Bankrate.com Announces Top Tier Awards for Second Quarter
Bankrate.com Recognizes Institutions That Provide Highest
Yields on CD's and Money Market Accounts
DATELINE: NORTH PALM BEACH, Fla., Aug. 9, 2000
Bankrate.com, the flagship site of ilife.com (Nasdaq:ILIF), today announced the
winners of the Top Tier award for the second quarter of 2000. The Top Tier
award recognizes institutions that consistently provide the highest yields on
their consumer offerings, which include certificates of deposit (CDs) and money
market accounts.
"The Top Tier award helps consumers identify institutions that consistently pay
high yields, thus alleviating the need to move funds to another institution
upon maturity, explained Karen Christie, Vice President of Research for
Bankrate.com. "Consumers benefit by keeping their funds invested and
eliminating downtime between withdrawal from one institution and deposit in
another. Institutions are rewarded by earning and retaining as customers those
investing in money markets and certificates of deposit."
Among the award winners for 2nd Quarter 2000 are six institutions that were also
recognized in 1st Quarter 2000: Bank CaroLine, BankDirect, Key Bank USA,
Providian Bank, Providian National Bank and Resource Bank. A complete listing
of the second quarter 2000 recipients is posted at
http://www.bankrate.com/brm/toptier.asp
Top Tier awards cover a full range of investment alternatives including
minimum-to-open, mini-jumbo and jumbo money market accounts and CDs of terms
from 3 months to 5 years. The overall rank is determined by the number of times
the institution's yield was among the top 20 yields for a specific product, and
the relative ranking of the yield.
About Bankrate.com
Bankrate.com, an online publication of ilife.com, provides
online consumers with financial data, research and editorial information on
non-investment financial products. Since April 1995, consumers have been able
to access Bankrate.com's extensive database via the World Wide Web. That data
has been collected since 1982 under the auspices of Bank Rate Monitor(R), a
banking newsletter. Overnight averages are posted on key products, and users
can check the averages in their state against those nationwide. Online articles
analyzing product rates and industry news equip consumers with the knowledge
they need to make informed financial decisions. Both news stories and basic
how-to information is provided. The information is distributed via bankrate.com
and its more than 120 online partnerships.
About ilife.com
Ilife.com (NASDAQ:ILIF) is the Internet's leading consumer
banking marketplace, with an average of 1.3 million unique visitors per month
connecting with over 4,000 financial institutions in 126 markets in 50 states.
Ilife.com owns and operates a portfolio of personal finance channels, including
banking, investing, taxes and small business finance. Its flagship site,
bankrate.com, is the leading aggregator of 100 financial products, including
mortgages, credit cards, new and used auto loans, money market accounts and
CD's, checking and ATM fees, home equity loans and online banking fees.
Ilife.com provides financial applications and information to a network of over
120 partners including SNAP (NASDAQ: NBCI), Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO), America
Online (NYSE: AOL), CNN and Smart Money. The company's information is also
distributed through more than 120 national and state publications.
Forward-looking statements in this release are made pursuant to the safe harbor
provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Act. Investors are cautioned
that actual results could differ materially from those anticipated by such
statements and are advised to consult our current SEC filings for additional
information concerning risk factors that affect the Company's business.
Contact Information:
Rose Hultgren
BankDirect
214-932-6690