SALT LAKE CITY – America First Credit Union has extended its electronic bill pay pact with CheckFree Corp. for three more years, the company and credit union say. The $3.1 billion CU (www.americafirst.com) has used CheckFree for more than five years and offers its 375,000 members free billing and bill pay through its branded Payment Partner service. America First currently has more than 45,000 members using the service, a 15% increase over last year at this time, says John Lund, the CU's executive vice president. "America First is committed to providing its members with the highest quality electronic billing and payment service, because it helps consumers reduce the risk of identity theft and take control of their finances without the hassle of writing checks and buying stamps," Lund says. Atlanta-based CheckFree (www.check freecorp.com) serves thousands of financial services providers and billers and its software is used to process more than two thirds of the 12 billion ACH transactions each year in the United States, the company says.