Electronic Clearing House (ECHO) Enters into Technology Partnership Agreement with Professional Solutions to Consolidate Childcare Payment Processing Services

CAMARILLO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Electronic Clearing House, Inc. (NASDAQ:ECHO), a leading provider of electronic payment and transaction processing services, announced a technology partnership agreement with Professional Solutions, a market leader in childcare management software with more than 15,000 clients. The agreement will allow Professional Solutions to consolidate its payment processing services for its child care clients’ ACH and credit card payments to a single processor.

“Professional Solutions is a market leader in childcare management solutions. The agreement with ECHO provides us with a great opportunity to further extend our Tuition Express services to assist ProCare users nationwide in the collection of their childcare related payments”

“Our more than two decades of payment expertise in credit card and eCheck processing supplies our merchant account clients and partners like Professional Solutions with convenient, reliable and cost effective payment processing,” Chuck Harris, President and CEO, explained. “We will be marketing in tandem with Professional Solutions to ensure that each one of its clients fully appreciates the value we provide, both in smooth integration to the ProCare solution and in competitive pricing.”

“This single source solution will support the rapid growth that Professional Solutions’ Tuition Express service has experienced over the last few years. Our clients will benefit from the combination of the operational efficiencies of Tuition Express enhanced by ECHO’s leading electronic payment technology and services. This partnership will provide our clients with the most efficient electronic payment processing experience possible,” said Jeffrey Blum, President, Professional Solutions.

As a premier payment processor, ECHO will support the front end and back end of Tuition Express’ payment processing module, enabling processing of both credit cards and electronic checks. Tuition Express will now have a single processor for all of its ACH and credit card processing, leveraging ECHO’s superior services for both Professional Solutions and its Tuition Express Users.

“Professional Solutions is a market leader in childcare management solutions. The agreement with ECHO provides us with a great opportunity to further extend our Tuition Express services to assist ProCare users nationwide in the collection of their childcare related payments,” said Kurtis Hutsell, Vice President of Financial Operations for Professional Solutions.

ECHO and Professional Solutions have already begun to roll out the initiatives outlined in the agreement.

About Electronic Clearing House, Inc. (ECHO): A merchant account with ECHO (www.echo-inc.com) provides a fully integrated payment processing suite, including credit card processing, electronic check conversion (ECC), eChecks (ACH), check guarantee, check verification, check collection and debit cards. Merchants nationwide benefit from ECHO’s wide ranging payment services available through the company’s dedicated sales force or through channels that include technology partnerships, banks, collection agencies and other acquiring entities.

About Professional Solutions: Professional Solutions, developers of ProCare Center Management System, is the industry leader in childcare management software solutions. Professional Solutions continues to advance the standard of childcare management, with a focused commitment to help childcare providers achieve excellence in business. Through the company's innovation, research and development ProCare delivers the most efficient, user friendly software solution available to the childcare industry. By maintaining its finger on the pulse of the childcare industry, Professional Solutions introduced its Tuition Express Service in 2003. Users now collect all their childcare payments electronically. Tuition Express is the fastest growing segment of the company, generating significant recurring revenue to the company’s bottom line. Professional Solutions continues to keep its eye on the horizon, swiftly addressing the childcare industries software needs well into the 21^st century. For further information, please visit the Professional Solutions web site at www.procaresoftware.com. The site offers in-depth information about ProCare Software’s suite of childcare management software solutions and its Tuition Express Service.

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. Examples of forward-looking statements included in this press release include the statement regarding the benefits of the technology partnership with Professional Solutions to ECHO. Potential risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially 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.