ELECTRONIC BILL PAYMENT PROCESSING BASED ON PAYOR SCHEDULED DEBITS

• US 20140279460A1
• Filed: 08/30/2013
• Published: 09/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2013
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Fiserv Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Fiserv Incorporated
• Inventors: Lawson, Mary Elizabeth, Weiss, Todd A., Miller, Eric Anthony
• Application Number:
  US14/015,541
• Publication Number:
  US 20140279460A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/40
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/26 Debit schemes, e.g. "pay now"

Abstract

Systems, methods, and computer-readable media are disclosed for facilitating enrollment of a payor for payor-scheduled-debit (PSD) payment processing according to which the payor may select various payment parameters such as a debit date on which debits will be posted to one or more financial accounts associated with the payor for payments made to one or more payees. A payor may be provided with the capability to schedule debits associated with payments made to one or more payees by a selecting a single debit date that precedes and/or follows various dates on which the one or more payees are credited.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

one or more datastores;

one or more network interfaces;

at least one memory storing computer-executable instructions; and

at least one processor communicatively coupled to the one or more network interfaces and the at least one memory and configured to access the at least one memory and execute the computer-executable instructions to;

receive, via a first at least one network interface of the one or more network interfaces and on behalf of a payor, a request to enroll the payor in payor-scheduled-debit (PSD) payment processing;

direct a second at least one network interface to transmit, for presentation to the payor, information identifying one or more selectable payment parameters for association with an enrollment of the payor in the PSD payment processing;

receive, via a third at least one network interface, one or more payment parameter selections corresponding to the one or more selectable payment parameters, wherein the one or more payment parameter selections comprise information indicative of a debit date for debiting one or more financial accounts associated with the payor;

determine, based at least in part on the one or more payment parameter selections, a set of one or more candidate payees;

direct a fourth at least one network interface to transmit, for presentation to the payor, information identifying the set of one or more candidate payees;

receive, via a fifth at least one network interface and on behalf of the payor, a selection of at least one candidate payee from the set of one or more candidate payees;

generate, based at least in part on the debit date and the selection of the at least one candidate payee, a proposed PSD payment schedule;

direct a sixth at least one network interface to transmit, for presentation to the user, information identifying the proposed PSD payment schedule;

receive, via a seventh at least one network interface, a response indicating approval of the proposed PSD payment schedule; and

generate a PSD payment schedule based at least in part on the proposed PSD payment schedule and responsive to receiving the response indicating approval of the proposed PSD payment schedule, wherein generating the PSD payment schedule comprises storing, by the computerized payment system in at least one datastore of the one or more datastores, information identifying the one or more payment parameter selections in association with an identifier associated with the payor.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one datastore is a first at least one datastore, and wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to:

store, in a second at least one datastore of the one or more datastores and in association with a respective identifier associated with each of the at least one candidate payee, an identifier associated with the PSD payment schedule indicating that one or more payments from the payor to each of the at least one candidate payee are to be processed in accordance with the PSD payment schedule.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to:

analyze, responsive to receipt of the request to enroll the payor in payor-scheduled-debit (PSD) payment processing, payment history information associated with the payor; and

determine, based at least in part on an analysis of the payment history information and prior to directing the second at least one network interface to transmit the information identifying one or more selectable payment parameters, that one or more eligibility conditions for enrollment of the payor in the PSD payment processing are satisfied.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the one or more eligibility conditions comprise at least one of:

i) enrollment of the payor with a payment service provided by the computerized payment system for a minimum number of months,

ii) a number of successful posted payments by the payor meeting or exceeding a corresponding first threshold;

iii) a number of failure incidents associated with payments made by the payor over a specified period of time meeting or being less than a corresponding second threshold,

iv) funds in one or more financial accounts associated with the payor meeting or exceeding a corresponding third threshold, or

vi) satisfaction of one or more constraints associated with the PSD payment processing and specified by a financial institution sponsor associated with the payor.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more payment parameter selections further comprise at least one of:

i) a selection of a start date for a billing period to associate with the PSD payment schedule,

ii) a selection of a duration of the billing period, or

iii) one or more overage funding accounts.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein, to determine the set of one or more candidate payees, the at least one processor is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to determine that each candidate payee of the set of one or more candidate payees satisfies one or more candidacy criteria.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein, to determine that each candidate payee satisfies one or more candidacy criteria, the at least one processor is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to at least one of:

i) determine that payments are received from the payor for each candidate payee based on a respective recurring payment model,

ii) determine that electronic billing has been activated for each candidate payee, or

iii) determine that a threshold number of months of respective payment history information for the payor is available for each candidate payee.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the at least one processor is configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to determine that a threshold number of months of respective payment history information for the payor is available for each candidate payee, and wherein, to determine that each candidate payee satisfies one or more candidacy criteria, the at least one processor is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to determine, based at least in part on the respective payment history information for each candidate payee, at least one of:

i) that the payor made at least one payment to each candidate payee per month,

ii) that each of the at least one payment to each candidate payee is within a threshold number of days from a respective date each month for each candidate payee, or

iii) that a respective difference between a respective payment amount for each of the at least one payment and a fixed amount is within a threshold value.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the set of one or more candidate payees comprises a second set of candidate payees, and wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to:

determine, based at least in part on the one or more payment parameter selections, a first set of candidate payees; and

eliminate, a candidate payee from the first set of candidate payees based at least in part on one or more elimination rules to generate the second set of payees.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein, to eliminate the candidate payee from the first set of candidate payees based at least in part on the one or more elimination rules, the at least one processor is configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to at least one of:

i) determine that the candidate payee corresponds to the payor,

ii) determine that the candidate payee is associated with a same address as the payor,

iii) determine that the candidate payee has a same last name as the payor,

iv) determine that the candidate payee is a non-electronic payee,

v) determine that the candidate payee is a non-reversible payee, or

vi) determine that the candidate payee is associated with a prohibited category.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to:

identify payment history information associated with the payor and one or more risk criteria for assessing a risk associated with the payor;

perform risk processing based at least in part on the payment history information and the one or more risk criteria to determine the risk associated with the payor;

determine that the risk associated with the payor is acceptable based at least in part on the risk processing; and

determine that the payor is eligible for enrollment in the PSD payment processing based at least in part on determining that the risk associated with the payor is acceptable.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to:

identify one or more risk mitigating factors that mitigate the risk associated with the payor; and

perform the risk processing further based at least in part on the one or more risk mitigating factors.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the one or more risk mitigating factors comprise at least one of:

i) one or more attributes associated with a candidate payee of the set of one or more candidate payees,

iv) a type of account specified by the payor for overage funds transfers,

v) whether the payor has activated electronic billing for the candidate payee,

vi) whether the payor has established a recurring payment model or autopay schedule for the candidate payee, or

vii) past payment behavior of the payor for the candidate payee.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein, to generate the proposed PSD payment schedule, the at least one processor is configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to:

generate pricing information based at least in part on the risk associated with the payor; and

associate the pricing information with the proposed PSD payment schedule.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein at least two of the of the first at least one network interface, the second at least one network interface, the third at least one network interface, the fourth at least one network interface, the fifth at least one network interface, the sixth at least one network interface, or the seventh at least one network interface are a same network interface.

16. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a computerized payment system comprising one or more computers and on behalf of a payor, a request to enroll the payor in payor-scheduled-debit (PSD) payment processing;

transmitting, by the computerized payment system for presentation to the payor, information identifying one or more selectable payment parameters for association with an enrollment of the payor in the PSD payment processing;

receiving, by the computerized payment system, one or more payment parameter selections corresponding to the one or more selectable payment parameters, wherein the one or more payment parameter selections comprise information indicative of a debit date for debiting one or more financial accounts associated with the payor;

determining, by the computerized payment system and based at least in part on the one or more payment parameter selections, a set of one or more candidate payees;

transmitting, by the computerized payment system for presentation to the payor, information identifying the set of one or more candidate payees;

receiving, by the computerized payment system on behalf of the payor, a selection of at least one candidate payee from the set of one or more candidate payees;

generating, by the computerized payment system and based at least in part on the debit date and the selection of the at least one candidate payee, a proposed PSD payment schedule;

transmitting, by the computerized payment system for presentation to the user, information identifying the proposed PSD payment schedule;

receiving, by the computerized payment system on behalf of the payor, a response indicating approval of the proposed PSD payment schedule; and

generating, by the computerized payment system, a PSD payment schedule based at least in part on the proposed PSD payment schedule and responsive to receiving the response indicating approval of the proposed PSD payment schedule, wherein generating the PSD payment schedule comprises storing, by the computerized payment system in at least one datastore, information identifying the one or more payment parameter selections in association with an identifier associated with the payor.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the at least one datastore is a first at least one datastore, the method further comprising:

storing, by the computerized payment system in a second at least one datastore and in association with a respective identifier associated with each of the at least one candidate payee, an identifier associated with the PSD payment schedule indicating that one or more payments from the payor to each of the at least one candidate payee are to be processed in accordance with the PSD payment schedule.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

analyzing, by the computerized payment system and responsive to receiving the request to enroll the payor in payor-scheduled-debit (PSD) payment processing, payment history information associated with the payor; and

determining, by the computerized payment system based at least in part on the analyzing and prior to transmitting the information identifying one or more selectable payment parameters, that one or more eligibility conditions for enrollment of the payor in the PSD payment processing are satisfied based at least in part on the analyzing.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the one or more payment parameter selections further comprise at least one of:

i) a selection of a start date for a billing period to associate with the PSD payment schedule,

ii) a selection of a duration of the billing period, or

iii) one or more overage funding accounts.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein determining the set of one or more candidate payees comprises determining that each candidate payee of the set of one or more candidate payees satisfies one or more candidacy criteria.

21. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

identifying, by the computerized payment system, payment history information associated with the payor and one or more risk criteria for assessing a risk associated with the payor;

performing, by the computerized payment system, risk processing based at least in part on the payment history information and the one or more risk criteria to determine the risk associated with the payor;

determining, by the computerized payment system, that the risk associated with the payor is acceptable based at least in part on the risk processing; and

determining, by the computerized payment system, that the payor is eligible for enrollment in the PSD payment processing based at least in part on determining that the risk associated with the payor is acceptable.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein generating the proposed PSD payment schedule comprises:

generating, by the computerized payment system, pricing information based at least in part on the risk associated with the payor; and

associating, by the computerized payment system, the pricing information with the proposed PSD payment schedule.