September 3, 2002, Agoura Hills CA., – Electronic Clearing House, Inc. (NASDAQ:ECHO), a leading provider of electronic payment services, today announced that the Company has added Columbia Banking System, Inc.  (NASDAQNM:COLB) to its growing list of financial institutions participating in Visa U.S.A.’s Pilot Point-of-Sale (POS) check service.

ECHO is the leading third-party processor for Visa’s POS check services program. Under the terms of the agreement, checks from Columbia Bank will be routed through ECHO’s ACH processing system and checks written against non-member banks will be verified using its NCN check writer database. 

Visa’s POS check service allows merchants to receive immediate online authorization for paper checks, by converting them into electronic transactions. The checks are then accepted subject to verification against member bank accounts. This reduces the merchant’s cost of processing paper checks, as well as protecting them from checks written against accounts with insufficient funds.

“We are extremely pleased to add Columbia Bank to the list of financial institutions that are actively piloting this innovative check services program,” said Joel M. Barry, Chairman and CEO of Electronic Clearing House, Inc. “Using Visa’s national network system and ECHO’s infrastructure, Columbia Bank will be able to offer its merchant customers the ability to accept checks with confidence, while significantly reducing check handling expense.”

Barry continued, “Over the past year, we’ve worked closely with Visa to build a robust, customizable processing platform. Looking at the market today, we firmly believe that the Visa POS check service program could quickly become the industry standard for electronic check processing in the coming years. And with 14,000 member banks and access to over 90% of demand deposit accounts, no other provider could provide such a sweeping and comprehensive service as Visa. We continue to be encouraged by the strong reception to the Visa check program. With the addition of Columbia Bank, we are currently working with six leading banks in Visa’s program. This has the potential to drive significant growth in ECHO’s check services business as the service is deployed on a wider scale.”

About Columbia Bank:

About ECHO:

Electronic Clearing House, Inc. (www.echo-inc.com) provides a complete solution to the payment processing needs of merchants, banks and collection agencies. ECHO’s services include debit and credit card processing, check guarantee, check verification, check conversion, check re-presentment, check collection, and inventory tracking.

Safe Harbor Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Any statements set forth above that are not historical facts re 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 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, the adequacy of the Company’s liquidity and financial strength to support its growth, 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

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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