Official Payments Signs St. Louis, MO; Citizens to Pay Personal Property and Real Estate Taxes...

Business Editors

STAMFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 19, 2001

Official Payments Corporation [www.officialpayments.com] (Nasdaq: OPAY) announced today that the Collector of Revenue Office for the City of St. Louis, MO has signed a service agreement with the company.

The agreement enables St. Louis taxpayers to settle their real estate and personal property tax obligations by credit card over the Internet (www.officialpayments.com) or via telephone (800-2PAY-TAX) through Official Payments' systems. The new service is expected to launch in early October. American Express(R), Discover Card(R), MasterCard(R) and Visa(R) will be the credit cards accepted by the program. Official Payments, a leading provider of electronic payment options, has similar agreements with over 900 government entities across the country including the Internal Revenue Service, 18 state governments and the District of Columbia.

The Collector of Revenue Office for the City of St. Louis collects over $200 million annually in real estate and personal property taxes, with an average property tax bill of $1,000. Tax bills will be mailed out October 1, 2001 and are due by December 31, 2001. City residents will be able to pay via Internet by visiting the Official Payments Web site at www.officialpayments.com, or by calling Official Payments at 1-800-2PAY-TAX.

Official Payments charges taxpayers a convenience fee for processing these credit card transactions. The fee schedule can be found on the Internet at www.officialpayments.com. For example, a taxpayer who owed a current balance of $1,000 in real estate taxes and charged their taxes would find a total of $1,035 on their credit card statement: $1,000 for the tax bill and $35 for the convenience fee. American Express(R), MasterCard(R), Discover(R) and VISA(R) are the credit cards accepted by the program. Taxpayers using credit cards with bonus rewards programs can, depending on their card's program, earn rewards, points, and cash-back on airline frequent flyer miles for paying their taxes.

About Official Payments Corporation

Official Payments Corporation (Nasdaq: OPAY) is the leading provider of electronic payment options to government entities. The company's principal business is enabling consumers to pay their government taxes, fees, fines, and utility bills by credit card, via Internet and telephone. The company is unequaled in market penetration and national footprint. Official Payments has agreements to collect and process credit card payments with the Internal Revenue Service, 18 state governments, the District of Columbia, and over 900 county and municipal governments in 48 states across the United States. In 2000, Official Payments collected and processed over $925 million in federal, state and local government payments.

Official Payments was founded in the San Francisco Bay area in 1996. Thomas R. Evans, the former President & CEO of the Internet company GeoCities, became Chairman & CEO of Official Payments in the summer of 1999. Mr. Evans brought Official Payments public in November of 1999, raising $80 million in its IPO on the NASDAQ national market. The company's success in new client acquisition, increasing business with its existing clients and in building consumer awareness can be attributed to the combination of an enormous market opportunity with a highly skilled and experienced management and staff, aggressive sales and marketing, and a core competency in developing and implementing leading-edge technical systems.

Note: Official Payments Corp. and the Official Payments Corp. logo are service marks of Official Payments Corporation.