NATION'S COMMUNITY BANKS EXTEND EQUIFAX CONTRACT INTO 21ST CENTURY

Atlanta, Feb. 5, 1997-- IBAA Bancard, the payment services subsidiary of the Independent Bankers Association of America, has renewed and extended its contract with Equifax for credit card and debit card processing.

Equifax also has been selected as the exclusive service provider to assist IBAA Bancard in offering Total Card Management_ services to its smaller members through a new credit and debit card-issuing bank now being established. That selection as Total Card Management provider and the extended IBAA Bancard processing contract represent aggregate revenues projected by Equifax at approximately $1 billion.

The five-year extension, when added to the almost three years remaining on the current contract, means Equifax will be providing credit and debit card processing to this critical part of the nation's economic structure at least to December 2004. The IBAA represents more than 5,500 community banks across the United States.

"Our partnership with Equifax is unique," said David Ballweg, chairman of IBAA Bancard and president & CEO of Community State Bank in Union Grove, Wis. "It has allowed our banks to issue more than 2 million cards and serve nearly 100,000 merchant locations, which in turn produce an annual sales volume approaching $5 billion. And it has allowed our member banks to match and beat the competitive market. This relationship is worth expanding."

In a separate move, the IBAA also has formally approved Equifax as the exclusive licensee to offer a broad range of credit-related services to all member banks. Last March, the IBAA selected Equifax as its preferred provider of consumer credit information. The latest expansion extends to a variety of automated Decision Solutions_ tools used for such things as pre-screening and risk scoring.

"At IBAA, we make everything we do center on service for our members. Because of our long-standing relationship with Equifax and their commitment to outstanding customer service, we fully expect IBAA Bancard's contract extension to benefit our members' profitability and to keep them competitive into the next century," said Kenneth A. Guenther, executive vice president of the IBAA.

Equifax's relationship with IBAA Bancard dates to 1986, just shortly after the IBAA created the payment services subsidiary. Equifax's Card Services unit was asked to provide the front- and back-office support services, including promotional, marketing and customer service functions, needed by the nation's mid-sized community banks to compete effectively in the credit and debit card market.

Last October, IBAA Bancard announced plans to charter its own limited purpose card-issuing bank to offer its smaller bank members a means of offering credit and debit cards to their customers. The Total Card Management_ program is expected to be launched later this year. Equifax Card Services now has been selected to provide all of the new bank's support services, ranging from pre-screening and processing to portfolio management, customer service and collections.

"Equifax has proven to be a true partner with the IBAA and IBAA Bancard and I can't tell you how proud we are of that," commented Lee A. Kennedy, the president of Equifax Payment Services. "This long-standing relationship has allowed us to anticipate the needs and requirements of IBAA's members and respond accordingly. That's what we do with our processing services and that's why the IBAA is willing to place in us so much long-term confidence."

IBAA Bancard's decision to approve the five-year extension on its contract comes just three months after Equifax Payment Services opened one of the world's most advanced, state-of-the-art transaction processing centers in St. Petersburg. The new 305,000-square-foot center is supporting 1.2 million card transactions and more than 400,000 check transactions every day.

"The technological capabilities of Equifax, when coupled with the business standards and customer service they offer our member banks, allows our banks not only to be independent issuers of Visa and MasterCard but to be credit and debit card leaders," said Linda F. Echard, the president and CEO of IBAA Bancard. "That's a relationship that we want to leverage."

The IBAA is the only national trade association that exclusively represents the interests of the nation's community banks. IBAA Bancard is the cornerstone of the IBAA Community Banking Network, the association's services company.

The IBAA represents more than 5,500 community banks, of which approximately 2,000 currently are relying on IBAA Bancard for card services.

Equifax Card Services is part of Equifax Payment Services, a global leader in providing card services, issuing and managing credit and debit card accounts and in verifying or guaranteeing personal checks. The Card Services unit within Equifax Payment Services is headed by Mike Bush, senior vice president and general manager.