CheckFree described itself as “the leading provider of electronic billing and payment services,”
and its objective was to “pay anyone, anywhere, anytime... from existing, secure debit or credit
accounts.”2 CheckFree developed software that allowed banks and merchants to process
electronic bill delivery and payment. The company also provided the software that processed
more than two thirds of the $6 billion Automated Clearing House payments made in 1999. By
2000, CheckFree Corporation provided the processing services for electronic bill payment for
350 financial institutions, including forty of the top fifty banks; 1,100 billers accepted electronic
payments from CheckFree (including more than 210 major billers); and more than 4.1 million
consumers were using its services. Although it was invisible to most consumers, CheckFree
dominated the electronic bill payments market with an 85 percent share.