ATLANTA, March 31 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Equifax Inc. today announced that it has formed a joint venture with ATM Corp., the nation's leading settlement solutions provider, to launch a national settlement services company. Equifax Settlement Services LLC will provide a complete set of mortgage settlement offerings, including title, closing and appraisal services.

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"The introduction of Equifax Settlement Services enables us to provide a centralized resource to meet the growing settlement needs of our mortgage lending customers," said Dann Adams, group executive, Equifax North America Information Services. "This new venture is an important step in establishing Equifax's comprehensive suite of end-to-end mortgage solutions. The combination of our mortgage industry expertise and ATM's process management experience and proven track record in building national settlement services companies made them a natural choice in forming this new company."

Based in Pittsburgh, PA, this new venture leverages the combined strength of ATM's VISION(SM) Systems, a Web-based settlement solution and Equifax's advanced technology solutions and market reach. Equifax Settlement Services will provide the vendor management and settlement services that lenders need to close more loans and streamline the overall mortgage experience. For customers, this joint venture will offer convenient, centralized access to a comprehensive suite of mortgage and settlement solutions, empowering lenders in every stage of the mortgage process.

Customers also will benefit from ATM's extensive network of vendor relationships. These relationships can help lenders save up to 15 days on the closing process, with a cost savings of nearly 30 percent. Equifax Settlement Services will provide a robust portfolio of settlement service offerings by drawing upon ATM's deep expertise in delivering title, closing and appraisal services and Equifax's established market relationships and strong reputation as a leading provider of mortgage solutions.

"Leveraging Equifax's strong relationships with lenders and our technology and settlement service expertise, we can reach more customers with a turnkey solution to transform the mortgage experience," said Francis H. Azur, President and CEO, ATM. "The combination of these strengths will ensure that our lending partners and their customers receive the full value of an efficient settlement process."

Equifax has a long history of providing lenders with the data, analytics and technology solutions they need to compete in today's marketplace. In addition to valuable credit information, Equifax offers a broad range of title, closing and other settlement services.

About Equifax (http://www.equifax.com/)

Equifax Inc. is a global leader in information technology that enables and secures global commerce with consumers and businesses. We are one of the largest sources of consumer and commercial data. Utilizing our databases, advanced analytics and proprietary enabling technology, we provide real-time answers for our customers. This innovative ability to transform information into intelligence is valued by customers across a wide range of industries and markets. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, Equifax employs approximately 4,600 people in 13 countries throughout North America, Latin America and Europe. Equifax was founded 107 years ago, and today is a member of Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500(R) Index. Our common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol EFX.

About ATM Corporation

ATM Corporation, holding company for Vision Global Solutions, LLC, provides settlement services to large, national mortgage lenders and is the country's leading provider of consulting and technology services to lenders looking to build their own settlement services subsidiaries. ATM employs more than 600 full-time employees at its national operations center in Moon Township, PA, a Pittsburgh suburb, and contracts with over 20,000 attorneys, appraisers, abstractors and settlement service providers throughout the United States. Lenders that license ATM's Vision technologies or have chosen ATM to build settlement service subsidiaries include Countrywide, Citigroup, GMAC Mortgage, E-Trade Mortgage, Navy Federal Credit Union, Waterfield Mortgage, KeyCorp. and America's Mortgage Co-Op.

CONTACT: Jennifer Costello of Equifax Inc., +1-404-885-8907, or
jennifer.costello@equifax.com; or Jeff Sexton of Makovsky + Company,
+1-212-508-9699, or jsexton@makovsky.com, for ATM

Web site: http://www.equifax.com/