Money transfer service with authentication

• US 20060006224A1
• Filed: 08/26/2004
• Published: 01/12/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 07/06/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Visa International Service Association (Visa, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Visa International Service Association (Visa, Inc.)
• Inventors: Modi, Vikram
• Granted Patent: US 8,016,185 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/379
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/02 involving a neutral party, e.g. certification authority, notary or trusted third party [TTP]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/027 involving a payment switch or gateway
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/04 Payment circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/0855 involving a third party
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/108 Remote banking, e.g. home banking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/40 Authorisation, e.g. identification of payer or payee, verification of customer or shop credentials; Review and approval of payers, e.g. check credit lines or negative lists

Abstract

A bank (or merchant) hosts and operates an online money transfer service (or “portal”). A sender logs into the portal and enters payment card and money transfer details and then submits the transaction. An authentication window appears displaying the sender'"'"'s transaction details and the sender is prompted to enter his or her password. Upon successful authentication, the bank seeks authorization from the card issuer. Upon successful authorization, the bank credits the recipient'"'"'s local bank account or existing payment card. The recipient can also receive a check, a draft, a prepaid card or cash. The money transfer service is used both cross-border and domestic to effect person-to-person money transfer. The money transfer service uses the “Verified by Visa” authentication service and VisaNet for authorization. Messages over VisaNet are used to deliver funds to a recipient.

Claims

1. A method of transferring money comprising:

receiving account information for a payment card of a sender via a network portal, said payment card being issued by an issuer;

receiving an indication of an amount to be transferred and a preferred receipt method for a recipient via said network portal;

authenticating said sender using said network portal by verifying information held by said issuer;

authorizing said amount to be transferred;

transferring said amount to said recipient via said preferred receipt method, whereby said sender transfers said amount to said recipient.

2. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein said preferred receipt method is a bank account of said recipient, a check from said recipient'"'"'s bank, a draft from said recipient'"'"'s bank, a prepaid card or cash.

3. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein said authenticating further includes:

prompting said sender to input into a computing device attached to said network a password, an authentication token or biometric information; and

confirming that said input password, authentication token or biometric information matches with a known password, authentication token or biometric information of said sender that is held by said issuer.

4. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein said payment card is issued by an issuer bank of said sender and wherein said transferring is performed by a service provider bank, said method further comprising:

clearing and settling the transaction between said issuer bank and said service provider bank.

5. A method as recited in claim 4 further comprising;

said issuer bank billing said sender for said amount transferred plus a transaction fee.

6. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein said network portal is a web site of the Internet operated by a portal operator.

7. A method as recited in claim 6 wherein said portal operator is a service provider bank or a merchant.

8. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein transferring said amount further includes:

transferring said amount to said recipient immediately upon occurrence of said authentication and said authorization.

9. A system for transferring money comprising:

a sender'"'"'s issuing bank;

a sender having a payment card issued by said issuing bank;

a recipient;

an online money transfer portal operated by a portal operator, said money transfer portal accessible to said sender and arranged to receive payment card details and money transfer details from said sender;

an online authentication service linked to said money transfer portal, said authentication service arranged to authenticate said sender using information held by said issuing bank;

a financial services network linked to said money transfer portal, said network implementing an authorization service that authorizes said money transfer; and

a service provider bank linked to said money transfer portal, said service provider bank arranged to transfer an amount of money to said recipient and to settle with said sender'"'"'s issuing bank, whereby said sender transfers money to said recipient.

10. A system as recited in claim 9 wherein said service provider bank transfers said amount of money to said recipient via a bank account of said recipient, via a check, via a draft, via a prepaid card or via cash.

11. A system as recited in claim 9 wherein said authentication service authenticates said sender by requesting a valid password, a valid authentication token, or valid biometric information that is also held by said issuing bank.

12. A system as recited in claim 9 wherein said sender'"'"'s issuer bank bills said sender for the amount transferred plus a transaction fee.

13. A system as recited in claim 9 wherein said online money transfer portal is a web site of the Internet.

14. A system as recited in claim 9 wherein said portal operator is a service provider bank or a merchant.

15. A system as recited in claim 9 wherein said service provider bank is arranged to transfer said amount to said recipient immediately upon occurrence of authentication and authorization.

16. A method of transferring money comprising:

receiving account information for a payment card of a sender via a network portal, said payment card being issued by an issuer;

receiving an indication of an amount to be transferred and account information for a payment card of a recipient via said network portal;

authenticating said sender using said network portal by verifying information held by said issuer;

authorizing said amount to be transferred;

transferring said amount to said payment card of said recipient, whereby said sender transfers said amount to said recipient.

17. A method as recited in claim 16 wherein said transferring said amount further includes:

sending a message to an issuer bank of said recipient to effect said transferring of said amount to said payment card of said recipient.

18. A method as recited in claim 16 wherein said authenticating further includes:

prompting said sender to input into a computing device attached to said network a password, an authentication token or biometric information;

confirming that said input password, authentication token or biometric information matches with a known password, authentication token or biometric information of said sender that is held by said issuer.

19. A method as recited in claim 16 wherein said payment card is issued by an issuer bank of said sender and wherein said transferring is performed by a service provider bank, said method further comprising:

clearing and settling the transaction between said issuer bank and said service provider bank.

20. A method as recited in claim 19 further comprising:

said issuer bank billing said sender for said amount transferred plus a transaction fee.

21. A method as recited in claim 16 wherein said network portal is a web site of the Internet operated by a portal operator.

22. A method as recited in claim 21 wherein said portal operator is a service provider bank or a merchant.

23. A system for transferring money comprising:

a sender having a payment card issued by a sender'"'"'s issuing bank;

a recipient having a payment card issued by a recipient'"'"'s issuing bank;

an online money transfer portal operated by a portal operator, said money transfer portal accessible to said sender and arranged to receive payment card details and money transfer details from said sender;

an online authentication service linked to said money transfer portal, said authentication service arranged to authenticate said sender using information held by said issuing bank;

a financial services network linked to said money transfer portal, said network implementing an authorization service that authorizes said money transfer; and

a service provider bank linked to said money transfer portal, said service provider bank arranged to transfer an amount of money to said recipient'"'"'s payment card and to settle with said sender'"'"'s issuing bank, whereby said sender transfers money to said recipient.

24. A system as recited in claim 23 wherein said service provider bank transfers said amount of money to said recipient'"'"'s payment card via a message over said financial services network.

25. A system as recited in claim 23 wherein said authentication service authenticates said sender by requesting a valid password, a valid authentication token, or valid biometric information that is also held by said issuing bank.

26. A system as recited in claim 23 wherein said sender'"'"'s issuer bank bills said sender for the amount transferred plus a transaction fee.

27. A system as recited in claim 23 wherein said online money transfer portal is a web site of the Internet.

28. A system as recited in claim 23 wherein said portal operator is a service provider bank or a merchant.