Northbrook, IL, January 2, 2001 -- Today PayNet, Inc. announces that Thomas R. Butler, former President and COO of Discover Financial Corporation, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter’s general purpose credit card arm, has joined their Board of Directors, effective immediately. Butler helped establish the Discover Card in 1985, where he served as head of operations until 1986 and then served as president and COO until 1998. Currently Butler serves as chair of the Northwestern Library Board of Governors and as a board member of INROADS/Chicago, an organization dedicated to placing minority students in business and engineering careers.

"We are delighted that Tom Butler has joined the Board," said PayNet’ President Bill Phelan. "His experience within the financial community and in building new businesses will be an asset to PAYNET^TM’ marketing plans and strategic development." Butler is an investor in PAYNET^TM and his role on the Board will be to provide strategic direction and operational advice.

PayNet manages the PayNet Alliance, a network of commercial equipment lessors, who through the confidential PayNet^TM system, exchange their lease payment history information in order to gain access to PAYNET^TM’ proprietary information services. All data is exchanged in a secure and private environment and downloaded directly from lessors’ credit systems.

"PayNet has the management and business model to provide meaningful new products for commercial lenders," said Butler. "Their unique service, PayNet^TM, can revolutionize the commercial leasing information industry, much the way personal credit reporting built the personal lending and revolving credit industries in the 1980s."