Agoura Hills Calif., April 12, 2002 –

Electronic Clearing House, Inc. (NASDAQ:ECHO), a leading provider of electronic payment services, today announced the resignation of Carl W. Schafer from the Board of Directors. 

Mr. Schafer, a Director since July 1986, served as Chairman of the Audit Committee, Member of the Executive Compensation Committee and Member of the Nominating Committee.  A resident of Princeton, New Jersey, Mr. Schafer simultaneously resigned as a director from two publicly traded firms, ECHO being one, in his desire to restrict his involvement on West Coast boards and thereby reduce his travel commitments and increase the time he could dedicate to family. 

“I have derived great satisfaction serving on the Board of Electronic Clearing House.  ECHO has a great management team and a great future and I am pleased to have been a part of the team over the years”, said Mr. Schafer. 

“During his 16 years as a Director, Carl has been a tremendous asset to ECHO”, said Joel M. Barry, Chairman and CEO of Electronic Clearing House, Inc.  “We acknowledge that much of ECHO’s success today is directly attributable to Carl’s loyal service over the years.  While we respect his desire to make this change, we will greatly miss him.”

About ECHO:

Electronic Clearing House Inc. provides debit and credit card processing, check guarantee, check verification, check conversion, check re-presentment, check collection and inventory tracking to more than 60,000 retail merchants and U-Haul dealers across the nation.

Safe Harbor Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Any statements set forth above that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Potential risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, such factors as successful completion of the Visa POS check service pilot program, acceptance of the service by Visa member banks, fluctuations in demand for the company's products and services, the introduction of new products and services, the company's ability to maintain customer and strategic business relationships, technological advancements, impact of competitive products and services and pricing, growth in targeted markets and other information detailed from time to time in the company's filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.

Investor Contacts:

Donna Rehman, Corporate Secretary 
Electronic Clearing House, Inc.
818-706-8999, ext. 3033 
Agoura Hills, Calif. 
E-MAIL: corp@ECHO-inc.com
URL: http://www.ECHO-inc.com

Crocker Coulson, Partner
Coffin Communications Group
818-789-0100
E-MAIL: crocker.coulson@coffincg.com

Press Releases are also available by calling (800) 233-0406 ext. 3033, or by email to corp@echo-inc.com

2001
2000

Electronic Clearing House, Inc. (ECHO)
28001 Dorothy Drive
Agoura Hills, CA 91301

Phone: (800) 233-0406
Fax: (818) 991-5973
E-Mail: echo@echo-inc.com
URL: http://www.echo-inc.com