Official Payments Corp. Offers City of Burbank Residents New Way to Make Utility Payments

[November 18, 2004]

Official Payments Corp. Offers City of Burbank Residents New Way to Make Utility Payments

STAMFORD, Conn. --(Business Wire)-- Nov. 18, 2004 -- Official Payments Corp.(R), a wholly owned subsidiary of Tier Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq:TIER), today announced that it has been authorized to accept electronic utility bill payments on behalf of Burbank Water and Power (BWP), a community-owned utility serving the City of Burbank.

City of Burbank residents may make utilities payments with a VISA(R), American Express(R) or MasterCard(R) over the phone by calling 1-818-238-3700, or through the Internet by visiting www.burbankwaterandpower.com. Additionally, the City of Burbank now offers its residents the option of making these payments with Official Payments' electronic check option.

Electronic check capability allows anyone with a U.S. bank account to make electronic payments from anywhere in the world, at any time, through the Internet. The system moves funds securely through the Automated Clearing House (ACH), the same safe, electronic system used by the nation's financial institutions for processing paper checks.

"One of the responsibilities of the City Treasurer's Office is receiving all public funds for the City," said Burbank City Treasurer Donna Anderson. "In keeping with this responsibility, we are pleased to provide our residents with an additional secure, convenient method of making utilities payments."

"Tier welcomes the opportunity to provide these electronic payment processing services to this important city," said James R. Weaver, Tier's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "Burbank issues approximately 800,000 utilities bills per year, and collects approximately $150 million annually in utilities payments."

Official Payments provides electronic payment services for the Internal Revenue Service, 24 states, the District of Columbia and more than 1,500 local government clients nationwide. Official Payments' principal business is processing electronic payments on behalf of government entities via its Web site, www.officialpayments.com, and its toll-free telephone number, 1-800-2PAY-TAX(SM).

Official Payments charges citizens a convenience fee for the service. Citizens using credit or debit cards with bonus rewards programs may, depending on their card's program, earn reward points, airline frequent flyer miles or cash back for paying their taxes and fees.

About Tier

Tier is a leading provider of transaction processing and packaged software and systems integration services for public sector clients. We combine our understanding of enterprise-wide systems with domain knowledge enabling our clients to rapidly channel emerging technologies into their operations. We focus on sectors that we believe are driven by forces that make demand for our services less discretionary and are likely to provide us with recurring long-term revenue streams. Tier is included in the Russell 3000(R) Index. More information about the Company is available at www.Tier.com.

Statements made in this press release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements that are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

Each of these statements is made as of the date hereof based only on current information and expectations that are inherently subject to change and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Actual events or results may differ materially from those projected in any of such statements due to various factors, including but not limited to failure by end consumers to make payments with credit or debit cards or electronic checks through Official Payments Corporation; impact of lower transaction volumes than anticipated; the potential loss of funding by clients, including due to government budget shortfalls or revisions to mandated statutes; the timing, initiation, completion, renewal, extension or early termination of client projects; the Company's ability to realize revenues from its business development opportunities; and unanticipated claims as a result of project performance, including due to the failure of software providers or subcontractors to satisfactorily complete engagements.

For a discussion of these and other factors which may cause our actual events or results to differ from those projected, please refer to the Company's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended Sept. 30, 2003, our most recent Form 10-Q, as well as other filings with the SEC.

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