intECA

[VVP]

IntECA News Release



iBill has signed an agreement with IntECA to provide a third party audit function to identify client funds and to facilitate the release of these funds to (you) their EU sponsored merchants. All client funds will be maintained in a segregated account held by the European acquiring bank until the time of payout.



The information available to you on this site is confidential between IntECA and (you) the iBill EU sponsored merchant, however iBill may have access to some data and the EU acquiring bank and the processor may have access to all data.



We want to begin the iBill EU payout process as soon as possible. To move forward, we need the clients to view and sign a release document that comes into effect as payments are made.



iBill has provided IntECA with data outlining funds owed to clients up to February 28th, 2005. IntECA has completed an independent third party audit function validating the funds owed to clients. To date, there are several hundred merchants that have signed up for the program and we have received communications from many others. Please understand we are doing our best to respond accordingly.



For your information; below are the next steps that you will need to complete in order to receive your iBill EU payments from IntECA. The documents and information necessary to complete these steps will be made available to you here on this web site soon.



∙ Read the Release Document (when available) and decide if you wish to participate.



∙ The Release Document will confirm your desire to participate in the program as well as your validation of funds owed. This Release, and the payments to be made under it, is solely in respect to credit card transactions processed by the European bank and processor. IntECA has not reached agreement with iBill on the distribution of funds due to merchants from other payment methods, such as on-line checks, stored value cards and Web900. In addition, a portion of the MasterCard transactions have been processed by a Philippine bank. iBill is also responsible for payment of these MasterCard transactions. This may or may not be covered. If not, you would have a continuing claim against iBill directly for any such funds owed.



∙ The release document signature process will be divided into two parts. If the total amount due to you is less than $1,000, we will be able to accept an electronic confirmation to the agreement. However, if it is greater than that, we will need a signed form, which can be delivered by facsimile (fax number will be provided on the release document), or PDF over email to iBillEU@Inteca.org. This is a requirement of our European bank.



∙ All payments need to be made by ACH or Wire transfer. As such, we will need details of your beneficiary bank account to process these payments. iBill has provided all EU sponsored merchants banking information to IntECA. You will need to confirm that this information is correct. If you are currently being paid by check, it will be necessary to provide bank details to be paid. A mechanism for providing this information will be made available on the IntECA site soon. The bank account should be in the name of the company or designated owner of the merchant agreement. If the currency of the account is other than US dollars, you should inform us, so the conversion can take place in order to lower transfer costs by making domestic transfer where possible.



Within the next two days, the balances owed to you will be available for review. This information will also be available on the iBill.com merchant information area. This data is not shared with any other merchant.



Finally, if there is any aspect of this structure you do not find acceptable, we should stress that you can withdraw from it at any time. You will continue to have claims against iBill in that case.

[VVP]

To all iBill EU merchants currently signed up for the Inteca program to receive funds direct from the acquiring bank on their accounts.



This is the first update since you signed up. The progress so far:



1. We now have a high percentage of the merchants signed up, at least in dollar terms. This has been a time-consuming affair, and I appreciate all the very long hours of the small Inteca staff to get this accomplished.



2. We have received written approval from the acquiring bank with the approval of the payment method and the amount of the intended first tranche to be paid. The subsequent tranches will follow rapidly; we want to ensure the system runs smoothly before paying out over $10 million in total. It is important you know that Inteca does not have any access to your funds throughout the process. The funds go directly from the acquiring bank to your bank.



3. The release document should be available tomorrow. This document will need to be signed by all merchants who want to use this program. As stated before, if the total due to you is less than $1,000, we can accept your electronic signature; for larger amounts we will need a fax, PDF or letter, signed by the authorized person. The release document will include all remittance instructions.



Do not sign the release at that stage. It will only be due for signing when we have shown the full amounts due to you in our records. These amounts will be split between the amounts due now, and the total amount of funds due to you in the future. These amounts will be available on this site and at iBill as soon as possible.



If there are any questions, please email to chris.williams@inteca.org and I will try to make sure we answer them promptly. We may display some answers on this board, if we get multiple questions of the same type.



4. Along with the Release Document, we will include a bank transfer data form for you to complete. We would appreciate this being done even if you are using the same bank data as at iBill at the moment, in order for us to have a complete file in Inteca’s records for distribution to the acquiring bank and the paying agent. You will see the name, Trancentrix, as part of the legal contract; this company manages the payment flow on behalf of Inteca. After the initial releases, you will be able to maintain this information on the IntECA web site should you need to change your beneficiary information in the future.



Please include the currency of your bank account on the form. If your account is in a currency other than US dollars, we may be able to reduce your wire transfer cost by making a local, domestic payment but this has to be made in the local currency.



5. There is a shortfall in the amount due to you versus the amount available from the acquiring bank, based on money already settled to iBill. Inteca has had assurances from iBill they will make up this difference. We will keep you up to date in this regard, but I believe we are correct to keep moving forward as:



a. Many of you are very anxious to get funds that are extremely late as soon as possible.



b. The amount we do have at the acquiring bank represents between 80 and 90% of the relevant sum for distribution.



6. A new circular has been issued by iBill to all iBill US merchants about a program of ‘secured’ funds being settled through an electronic stored value card provider. This program has nothing to do with IntECA and should not be confused with it. (We do not express any opinion as to the worth or comparison value nor can we answer any enquiries regarding this new iBill program.)



7. We did want to get the account data to you by today, but the issues with iBill demand we delay for about two days. I am sorry that is happening, but hopefully it will not delay the process to any great extent.



8. I must ask that this information be kept confidential. We are trying to get you paid as fast as we can, but it is part of a negotiation involving both the acquiring bank and iBill. I should stress that if you find the terms of the release, or any other terms, unacceptable, you are fully entitled to withdraw from this program and try to recover your funds from iBill directly.



Thank you for your patience.

[VVP]

Posting to the iBill EU merchants who are registered



I did say we would have the Release document for you today, and I appreciate you do not want to hear about more delays. However, I do have to hold off until tomorrow – and I will briefly explain why.



We are waiting on iBill to either sign a specific agreement with the acquiring bank and the EU processor, or not. If they do sign it, we can remove them from the release documents you need to sign, so this will save a lot of time and will avoid any issue if the iBill position changes in any manner. I believe they will sign it, but as the day comes to a close (at least in Europe) I could not wait any longer.



We have agreements with the Bank and the processor, so it is two down, one to go!



Let me now address the broad structure of the release document, at least in some aspects. This is specifically a release in respect of transactions handled by iBill EU through the EU processor and bank; it does not include other business you may have done through iBill EU (or USA) where the credit cards are processed through a different processor or the transactions are for non-credit cards, such as on-line checks.



I realize this is less than perfect for you. I hope you understand that at this point we are primarily trying to get the vast majority of funds to you, as held by the EU bank. You will still have a claim against iBill for other funds. Ideally we will help manage this as well for you, but that will require funds coming from iBill to cover such amounts.



How do you know when some credit card transactions have been put through other processors/ banks? I can narrow it down for you, but it is very challenging for us to give you a total picture. Having spoken and emailed with quite a number of you now (despite our attempts to only deal with the group as an entity!), I believe we are correct to say that speed of payment is very important to many of you. I hope you will help us settle the numbers with you as quickly as we can – you will understand that trying to break down each account is not going to be time-effective for us or for you.



I aim to have provisional totals to you tomorrow, along with the release document. If we get everything settled, we can start paying out next week. We are updating the numbers to the close of business yesterday; you will appreciate that some part of the total you see is not due to be paid as yet, particularly in respect of reserves.



One other point; for those merchants that have wanted to export their data from iBill, please send a separate email to james.westin@inteca.org as we may have some solution to this matter.



I will be back in touch again tomorrow – one way or the other.



Best regards



Chris Williams

[VVP]

Apologies for the delay in posting – and now, again, another delay in getting the legal document out to you.



I was told by iBill that it would sign the adjusted agreement between itself and the bank on Thursday afternoon or Friday morning. Unfortunately, they came back with amendments so it is left to be resolved on Monday. I will post more on this then – the problem is that I need that settled before I can settle on the individual agreements/ releases between each merchant and the bank.



We are not waiting on the release before moving forward on the accounting side. I expect to have the total claims listed by tomorrow, Sunday, and we should be able to get the numbers out to you then. This will allow you to validate the numbers while waiting for the release form to become available.



You will see a ‘ledger’ which shows you the balance owed to you. This balance is broken into separate sections which represent individual payments you would have received from iBill. This will make it easier to validate against data you may already have from iBill’s CMI. You should concentrate on four areas:



1. The overall total due to you (will be available at the bottom of the ledger).



2. The amount due now, or overdue (group by the ‘available’ column in the ledger).



3. The amount due at various times in the future – either new transactions that are not settled yet, or reserves (also visible when grouping by the ‘available’ column in the ledger).



4. The amount due for the first scheduled pay-out – this is based on the oldest payment due date. (expected to be either the first transaction in the ledger or the first two combined).



I will put further explanation, if necessary, as we post the numbers. Once again, the earlier we can agree these figures, the faster we can get the money flowing to you. Once we have the releases signed, and the first pay-out done, we expect the other pay-outs can move quickly until all due funds are released.



We have had various issues raised in respect of exporting of data to other processors. The position is this; I am still talking to the card associations and I will be talking to the bank tomorrow. So far, it seems as though we can get a general agreement quite quickly to enable data movement to other IPSPs using the same bank and processor.



All of the above is subject to change, but given the relative urgency of the overall situation, this is the best interpretation I can offer at the moment.

[VVP]

Posted: March 13, 2005

To all IntECA Members:

I can report some promising news.

First, we are ready to release the financial information on the website. The authentication process we have just completed ensures that only you will be able to see your data. We have been asked to hold off making this information available until tomorrow, Monday, at 4.00pm EST so that iBill can release supporting data in the merchant information area on www.iBill.com at the same time. Tomorrow your access level on the Inteca website will be increased to allow you to view your balances representing transactions through February 28th.

Second, talking with the bank today, it seems as though we can reach agreement on the iBill request for its contract changes with the bank, so hopefully we can get your release document out to you tomorrow as well.

So, two of the items necessary to start payments are on the way. The final steps include confirming your banking data, agreement to the individual amounts owed, and signing the release document. Once we get through that, we'll be ready to to pay the first tranche.

Update again tomorrow,

All the best,

Chris

[VVP]

To all IntECA Members:

I can confirm that the amounts due section will be ‘live’ by 7.00pm EST – we are waiting on iBill to get the data up on their merchant info section. Look for a link under the section heading Ledger called Deposits in the menu to the left. Other menu items will be enabled as we move further through the validation process.



We are moving ahead with making this information available to you, but as usual there are some caveats. I have not had the shortfall made up by iBill as yet, but as I have said before, the worst case scenario is that we have to come back and say that only, say, 90 or 95% of the ECB due amount is going to be available. From your comments so far, I believe I am correct in assuming this would be better for all of you than leaving this open any longer.



I want to confirm what the numbers you will see represent. These amounts are in settlement of those credit card transactions iBill EU made on your behalf through ECB Processing; they are not for credit card transactions conducted by iBill through other processors or for other payment methods.



At the moment, iBill has made no move to cover these other transactions through Inteca, and I have to say that I am not sure whether that will ever happen. Your rights to these other funds are not affected by the release document; you will still have full rights for recovery of those funds against iBill.



I have not been able to finalize the release document today; I am waiting, again, on iBill for the sign-off of its agreement with the bank. I am sorry about the delay, but as above, I am assuming that the remaining pieces will move forward in the next day or two.



Best regards,

Chris Williams

[VVP]

IntECA update – March 16, 2005



Hopefully you will have seen the balances due to you, according to the records provided by iBill to IntECA. We would like to have you confirm those as soon as possible, so we know you can be included in the first tranche of payments. A ‘confirm’ button is being added to the ledger page on our website.



To be clear, the amount we are showing is the full amount due (as of Feb 28, 2005), from credit and debit transactions performed by iBill on your behalf through ECB Processing and the acquiring bank, ICC.



The release document refers solely to those transactions. Any other transaction processed through iBill’s processors other than ECB or using other payment methods, will remain the responsibility of iBill and is not addressed in this release program. Your rights are not being diminished by this release for the aforementioned transactions. Also, if you do not want to sign the release, or cannot comply in any other way to receive the funds, you still have a claim against iBill.



The release documents are close to completion and we hope to have then available to you within 24 hours. We will need proof of ownership of the bank account and the iBill account. Members with balances owed below $1,000 will have the ability to do this online at this website. The bank, however, will require faxes or hard copy for larger amounts. This is outlined in the release document.



We would like everyone to update their banking data if it is incorrect at this time. This can currently be done on iBill’s site. On March 25th we will receive your banking information from iBill. After that date you may make changes on IntECA’s site, including telling us the currency of the account to be credited. The value of that is so we can make local banking transfers, at a lower cost to you, rather than international wire transfers, if we can do it in local currency. Also, as we have said, we cannot make payment by check, so we do need your banking data, even if you were previously paid by check.



The planned deadline is to send funds to you on March 28th. To qualify for first tranche you will need to have confirmed the amounts showing on your ledger page and IntECA needs to have your release in hand. Any changes to your banking information must be complete by March 26th. We do want to get money out to as many people as we can, so please help us with confirming the balances and returning the release forms as soon as possible.



It has been a long process, but it does look as though we are nearing completion and we thank you for your patience.



Note: Stated dates are approximate but pretty firm as of this writing.