Powerful New Personal Finance Tool Allows AOL Members To Link To Biller Websites To Pay Bills Online And Take Advantage of Same Day Payment

AOL Bill Pay Furthers Company's Life Management Strategy With Financial Management Tools That Make Members Everyday Lives Easier

DULLES, VA, March 16, 2004 - - America Online, Inc., the world's leading interactive services company, today announced the launch of AOL(R) Bill Pay, a new service that helps AOL's community of approximately 50 million users save time and money with a streamlined way to track and pay bills online as well as manage their personal finances.

This new launch is part of AOL's commitment to introduce self service platforms that enable members to interact, transact and get through their busy day. Available at no extra charge to members, AOL Bill Pay was created in response to members' demands for a convenient and timesaving way to receive, pay and manage their bills online.

The launch of AOL Bill Pay builds upon the success of other Life Management self-service initiatives including AOL Food, AOL Diet Hub and AOL Living. AOL Life Management offers multiple real time-solutions to help members organize their busy lives, find diet solutions, manage the family calendar, and decide what's for dinner. AOL Bill Pay, with its simplified bill paying solution and bill tracking tools, offers a better way to manage family finances online.

AOL introduced AOL Bill Pay in response to strong member need for a product that offers families a better and easier way to manage day-to-day finances. Sixty percent of AOL members already pay some of their bills online and 67% of those that pay online do so at multiple biller websites.*

Through AOL's new alliance with Yodlee, AOL Bill Pay responds to this member need with a simplified online bill paying process that offers one of the largest networks of billers which accept online payment. AOL's bill presentment capability delivers members' bill summaries to their AOL in-box and connects them directly to billers' websites for fast payment, allowing them to take full advantage of biller same day payment options. AOL Bill Pay also helps take the hassle out of remembering multiple biller site IDs and passwords by combining them under one AOL Bill Pay account security question.

AOL Bill Pay is more than just a bill payment service; it is a powerful life management tool that interacts with AOL emails, alerts and calendar. For example, alerts can be set up to notify members of large transactions on their credit cards, which may be an early indicator of identity theft or fraud. Or members can use AOL Alerts to set up an alert to be notified when they are about to exceed their cell phone minutes. These alerts join the more than 32 million alerts set up by AOL members as of October 2002. Furthermore, an easy to read expense history area enables members to analyze and review expenses across their registered accounts, helping them keep a close eye on finances, budget better and catch inaccuracies.

"AOL Bill Pay is tailor-made for an important audience on AOL - the Family Manager," said Tina Sharkey, Senior Vice President of Life Management and Community, America Online. "The family manager is the person who oversees the hectic demands of managing a household and the family finances and they rely on time-saving solutions to attend to everyday tasks. Through the development of our Life Management strategy, we have come to understand how they live their lives and feel about money and budgeting, and AOL Bill Pay is one of the many organizational solutions we have created that meets their key needs."

"Online bill paying is the number one online financial activity by AOL members and they have told us that they are looking for an easier way to manage their finances online," said John Keeling, Executive Director, Personal Finance, America Online. "AOL Bill Pay answers this charge with a simple and convenient way to pay bills online, as well as have greater control over the day to day management of your money. Along with our new Quotes & Portfolios, AOL Bill Pay is another major milestone in AOL Personal Finance's efforts to offer members a unified set of financial management tools and features for their everyday lives."

Key benefits of AOL Bill Pay include:

* Bill Presentment Capability: The streamlined process lets members receive bill summaries through email and connects them directly to their biller website where they can post payment, saving them time and adding convenience to their daily lives. AOL's authentication process helps ensure that bills delivered via Bill Pay are genuine and not forgeries. Furthermore, the bills are delivered to members via a visually distinctive email, adding an extra layer of security and giving members extra assurance that the bill is authentic.

* Speed and Savings: AOL Bill Pay features one of the largest networks of billers, which accept online payment, allowing members to directly connect to more than 2500 biller websites, most of who accept same day payment. This capability allows members to pay bills later and still avoid late fees.

* Streamlined Sign-in Process: A single word authentication process means members are no longer required to remember multiple biller site IDs and passwords for different biller websites. A simplified process combines all of them under one AOL Bill Pay account security question, which is separate and distinct from their AOL service password.

* Enhanced Alerting Capability: Payment schedules for registered accounts can be integrated into AOL's Alerts & Reminders and AOL Calendar, making it easier to remember due dates and pay bills on time. Additionally, members can keep track of spending and purchases on other accounts between statements. For example, members can set up an alert for large transactions on their credit cards, which may be an early indicator of identity theft or fraud.

* Bill Histories: AOL automatically archives bill statements for up to 12 months and sets up an expense history for all of members' registered accounts, helping them track how much they are spending and on what. The billing history is presented in a simplified pie chart by category (cell phone, credit card, utility) or by biller.

AOL members will be able to sign up for the AOL Bill Pay for no extra charge at AOL Keyword: Bill Pay. They can access their Bill Pay account on the AOL Service or on the web at www.aol.com.

Contact Info:
"Billy Kenny, America Online, Inc."
646-805-2025