Striata, a global leader in paperless communication, recently announced that it

has engaged Preston Todd Advisors to identify email marketing and digital media

companies for potential acquisition.

“Preston Todd Advisors came highly recommended to us. Their expertise in deal

origination and buy-side consulting services is well established in the payments

and technology sectors. We are excited to have them on board, as we now look to

grow our business through strategic acquisitions,” said Michael Wright, CEO of

Striata.

“We are happy to have Striata as a new client,” stated Lane Gordon, President of

Preston Todd Advisors, Inc. “We believe Striata`s industry leading technology in

enterprise level digital communications provides us with a solid foundation to

help them grow further through acquisition.”

Founded in 1972 and located in Pittsburgh, Pa., ECSI supports the entire life cycle of higher education and post-graduation school/student services, including student loan payment processing, default solutions, refund services, tuition payment plans, electronic billing and payment, tax document services, and business outsourcing to more than 1,800 colleges and universities nationwide.

In addition to retaining ECSI’s more than 150 employees and its Pittsburgh-based operations, Heartland Campus Solutions will gain ECSI’s client portfolio, boosting its higher education client roster to more than 2,000 colleges and universities throughout North America. Heartland will also add all of ECSI’s products and services to its existing suite of campus solutions, including campus payments, Acceluraid™ and its Campus OneCard™^System, allowing Heartland to offer one-stop shopping for colleges and universities, which is unique to the higher education industry.

“As the Heartland Campus Solutions division grows to become a more significant portion of Heartland’s business, we’re confident that acquisitions such as ECSI will better position us for faster growth,” said Michael A. Lawler, president, strategic markets group, Heartland Payment Systems. “Our combined suite of products, services and solutions offers higher education institutions opportunities to streamline processes and increase operational efficiency while providing enhanced convenience and value to students. We look forward to working with our new employees and university client partners that we gained through this acquisition.”

Ron Farmer, executive director of campus solutions and micropayments for Heartland Payment Systems, added, “Heartland has developed a number of campus-related solutions which have helped position us as one of the industry’s leading providers. With the addition of ECSI’s solutions, such as loan payment processing and payment plans, we’ve gained greater operational capabilities to support our growing client base.”

John Lynch, president and CEO of ECSI, noted, “ECSI is very excited to become part of Heartland Payment Systems, a successful and well-respected company with a culture similar to ours. We’re extremely impressed with their growth in the campus environment and know that, with the addition of ECSI’s services and experience, Heartland will offer colleges and universities the most comprehensive and competitive solutions in the marketplace today.”

Heartland Campus Solutions presently offers financial aid disbursement, campus card and payment processing solutions to higher education institutions throughout North America. Earlier this year, the division introduced three feature-laden, user-friendlymobile applications for higher education institutions and students, including MyPay, the first-ever mobile payment application and virtual campus ID card. The division also announced a number of new contracts for management of financial aid disbursement through Acceluraid, and for its Campus OneCard^{System, a robust campus management system and multi-functional campus ID card.}

Preston Todd Advisors, a leading buy-side M&A advisory firm specializing in the payments and payments technologies sectors, served as advisor to Heartland Payment Systems in this transaction.

About Heartland Payment Systems

Heartland Payment Systems, Inc. (NYSE: HPY), the sixth largest payments processor in the United States, delivers credit/debit/prepaid card processing, school solutions, loyalty marketing services, campus solutions, payroll and related business solutions and services to more than 250,000 business and education locations nationwide. AFORTUNE 1000 company, Heartland is the founding supporter of The Merchant Bill of Rights, (www.MerchantBillofRights.org), a public advocacy initiative that educates merchants about fair credit and debit card processing practices. The company is also a leader in the development of end-to-end encryption technology designed to protect cardholder data, rendering it useless to cybercriminals. For more detailed information, visit HeartlandPaymentSystems.com or follow the company on Twitter@HeartlandHPY and Facebook at facebook.com/HeartlandHPY.

Forward-looking Statements

This press release contains 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 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, including risks and additional factors that are described in the Company’s Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including but not limited to the Company’s annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2011. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after the date of this release.

CHICAGO – BluePay, a Chicago-based provider of credit card processing services, has announced its portfolio acquisition of Funds Transfer Alliance. FTA has a large portfolio of approximately 3,000 merchants, primarily in the retail industry. The acquisition took place with the help of Preston Todd Advisors, leaders in M & A advisory services.

“We were pleased to work with Preston Todd Advisors once again,” said John Rante.  “Preston Todd Advisors’ expertise in deal origination services is unmatched in the payments technology industry.”

BluePay’s reliable support services, as well as the credit card processor’s payment gateway, advanced security solutions and full suite of processing products, are now accessible to FTA merchants.

Among BluePay’s all-in-one credit card processing solutions are mobile and wireless services, ACH payment capabilities, non-profit processing, secure hosted payment forms and virtual credit card terminals. BluePay serves a wide range of merchant types, from retail and e-commerce to hotels and restaurants.

“Payment technology and security are constantly changing to further improve the safety of electronic data,” said Rante. “We implement the highest levels of data security and comply with PCI standards so merchants can protect and grow their business.”

About BluePay: Providing the highest level of data security in the industry, BluePay (http://www.bluepay.com) makes U.S. and Canadian credit card processing simple and fast. BluePay is a full-service, Tier 1 credit card processor based in Naperville, Illinois, with offices and data centers located across the U.S. The firm leverages extensive industry experience and a comprehensive suite of credit card merchant processing services to provide a complete system of credit card processing solutions with competitive rates. Follow BluePay on Twitter (http://twitter.com/BluePay) for company and credit card processing industry updates.

“Heartland’s strategic acquisition of these premier K-12 service providers positions us as the market leader and will have a meaningful impact on our future growth,” said Bob Carr, Heartland’s chairman and chief executive officer. “Heartland School Solutions provides a single, powerful suite of payment processing solutions to help take K-12 school nutrition programs to the next level of ease of use and innovation.”

Heartland’s full suite of front- and back-of-the-house K-12 school nutrition and POS technology solutions includes:

• Online Portal Capability – Online payment system solutions that offers major benefits for both parents and the school, enabling parents to pay for school meals, view their child’s lunchroom purchases and get nutritional information in one central place. Parents can set up automatic email reminders and make payments for their children even if they attend different schools. The functionality can also be easily expanded to enable parents and students to pay for things at school beyond the lunchroom, such as athletic tickets, yearbooks, t-shirts and school store items.
• Point-of-Sale Solutions – A full-service POS system that automates and streamlines school nutrition operations to help schools better track purchases, manage Free and Reduced Meal Applications and back-of-the-house reporting.
• Back Office Solutions – A comprehensive school nutrition system to streamline ordering, inventory management and menu planning.
• SeeMyPlate^TM – A Heartland service that allows parents to see their children’s school plates. This allows parents to monitor their children’s meals, help educate students and parents about nutrition and empower them to make healthy decisions.

Michael Lawler, executive director of Heartland School Solutions, added, “Many school districts across the country are experiencing tight budgets that don’t leave much room for large investments. Heartland’s robust K-12 solutions will enable our customers to increase operational efficiencies, lower expenses and generate additional revenue in the school nutrition program, and in other school activities where payments take place.”
Preston Todd Advisors, a leading buy-side M & A advisory firm specializing in the payments and payments technologies sectors, served as advisor to Heartland in the School-Link and LunchBox transactions.

For more information about Heartland School Solutions, visit HeartlandPaymentSystems.com/School, call (800) 788-9575 or email
HeartlandSchools@e-hps.com.

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About Heartland Payment Systems

Heartland Payment Systems, Inc. (NYSE: HPY), the fifth largest payments processor in the United States, delivers credit/debit/prepaid card processing, gift marketing and loyalty programs, payroll, check management and related business solutions to more than 250,000 business locations nationwide. A FORTUNE 1000 company, 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. The company is also a leader in the development of end-to-end encryption technology designed to protect cardholder data, rendering it useless to cybercriminals. For more information, please visit HeartlandPaymentSystems.com, MerchantBillOfRights.org, CostOfABurger.com and E3secure.com.