FALLS CHURCH, Va., July 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Capital One Financial Corporation (NYSE: COF) today launched OneRamp Free Internet Access for consumers nationwide. The service, which will include a customized start-up page and an email account, will be offered in conjunction with Spinway, Inc., a leading provider of co-branded, free dial-up Internet access and online advertising technology solutions, who will provide the ISP infrastructure and customer support. Capital One will begin offering this service to its U.S. customers immediately. OneRamp customers will be able to personalize their content and services and, unlike other free access providers, OneRamp will not require customers to periodically click on an ad in order to stay connected to the Internet.

"Capital One believes that online customer franchise relationships like our alliance with Spinway will enable us to introduce ourselves to more consumers," said Nigel Morris, Capital One's President and Chief Operating Officer. "We believe that Internet access should offer privacy, performance and quality with no monthly charges and no hidden fees. Our customers expect quality products, services and value from Capital One and One Ramp meets this challenge."

"Spinway is partnering with brand leaders in several vertical markets we believe our relationship with Capital One will provide a tremendous entry into the financial services vertical," said Danny Robinson, founder. "Both Capital One and Spinway are experiencing explosive growth and share a common goal of providing an unparalleled user experience while enabling people to access the Internet under a brand that they identify with on a daily basis. We also feel that our advertisers will agree that the Capital One users are an attractive addition to our Spinway ad network."

OneRamp Free Internet Access is the first step to giving consumers easy access to services online. Consumers can register for the service by going to www.OneRamp.com. Spinway will provide free customer support 24 hours a day, everyday. In addition, Spinway ensures the quality of the consumers' online experience by protecting user privacy and downloading advertisements only when the consumer's Internet connection is inactive.

Headquartered in Falls Church, Virginia, Capital One Financial Corporation (www.CapitalOne.com) is a holding company whose principal subsidiaries, Capital One Bank and Capital One, F.S.B., offer consumer lending products. Capital One's subsidiaries collectively had 27.1 million accounts and $21.9 billion in managed loans outstanding as of June 30, 2000. Capital One is one of the major financial service providers on the Internet, with online account decisioning, real-time account numbering, online retail deposits and a growing number of customers serviced online. Capital One is a FORTUNE 500 company that trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "COF" and is included in the S&P 500 index.

Incorporated in January 1999 Spinway, Inc. (www.spinway.com) is enabling Internet advertising to live up to its potential as the most powerful medium in the advertising industry. Spinway is rapidly establishing its advertising network by partnering with offline brand-leaders to co-brand their free ISP services. In six months, Spinway has obtained over 3.5 million consumers while maintaining one of the lowest churn rates in the industry. Spinway offers advertisers a new approach to online advertising that uniquely targets consumers by demographics, psychographics, geographics, time-of-day and keywords. Spinway's proprietary advertising technology tracks advertising impressions and enables full motion video ads to run while consumers are connecting to the service without any performance impact. Spinway does not sell its subscribers' personal information to advertisers. A sampling of partners includes: BlueLight.com, Kmart's online presence (NSYE: KM); OurHouse.com, the Internet's premier destination for home solutions, partnered with Ace Hardware; NBCi (Nasdaq: NBCI), a branded global integrated media company; and Spiegel Catalog, Inc., the leading home-based retailer in women's apparel and home furnishings. SOURCE Capital One Financial Corporation

CONTACT: Dana Cilluffo of Capital One, 703-289-6811; or Susan Hense of Spinway Inc., 650-292-1627; or Amanda McNulty of PricePR, 650-829-5800/