Methods and Systems For Indicating a Payment in a Mobile Environment

• US 20080010192A1
• Filed: 07/06/2006
• Published: 01/10/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 07/06/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Firethorn Holdings LLC (Qualcomm, Inc.)
• Inventors: Cochran, Kyle Leighton, Porter, Warren Derek, Rackley III, Brady Lee, Rickman, Gregory Michael
• Granted Patent: US 8,145,568 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/39
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/042 characterized in that the payment protocol involves at least one cheque
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/223 based on the use of peer-to-peer networks
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3221 Access to banking information through M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3223 Realising banking transactions through M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/325 using wireless networks
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/326 Payment applications installed on the mobile devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing

Abstract

Methods and systems for indicating a mobile financial payment utilizing a mobile device such as a mobile telephone (cellphone) or wireless connected personal digital assistant (PDA). A mobile financial transaction system (MFTS) is coupled for wireless communications with a mobile device of a user and is also coupled for electronic communications with one or more payment instruction recipients that can make a payment to a payee in behalf of the user. The mobile device allows for selection of a pre-existing payee or entry of payee information. The user provides input at the mobile device selecting a payee for a payment and a payment source for the payment. A mobile payment instruction comprising information corresponding to the payment to make and a payment source for the payment is wirelessly communicated to the MFTS. The MFTS generates and communicates an MFTS payment instruction to a payment instruction recipient which includes information identifying a selected account at a financial service provider, an amount, and information corresponding to the identified payee. The payment instruction recipient then effects the payment to the identified payee.

Claims

1. A method for making a mobile financial payment using a mobile device connected for communications with a wireless network, comprising the steps of:

providing a mobile financial transaction system (MFTS) coupled for wireless communications with a mobile device of a user using a mobile communication service provider (MCSP), the MFTS coupled for electronic communications with one or more payment instruction recipients that can make a payment to a payee in behalf of the user, the MFTS including a mobile financial transaction system (MFTS) database for storing user information, payment to make information associated with the one or more payment instruction recipients and/or payees, and payment source information associated with at least one account associated with at least one financial service provider;

providing one or more selectable payees for selection by the user using the mobile device;

receiving user input at the user'"'"'s mobile device corresponding to selection of a payee for a payment to make and a payment source for making a payment;

in response to the user input at the user'"'"'s mobile device, generating a mobile payment instruction comprising information corresponding to the payment to make and a payment source for making the payment;

wirelessly communicating the mobile payment instruction from the user'"'"'s mobile device to the MFTS;

at the MFTS and in response to receipt of the mobile payment instruction, retrieving information from the MFTS database corresponding to an identified payee for receiving the payment indicated by the mobile payment instruction and information corresponding to the selected account at the selected financial service provider identified in the mobile payment instruction;

at the MFTS, generating a MFTS payment instruction to a payment instruction recipient, the MFTS payment instruction including at least information identifying the selected account at the selected financial service provider, an amount, and information corresponding to the identified payee; and

communicating the MFTS payment instruction from the MFTS to the selected payment instruction recipient;

whereby the payment instruction recipient, in response to receipt of the MFTS payment instruction, effects a payment to the identified payee.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more selectable payees comprises payees for which payment information has been pre-stored at the MFTS.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more selectable payees comprises payees to which a payment was previously made and for which payment information is already extant on the mobile device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the payment to make information comprises a bill, and the payee is a billing entity.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the payment instruction recipient is one of a financial service provider, a billing aggregator, or a separate billing entity.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the payment to make information is provided to the MFTS by an external source, is input by the user via an Internet-accessible web site accessible by the user for input of payment to make information and payee information, or is input by the user at the mobile device.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the external source for the payment to make information is one or more of a bill presentment system that provides bill information from a plurality of billing entities or an individual billing entity.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the payment to make information comprises information corresponding to one or more of the following:

a recurring bill, a bill from a billing aggregator, a bill from an individual billing company, a “

pay anyone”

payment.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of providing a Mobile Wallet application on the user'"'"'s mobile device.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the Mobile Wallet application provides a display on the mobile device of selectable commands including one or more of a View Bills command, a View Payment Sources command, and a Pay Bill(s) command.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the selection of a payment source for making a payment includes selection of a financial service provider and selection of a particular account associated with the selected financial service provider for making the payment.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the user input corresponding to selection of a payment source for making a payment is provided in response to display of a View Payment Sources command.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein user activation of the View Payment Sources command causes the MFTS to retrieve current account information from one or more financial service providers and communicate the current account information to the mobile device upon receipt of such information from the one or more financial service providers.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the identified payee corresponds to a billing entity that communicated bill information to the MFTS.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the MFTS database stores transaction information corresponding to a user'"'"'s financial transactions, the transaction information including the payment to make information in addition to other information utilized to track status of the payment to make.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the transaction information includes one or more of the following items of information:

a user ID number, a transaction identifier, a bill received date, a bill due date, an amount, a financial service provider identifier, an account identifier, a payee identifier, a pending/complete flag.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

communicating a payment confirmation message from the payment instruction recipient to the MFTS in response to completion of a predetermined stage in making the payment.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising the step of communicating a payment confirmation message to the mobile device in response to receipt of the payment confirmation message from the payment instruction recipient.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

at the user'"'"'s mobile device, receiving user input corresponding to selection of a payment method for making a payment; and

at the user'"'"'s mobile device in response to the user input, including information in the mobile payment instruction corresponding to the selected method for making the payment.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the selectable payment methods include:

a recipient-defined method, an ACH funds transfer, a paper check, and a stored value (SV) card.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the MFTS is further coupled for electronic communications with a user'"'"'s computer via a data communications network such as the Internet, and further comprising the steps of:

providing a web application in association with the MFTS;

receiving user information via the web application corresponding to financial service providers, accounts at financial service providers, and payees; and

storing the user information input via the web application in the MFTS database for use in connection with payments initiated via the user'"'"'s mobile device.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising the step of retrieving and displaying transaction information corresponding to transactions conducted via the user'"'"'s mobile device, via the web application, to a user via user'"'"'s computer.

23. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

storing a cached account balance in the mobile device representative of the balance in the at least one account as of a particular date;

receiving updated account balance information from the MFTS at the user mobile device; and

in response to receipt of updated account balance information from the MFTS, displaying updated account balance information corresponding to the account to the user via the mobile device.

24. A system for making a mobile financial payment using a mobile device connected for communications with a wireless network, comprising:

a user mobile device coupled for wireless communications with a mobile financial transaction system (MFTS), the mobile device providing one or more selectable payees for selection by the user using the mobile device, the mobile device operative for receiving user input corresponding to selection of a payee for a payment to make and a payment source for making a payment, the mobile device further operative for generating a mobile payment instruction comprising information corresponding to the payment to make and a payment source for making the payment and wirelessly communicating the mobile payment instruction to the MFTS;

a mobile financial transaction system (MFTS) database associated with the MFTS for storing user information, payment to make information associated with the one or more payees, and payment source information associated with at least one account associated with at least one financial service provider of a user;

a mobile financial transaction system (MFTS) computer system for maintaining the MFTS database and conducting electronic communications between entities involved in mobile financial payments; and

MFTS software operative on the MFTS computer system comprising program code for carrying out the computer-implemented steps of;

in response to receipt of a mobile payment instruction from a mobile device, retrieving information from the MFTS database corresponding to an identified payee for receiving the payment indicated in the mobile payment instruction and information corresponding to the selected account at the selected financial service provider identified in the payment instruction;

generating an MFTS payment instruction to a payment instruction recipient, the MFTS payment instruction including at least information identifying the selected account at the selected financial service provider, an amount, and information corresponding to the identified payee; and

communicating the MFTS payment instruction from the MFTS to the payment instruction recipient;

whereby the payment instruction recipient, in response to receipt of the MFTS payment instruction, makes a payment to the identified payee utilizing the selected account at the select financial service provider.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the one or more selectable payees comprises payees for which payment information has been pre-stored at the MFTS.

26. The system of claim 24, wherein the one or more selectable payees comprises payees to which a payment was previously made and for which payment information is already extant on the mobile device.

27. The system of claim 24, wherein the payment to make information comprises a bill, and the payee is a billing entity.

28. The system of claim 24, wherein the payment instruction recipient comprises a financial service provider, a billing aggregator, or a separate billing entity.

29. The system of claim 24, wherein the payment to make information is provided to the MFTS by an external source, is input by the user via an Internet-accessible web site accessible by the user for input of payment to make information and payee information, or is input by the user at the mobile device.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein the external source for the payment to make information is selected from the group comprising:

a bill presentment system that provides bill information from a plurality of billing entities or an individual billing entity.

31. The system of claim 24, wherein the payment to make information comprises information corresponding to one or more of the following:

a recurring bill, a bill from a billing aggregator, a bill from an individual billing company, a “

pay anyone”

payment.

32. The system of claim 24, wherein the MFTS provides a Mobile Wallet application for execution on the user'"'"'s mobile device.

33. The system of claim 32, wherein the Mobile Wallet application provides a display on the mobile device of selectable commands including one or more of a View Bills command, a View Payment Sources command, and a Pay Bill(s) command.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein the user input corresponding to selection of a payment source for making a payment is provided in response to display of a View Payment Sources command.

35. The system of claim 34, wherein the selection of a payment source for making a payment includes selection of a financial service provider and selection of a particular account associated with the selected financial service provider for making the payment.

36. The system of claim 33, wherein user activation of the View Payment Sources command causes the MFTS to retrieve current account information from one or more financial service providers and communicate the current account information to the mobile device upon receipt of such information from the one or more financial service providers.

37. The system of claim 24, wherein the identified payee corresponds to a billing entity that communicated bill information to the MFTS.

38. The system of claim 24, wherein the payment to make information communicated to the mobile device by the MFTS consists of a payee identifier, an amount, and a due date.

39. The system of claim 38, wherein the mobile device utilizes the payee identifier in the payment to make information and retrieves payee name information from a mobile device local memory corresponding to an identified payee and displays the payee name information to the user.

40. The system of claim 24, wherein the MFTS database stores transaction information corresponding to a user'"'"'s financial transactions, the transaction information stored including the payment to make information in addition to other information utilized to track status of the payment to make.

41. The system of claim 40, wherein the transaction information includes one or more of a user ID number, a transaction identifier, a bill received date, a bill due date, an amount, a financial service provider identifier, an account identifier, a payee identifier, a pending/complete flag.

42. The system of claim 24, further comprising receiving at the MFTS a payment confirmation message from the payment instruction recipient at a predetermined stage of completion of making the payment.

43. The system of claim 42, wherein the MFTS communicates a payment confirmation message to the mobile device in response to receipt of the payment confirmation message from the payment instruction recipient.

44. The system of claim 24, wherein the user'"'"'s mobile device receives user input corresponding to selection of a payment method for making a payment;

and

in response to the user input, the user'"'"'s mobile device includes information in the mobile payment instruction corresponding to the selected method for making the payment.

45. The system of claim 44, wherein the selectable payment methods include:

a recipient-defined method, an ACH funds transfer, a paper check, and a stored value (SV) card.

46. The system of claim 24, wherein the MFTS is further coupled for electronic communications with a user'"'"'s computer via a data communications network such as the Internet, and further comprising program code in the MFTS software comprising a web application operative for receiving user information corresponding to financial service providers, accounts at financial service providers, and payees;

and

wherein the MFTS is operative for storing the user information input via the web application in the MFTS database for use in connection with payments initiated via the user'"'"'s mobile device.

47. The system of claim 46, further comprising program code in the MFTS software for retrieving and displaying transaction information corresponding to transactions conducted via the user'"'"'s mobile device, via the web application, to a user via a user'"'"'s computer.

48. The system of claim 24, wherein the user mobile device stores a cached account balance in the mobile device representative of the balance in the at least one account as of a particular date;

wherein the mobile device receives updated account balance information for the account; and

wherein in response to receipt of updated account balance information, the mobile device displays updated account balance information corresponding to the account to the user.

49. A method for making a mobile financial payment using a mobile device connected for communications with a wireless network, comprising the steps of:

providing one or more selectable payees for selection by the user using the mobile device;

receiving user input at the user'"'"'s mobile device corresponding to selection of a payee for a payment to make and selection of a payment source for making a payment;

in response to the user input at the user'"'"'s mobile device, generating a mobile payment instruction comprising information corresponding to the payment to make and a payment source for making the payment; and

wirelessly communicating the mobile payment instruction from the user'"'"'s mobile device to a mobile financial transaction system (MFTS) that can effect a payment to the identified payee,

whereby in response to the mobile payment instruction the MFTS effects a payment to the identified payee.

50. The method of claim 49, further comprising the steps of:

displaying information corresponding to one or more selectable payment sources at the user'"'"'s mobile device, the one or more selectable payment sources comprising financial service providers at which the user maintains at least one account selectable for making a payment; and

receiving user selection of one of the selectable payment sources as the payment source for the payment.

51. The method of claim 50, wherein the information corresponding to one or more selectable payment sources displayed at the user'"'"'s mobile device comprises summarized payment source information.

52. The method of claim 49, wherein the payment to make information is provided to the MFTS by an external source, is input by the user via an Internet-accessible web site accessible by the user for input of payment to make information and payee information, or is input by the user at the mobile device.

53. The method of claim 52, wherein the external source for the payment to make information is selected from the group comprising:

a bill presentment system that provides bill information from a plurality of billing entities or an individual billing entity.

54. The method of claim 49, wherein the payment to make information comprises information corresponding to one or more of the following:

a recurring bill, a bill from a billing aggregator, a bill from an individual billing company, a “

pay anyone”

payment.

55. The method of claim 49, further comprising the step of providing a Mobile Wallet application on the user'"'"'s mobile device.

56. The method of claim 55, wherein the Mobile Wallet application provides a display on the mobile device of selectable commands including one or more of a View Bills command, a View Payment Sources command, and a Pay Bill(s) command.

57. The method of claim 56, wherein the user input corresponding to a payment source for making a payment is provided in response to display of a View Payment Sources command.

58. The method of claim 57, wherein the selection of a payment source for making a payment includes selection of a financial service provider and selection of a particular account associated with the selected financial service provider for making the payment.

59. The method of claim 56, wherein user activation of the View Payment Sources command causes the MFTS to retrieve current account information from one or more financial service providers and communicate the current account information to the mobile device upon receipt of such information from the one or more financial service providers.

60. The method of claim 49, wherein the identified payee corresponds to a billing entity that communicated bill information to the MFTS.

61. The method of claim 49, wherein the payment to make information communicated to the mobile device from the MFTS consists of a payee identifier, an amount, and a due date.

62. The method of claim 61, wherein the mobile device utilizes the payee identifier in the payment to make information and retrieves payee name information from a mobile device local memory corresponding to an identified payee and displays the payee name information to the user.

63. The method of claim 49, further comprising the step of receiving a payment confirmation message at the mobile device provided by the MFTS in response to receipt of a payment confirmation message from the payment instruction recipient at a predetermined stage of completion of making the payment.

64. The method of claim 49, further comprising the step of

receiving user input corresponding to selection of a payment method for making a payment;

and

in response to the user input, including information in the payment instruction corresponding to the selected method for making the payment.

65. The method of claim 64, wherein the selectable payment methods include:

a recipient-defined method, an ACH funds transfer, a paper check, and a stored value (SV) card.

66. The method of claim 49, further comprising the steps of:

storing a cached account balance in the mobile device representative of the balance in the at least one account as of a particular date;

receiving updated account balance information from the MFTS at the user mobile device; and

in response to receipt of updated account balance information from the MFTS, displaying updated account balance information corresponding to the account to the user via the mobile device.

67. A mobile device for making a mobile financial payment via a wireless network, comprising:

a mobile device connected for wireless communications via a mobile communication service provider to a mobile financial transaction system (MFTS), the mobile device including a display, user input means, a processor, and a memory;

mobile device software operative on the mobile device processor comprising program code for carrying out the computer-implemented steps of;

providing one or more selectable payees for selection by the user using the mobile device;

receiving user input at the user'"'"'s mobile device corresponding to a payee for a payment to make and a payment source for making a payment;

in response to the user input at the user'"'"'s mobile device, generating a mobile payment instruction comprising information corresponding to the payment to make and a payment source for making the payment; and

wirelessly communicating the mobile payment instruction from the user'"'"'s mobile device to the MFTS for effecting a payment to the identified payee.

68. The device of claim 67, wherein the mobile device software is further operative for:

displaying information corresponding to one or more selectable payment sources on the mobile device display, the one or more selectable payment sources comprising financial service providers at which the user maintains at least one account selectable for making a payment.

69. The device of claim 68, wherein the information corresponding to one or more selectable payment sources displayed at the user'"'"'s mobile device comprises summarized payment source information.

70. The device of claim 67, wherein the payment to make information is provided to the MFTS by an external source, is input by the user via an Internet-accessible web site accessible by the user for input of payment to make information and payee information, or is input by the user at the mobile device.

71. The device of claim 70, wherein the external source for the payment to make information is selected from the group comprising:

a bill presentment system that provides bill information from a plurality of billing entities or an individual billing entity.

72. The device of claim 67, wherein the payment to make information comprises information corresponding to one or more of the following:

a recurring bill, a bill from a billing aggregator, a bill from an individual billing company, a “

pay anyone”

payment.

73. The device of claim 67, wherein the mobile device software comprises a Mobile Wallet application.

74. The device of claim 73, wherein the Mobile Wallet application provides a display on the mobile device of selectable commands including one or more of a View Bills command, a View Payment Sources command, and a Pay Bill(s) command.

75. The device of claim 74, wherein the user input corresponding to a payment source for making a payment is provided in response to display of a View Payment Sources command.

76. The device of claim 75, wherein the indication of a payment source for making a payment includes selection of a financial service provider and selection of a particular account associated with the selected financial service provider for making the payment.

77. The device of claim 74, wherein user activation of the View Payment Sources command causes the MFTS to retrieve current account information from one or more financial service providers and communicate the current account information to the mobile device upon receipt of such information from the one or more financial service providers.

78. The device of claim 67, wherein the identified payee corresponds to a billing entity that communicated bill information to the MFTS.

79. The device of claim 67, wherein the payment to make information communicated to the mobile device from the MFTS consists of a payee identifier, an amount, and a due date.

80. The device of claim 79, wherein the mobile device utilizes the payee identifier in the payment to make information and retrieves payee name information from a mobile device local memory corresponding to an identified payee and displays the payee name information to the user.

81. The device of claim 67, wherein the mobile device software is further operative for receiving a payment confirmation message provided by the MFTS in response to receipt of a payment confirmation message from a payment instruction recipient at a predetermined stage of completion of making the payment.

82. The device of claim 67, wherein the mobile device software is further operative for:

receiving user input corresponding to selection of a payment method for making a payment; and

in response to the user input, including information in the payment instruction corresponding to the selected method for making the payment.

83. The device of claim 82, wherein the selectable payment methods include:

a recipient-defined method, an ACH funds transfer, a paper check, and a stored value (SV) card.

84. The device of claim 67, wherein the user mobile device stores a cached account balance in the mobile device representative of the balance in the at least one account as of a particular date;

wherein the mobile device receives updated account balance information for the account; and

wherein in response to receipt of updated account balance information, the mobile device displays updated account balance information corresponding to the account to the user.

85. A computer-implemented method for a mobile financial transaction system (MFTS) to facilitate a mobile financial payment initiated by a mobile device connected for communications with a wireless network, comprising the steps of:

providing a mobile financial transaction system (MFTS) database for storing user information, payment to make information, and payment source information associated with at least one account associated with at least one financial service provider;

receiving a mobile payment instruction communicated from a user'"'"'s mobile device, the mobile payment instruction comprising information corresponding to a user'"'"'s payment to make and a payment source for making a payment corresponding to the selected payment to make;

in response to receipt of the mobile payment instruction, retrieving information from the MFTS database corresponding to an identified payee for receiving the payment indicated by the payment instruction and information corresponding to a payment instruction recipient for making the payment;

generating a MFTS payment instruction to the payment instruction recipient, the MFTS payment instruction including at least information identifying the payment source, an amount, and information corresponding to the identified payee; and

communicating the MFTS payment instruction to the payment instruction recipient for effecting the payment.

86. The method of claim 85, wherein the payment to make information comprises a bill, and the payee is a billing entity.

87. The method of claim 85, wherein the payment instruction recipient is one of a financial service provider, a billing aggregator, or a separate billing entity.

88. The method of claim 85, wherein the payment to make information is provided to the MFTS by an external source, is input by the user via an Internet-accessible web site accessible by the user for input of payment to make information and payee information, or is input by the user at the mobile device.

89. The method of claim 88, wherein the external source for the payment to make information is one of a bill presentment system that provides bill information from a plurality of billing entities or a single billing entity.

90. The method of claim 85, wherein the payment to make information comprises information corresponding to one or more of the following:

a recurring bill, a bill from a billing aggregator, a bill from an individual billing company, a “

pay anyone”

payment.

91. The method of claim 85, further comprising the step of communicating a message to a user'"'"'s mobile device in response to receipt of bill information from a billing entity.

92. The method of claim 85, further comprising the step of providing a downloadable Mobile Wallet application for a user'"'"'s mobile device to facilitate communications between mobile devices and the MFTS.

93. The method of claim 92, wherein the Mobile Wallet application provides a display on a mobile device of selectable commands including one or more of a View Bills command, a View Payment Sources command, and a Pay Bill(s) command.

94. The method of claim 93, further comprising the steps of retrieving current account information from one or more financial service providers and communicating the current account information to the mobile device upon receipt of such information from the one or more financial service providers in response to user activation of the View Payment Sources command at the mobile device.

95. The method of claim 85, wherein the identified payee corresponds to a billing entity that communicated bill information to the MFTS.

96. The method of claim 85, further comprising the step of communicating payment to make information to the mobile device consisting of a payee identifier, an amount, and a due date.

97. The method of claim 85, wherein the MFTS database stores transaction information corresponding to a user'"'"'s mobile financial transactions, the transaction information including the payment to make information in addition to other information utilized to track status of the payment to make.

98. The method of claim 97, wherein the transaction information includes one or more of the following items of information:

a user ID number, a transaction identifier, a bill received date, a bill due date, an amount, a financial service provider identifier, an account identifier, a payee identifier, a pending/complete flag.

99. The method of claim 85, further comprising the step of receiving a payment confirmation message from the payment instruction recipient at a predetermined stage in making the payment.

100. The method of claim 99, further comprising the step of communicating a payment confirmation message to the mobile device in response to receipt of the payment confirmation message from the payment instruction recipient.

101. The method of claim 85, further comprising the steps of receiving information from the user'"'"'s mobile device corresponding to selection of a payment method for making a payment, and providing information corresponding to the selected payment method to the payment instruction recipient.

102. The method of claim 101, wherein the selectable payment methods include:

a recipient-defined method, an ACH funds transfer, a paper check, and a stored value (SV) card.

103. The method of claim 85, wherein the MFTS is coupled for electronic communications with a user'"'"'s computer via a data communications network such as the Internet, and further comprising the steps of:

providing a web application in association with the MFTS;

receiving user information via the web application corresponding to financial service providers, accounts at financial service providers, and payees; and

storing the user information input via the web application in the MFTS database for use in connection with payments initiated via the user'"'"'s mobile device.

104. The method of claim 103, further comprising the step of retrieving and displaying transaction information corresponding to transactions conducted via the user'"'"'s mobile device, via the web application, to a user via a user'"'"'s computer.

105. The method of claim 85, further comprising the steps of:

communicating with the financial service provider to obtain updated account balance information for the account; and

wirelessly communicating updated account balance information from the MFTS to the user mobile device;

whereby in response to receipt of updated account balance information from the MFTS, the user mobile device displays updated account balance information corresponding to the account to the user.

106. A mobile financial transaction system (MFTS) for facilitating a mobile financial payment initiated by a user mobile device connected for communications with a wireless network, comprising the steps of:

a mobile financial transaction system (MFTS) database for storing user information, payment to make information associated with one or more payees, and payment source information associated with a mobile device user;

a mobile financial transaction system (MFTS) computer system for maintaining the MFTS database and conducting electronic communications between entities involved in mobile financial payments; and

MFTS software operative on the MFTS computer system comprising program code for carrying out the computer-implemented steps of;

receiving a mobile payment instruction communicated from the user mobile device, the mobile payment instruction comprising information corresponding to a payment to make and a payment source for making a payment;

in response to receipt of the mobile payment instruction, retrieving information from the MFTS database corresponding to an identified payee for receiving the payment and information corresponding to a payment source;

generating an MFTS payment instruction to a payment instruction recipient, the MFTS payment instruction including at least information identifying the payment source, an amount, and information corresponding to the identified payee; and

communicating the MFTS payment instruction to the payment instruction recipient,

whereby in response to the MFTS payment instruction the payment instruction recipient effects a payment to the identified payee.

107. The system of claim 106, wherein the payment to make information comprises a bill, and the payee is a billing entity.

108. The system of claim 106, wherein the payment instruction recipient comprises a financial service provider, a billing aggregator, or a separate billing entity.

109. The system of claim 106, wherein the payment to make information is provided to the MFTS by an external source, is input by the user via an Internet-accessible web site accessible by the user for input of payment to make information and payee information, or is input by the user at the mobile device.

110. The system of claim 109, wherein the external source for the payment to make information is one or more of a bill presentment system that provides bill information from a plurality of billing entities or an individual billing entity.

111. The system of claim 106, wherein the payment to make information comprises information corresponding to one or more of the following:

a recurring bill, a bill from a billing aggregator, a bill from an individual billing company, a “

pay anyone”

payment.

112. The system of claim 106, wherein the MFTS software is further operative for communicating a message to a user'"'"'s mobile device in response to receipt of bill information from a billing entity.

113. The system of claim 106, wherein the MFTS software is further operative for providing a downloadable Mobile Wallet application to a user mobile device to facilitate communications between mobile devices and the MFTS.

114. The system of claim 113, wherein the Mobile Wallet application provides a display on a mobile device of selectable commands including one or more of a View Bills command, a View Payment Sources command, and a Pay Bill(s) command.

115. The system of claim 113, wherein the MFTS software is further operative for retrieving current account information from one or more financial service providers and communicating the current account information to the mobile device upon receipt of such information from the one or more financial service providers in response to user activation of the View Payment Sources command at the mobile device.

116. The system of claim 106, wherein the identified payee corresponds to a billing entity that communicated bill information to the MFTS.

117. The system of claim 106, wherein the MFTS software is further operative for communicating payment to make information to the mobile device, wherein the payment to make information communicated to the mobile device consists of a payee identifier, an amount, and a due date.

118. The system of claim 106, wherein the MFTS database stores transaction information corresponding to a user'"'"'s mobile financial transactions, the transaction information including the payment to make information in addition to other information utilized to track status of the payment to make.

119. The system of claim 118, wherein the transaction information includes one or more of the following items of information:

a user ID number, a transaction identifier, a bill received date, a bill due date, an amount, a financial service provider identifier, an account identifier, a payee identifier, a pending/complete flag.

120. The system of claim 106, wherein the MFTS software is further operative for receiving a payment confirmation message from the payment instruction recipient at a predetermined stage in making the payment.

121. The system of claim 120, wherein the MFTS software is further operative for communicating a payment confirmation message to the mobile device in response to receipt of the payment confirmation message from the payment instruction recipient.

122. The system of claim 106, wherein the MFTS software is further operative for receiving information from the user'"'"'s mobile device corresponding to selection of a payment method for making a payment, and providing information corresponding to the selected payment method to the payment instruction recipient.

123. The system of claim 122, wherein the selectable payment methods include:

a recipient-defined method, an ACH funds transfer, a paper check, and a stored value (SV) card.

124. The system of claim 106, wherein the MFTS is coupled for electronic communications with a user'"'"'s computer via a data communications network such as the Internet, and further comprising the computer-implemented steps of:

providing a web application in association with the MFTS;

receiving user information via the web application corresponding to financial service providers, accounts at financial service providers, and payees; and

storing the user information input via the web application in the MFTS database for use in connection with payments initiated via the user'"'"'s mobile device.

125. The system of claim 124, wherein the MFTS software is further operative for retrieving and displaying transaction information corresponding to transactions conducted via the user'"'"'s mobile device, via the web application, to a user via a user'"'"'s computer.

126. The system of claim 106, wherein the MFTS communicates with the financial service provider to obtain updated account balance information for the account;

wherein the MFTS wirelessly communicates updated account balance information from the MFTS to the user'"'"'s mobile device; and

whereby in response to receipt of updated account balance information from the MFTS, the mobile device displays updated account balance information corresponding to the account to the user.