Heartland Payment Systems and American Express Sign Merchant Sales and Servicing...

Heartland Payment Systems and American Express Sign Merchant Sales and Servicing Agreement

Deal offers merchants one source for customer service and
statements.
NEW YORK & PRINCETON, N.J.--(Business Wire)--Small and mid-sized businesses can now benefit from an integrated
solution for all of their card processing transactions. In an
agreement announced today, American Express (NYSE:AXP) and Heartland
Payment Systems (NYSE:HPY) will offer a streamlined process that
enables merchants to accept American Express(R) Cards on Heartland's
merchant processing platform.

By signing up for the new program, merchants who are new to
American Express Card acceptance will have a single source for
statements, settlement and customer service. Heartland will provide
these merchants with payment processing services on behalf of American
Express, while American Express will retain the Card acceptance
contract with participating merchants, continue to establish merchant
pricing, and receive the same transactional information it does today.
The program will be available in the second half of 2008. Specific
terms and conditions of the agreement are not being disclosed.

Bob Carr, chairman and chief executive officer of Heartland
Payment Systems, said, "Until today, owners of small and mid-sized
business had to deal with two separate platforms for card processing:
one for American Express and one for all other cards. Our agreement
with American Express simplifies card processing for these business
owners. We look forward to helping ease the complexity of card
processing for our customers with one unified statement and one place
to call for live customer support."

"Merchants and consumers both benefit through this innovative
program with Heartland Payment Systems," said Kim Goodman, executive
vice president, Merchant Services North America, American Express.
"Small to mid-size merchants now have the choice of a new way to
streamline payment acceptance and consumers will enjoy the convenience
of being able to use the American Express Card at even more
locations."

About Heartland Payment Systems

Heartland Payment Systems, Inc., a NYSE company trading under the
symbol HPY, delivers credit/debit/prepaid card processing, payroll and
payment solutions to more than 162,000 small and mid-sized businesses
nationwide.

Heartland is the founding supporter of The Merchant Bill of
Rights, a public advocacy initiative that educates merchants about
fair credit and debit card processing practices. For more information,
visit www.heartlandpaymentsystems.com and
www.MerchantBillOfRights.com.

About American Express

American Express Company is a leading global payments, network,
travel and banking company founded in 1850. Merchant Services is the
merchant network of American Express, which acquires and maintains
relationships with millions of merchants around the globe, which
welcome American Express-branded Cards.

Forward-looking Statements

This press release may contain statements of a forward-looking
nature which represent our management's beliefs and assumptions
concerning future events. Forward-looking statements involve risks,
uncertainties and assumptions, including whether or not the program
launches on schedule, and are based on information currently available
to us. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed in
the forward-looking statements due to many factors. Information
concerning these factors is contained in the Company's Securities and
Exchange Commission filings, including but not limited to, the
Company's registration statement on Form 10-K, or Form 10-Q as
applicable. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking
statements to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after the
date of this release.

Heartland Payment Systems
Nancy Gross, 888-798-3131 ext. 2202
Nancy.Gross@e-hps.com
or
American Express
Sarah Meron, 212-640-5503
sarah.b.meron@aexp.com

Copyright Business Wire 2008