its scoring system whereas most processors only provide a template for authentication of customers.

Higher risk parties are assigned a higher fraud score, so fraud scrubbing software uses formulas to estimate risk for each transaction. The aim of these fraud protection tools is to provide valid, secure credit card transactions and protection against all types of fraud.

Checkgateway’s FraudChek verifies a customer's name, address, telephone number, social security number, and driver's license. The information is then cross-matched with the data from Experian.

“Merchants can determine the level of risk that they are comfortable with,” says Kirchhefer. “For example, if a customer’s address or phone number doesn’t match the one that is on file for Experian, merchants can decide whether to accept or decline the transaction.”

About Checkgateway
Checkgateway, a leader and innovator in the Automated Clearing House (ACH) payment processing industry, has been an ACH service bureau since 1993. Checkgateway is an affiliate member of the National Automated Clearing House Association (NACHA), an organization charged with making operational rules for the ACH network. Checkgateway is one of the only ACH processors using Experian’s eSeries Authentication Solution, which it has been using since 2002, to verify the identity of electronic check holders and StarChek, a network of First Data Corp, which Checkgateway has been using since 1992, enables both physical and virtual retailers to route check verifications, online via the STAR Network, to the Primary Payment Systems, Inc. (PPS) databases and determine - in real time - whether a check is likely to be returned. The company is based in Phoenix, Arizona. For more information contact 480-785-2262 see www.checkgateway.com.