Methods and systems for the determination and display of payment lead time in an electronic payment system

• US 7,702,585 B2
• Filed: 11/30/2006
• Issued: 04/20/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Checkfree Services Corporation (Fiserv Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Checkfree Corporation (Fiserv Incorporated)
• Inventors: Herdklotz, Timothy, Hobday, Donald Kenneth Jr., Lyda, Paul J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kazimi; Hani
• Assistant Examiner(s): Fu; Hao
• Application Number:
  US11/565,322
• Publication Number:
  US 20080133405A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,237 Days
• Field of Search: 705/39, 705/40, 705/42
• US Class Current: 705/40
• 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 20/40 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting

Abstract

A system and method for determining and displaying a payment lead time or expected payment delivery time in an electronic payment system is disclosed. A payee associated with a payor is identified. Prior to receiving a payment request to pay the payee on behalf of the payor, an expected payment delivery time for a payment to fulfill the payment request is determined. The expected payment delivery time is based on at least one payment attribute associated with the payee and at least one payment attribute associated with the payor. An interface screen is then generated for displaying the determined expected payment delivery time.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

identifying, by a service provider, a payee associated with a payor, wherein the payee is capable of receiving both a paper payment type and an electronic payment type, and wherein a payment type for a payment to the payee on behalf of the payor is not determined until after a payment request associated with the payment is received;

determining, by the service provider prior to receiving the payment request, an expected payment delivery time for the payment based on a plurality of payment attributes comprising at least one payment attribute associated with the payee and at least one payment attribute associated with the payor, wherein the at least one payment attribute associated with the payor comprises at least one of an attribute associated with past payments of the payor or a special status associated with the payor, and

transmitting, by the service provider for presentation to the payor, an indicator associated with the determined expected payment delivery time,

wherein the above steps are performed by one or more computers associated with the service provider.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting the expected payment delivery time to the payor comprises transmitting the expected payment delivery time to the payor as part of a graphical user interface.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one payment attribute associated with the payee includes at least one of (i) an electronic payment acceptance status of the payee, (ii) a reversibility ceiling of the payee, (iii) a rate of electronic payment failures to the payee, (iv) an average payment amount of payments to the payee, (v) a statistical function of payments made to the payee, (vi) a payment history associated with the payee, or (vii) a status of the payee.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one payment attribute associated with the payor further includes at least one of (i) an electronic payment status of the payor for the payee, (ii) a rate of electronic payment failures of the payor, (iii) the average payment amount of payments made by the payor, (iv) a statistical function of payments made by the payor, or (v) a history of a payments made on behalf of the payor by the service provider.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the determination of the expected payment delivery time is further based on at least one payment attribute associated with the service provider, wherein the service provider is configured to submit a payment to the payee on behalf of the payor.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the at least one payment attribute associated with the service provider comprises a rate of electronic payment failures of payments made by the service provider for a predefined scope.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the predefined scope includes one of all the payments made by the service provider during a predefined period of time or the payments made by the service provider to the payee during a predefined period of time.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the expected payment delivery time is associated with a predicted payment type.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the predicted payment type is one of an electronic payment or a paper payment.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the payment request from the payor to remit the payment to the payee on behalf of the payor;

determining, based on at least one condition, whether to perform at least one of (i) fulfilling the payment request via an electronic payment to the payee, (ii) fulfilling the payment request via a paper payment to the payee, or (iii) performing additional risk processing on the payment request in order to determine a payment type; and

completing processing of the payment request in accordance with the determination.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the at least one condition is one of (i) an electronic payment acceptance status of the payee, (ii) a determination of whether a time until the due date of the payment is within a predetermined time window, (iii) a determination of whether a previous payment has been submitted to the payee on behalf of the pay or, (iv) a determination of whether a last payment submitted to the payee on behalf of the pay or was an electronic payment, (v) a determination of whether the payor has a negative history, or (vi) a determination of whether a reversibility ceiling associated with the payee has been exceeded.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the predetermined time window is an expected delivery time for a paper payment to reach the payee.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein it is determined that the payment request is to be fulfilled via a paper payment to the payee, and completing processing of the payment request comprises:

submitting a draft payment to the payee on behalf of the payor.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein it is determined that the payment request is to be fulfilled via a paper payment to the payee, and completing processing of the payment request comprises:

determining that the time until the due date of the payment is less than a paper payment delivery time; and

selecting one of (i) abandoning the payment request or (ii) submitting a paper payment to the payee on behalf of the payor.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the selection is based on a choice made by the payor.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein it is determined that additional risk processing is to be performed on the payment request, and completing processing of the payment request comprises:

performing a risk analysis on the payment request;

determining, based at least in part on the risk analysis, whether the payment request will be fulfilled via an electronic payment or a paper payment;

submitting an electronic payment to the payee on behalf of the payor if it is determined that the payment request will be fulfilled via an electronic payment; and

submitting a paper payment to the payee on behalf of the payor if it is determined that the payment request will be fulfilled via a paper payment.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein performing a risk analysis on the payment request comprises analyzing at least one of (i) a status of the payor, or (ii) an amount associated with the payment request.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying a payee associated with a payor comprises:

receiving billing information associated with a bill from a biller for the payor; and

identifying the payee based at least in part on the received billing information.

19. A system comprising:

a processor configured (i) to determine, prior to receiving a payment request to pay a payee on behalf of a payor, an expected payment delivery time for the payment request based on a plurality of payment attributes comprising at least one payment attribute associated with the payee and at least one payment attribute associated with the payor, wherein the at least one payment attribute associated with the payor comprises at least one of an attribute associated with past payments of the payor or a special status associated with the payor, wherein the payee is capable of receiving both a paper payment type and an electronic payment type, and wherein a payment type for a payment to the payee is not determined until after the payment request is received; and

a network interface configured to transmit an indicator associated with the expected payment delivery time to the payor.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the at least one payment attribute associated with the payee includes at least one of (i) an electronic payment acceptance status of the payee, (ii) a reversibility ceiling of the payee, (iii) a rate of electronic payment failures to the payee, (iv) an average payment amount of payments to the payee, (v) a statistical function of payments made to the payee, (vi) a payment history associated with the payee, or (vii) a status of the payee.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein the at least one payment attribute associated with the payor further includes at least one of (i) an electronic payment status of the payor for the payee, (ii) a rate of electronic payment failures of the payor, (iii) the average payment amount of payments made by the payor, (iv) a statistical function of payments made by the payor, or (v) a history of payments made on behalf of the payor by a payment service provider.

22. The system of claim 19, wherein the processor is associated with a payment service provider and the determination of the expected payment delivery time is further based on at least one payment attribute associated with the payment service provider.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the at least one payment attribute associated with the payment service provider comprises a rate of electronic payment failures of payments made by the payment service provider for a predefined scope.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the predefined scope includes one of all the payments made by the payment service provider during a predefined period of time or the payments made by the payment service provider to the payee during a predefined period of time.

25. The system of claim 19, wherein the expected payment delivery time is associated with a predicted payment type.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the predicted payment type is one of an electronic payment or a paper payment.

27. The system of claim 19, wherein the processor is further configured to:

receive the payment request from the payor to remit the payment to the payee on behalf of the payor;

determine, based on at least one condition, whether to (i) fulfill the payment request via an electronic payment to the payee, (ii) fulfill the payment request via a paper payment to the payee, or (iii) perform additional risk processing on the payment request in order to determine a payment type; and

complete processing of the payment request in accordance with the determination.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the at least one condition is one of (i) an electronic payment acceptance status of the payee, (ii) a determination of whether a time until the due date of the payment is within a predetermined time window, (iii) a determination of whether a previous payment has been submitted to the payee on behalf of the payor, (iv) a determination of whether a last payment submitted to the payee on behalf of the payor was an electronic payment, (v) a determination of whether the payor has a negative history, or (vi) a determination of whether a reversibility ceiling associated with the payee has been exceeded.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein the predetermined time window is an expected delivery time for a paper payment to reach the payee.

30. The system of claim 27, wherein it is determined that the payment request is to be fulfilled via a paper payment to the payee, and the processor completes processing of the payment by submitting a draft payment to the payee on behalf of the payor.

31. The system of claim 27, wherein it is determined that the payment request is to be fulfilled via a paper payment to the payee, and the processor completes processing of the payment request by:

determining that the time until the due date of the payment is less than a paper payment delivery time; and

selecting one of (i) abandoning the payment request or (ii) submitting a paper payment to the payee on behalf of the payor.

32. The system of claim 31, wherein the selection is based on a choice made by the payor.

33. The system of claim 27, wherein it is determined that additional risk processing is to be performed on the payment request, the processor completes processing of the payment request by:

performing a risk analysis on the payment request;

determining, based at least in part on the risk analysis, whether the payment request will be fulfilled via an electronic payment or a paper payment;

submitting an electronic payment to the payee on behalf of the payor if it is determined that the payment request will be fulfilled via an electronic payment; and

submitting a paper payment to the payee on behalf of the payor if it is determined that the payment request will be fulfilled via a paper payment.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein performing a risk analysis on the payment request comprises analyzing at least one of (i) a status of the payor, or (ii) an amount associated with the payment request.

35. The system of claim 19, wherein, prior to determining the expected payment delivery time, the processor is further configured to identify the payee associated with the payor by:

receiving billing information associated with a bill from a biller for the payor; and

identifying the payee based at least in part on the received billing information.

36. A system comprising:

means for identifying a payee associated with a payor, wherein the payee is capable of receiving both a paper payment type and an electronic payment type, and wherein a payment type for a payment to the payee on behalf of the payor is not determined until after a payment request associated with the payment is received;

means for determining, by a service provider prior to receiving the payment request, an expected payment delivery time for a payment to fulfill the payment request based on a plurality of payment attributes comprising at least one payment attribute associated with the payee and at least one payment attribute associated with the payor, wherein the at least one payment attribute associated with the payor comprises at least one of an attribute associated with past payments of the payor or a special status associated with the payor; and

means for transmitting an indicator associated with the expected payment delivery time to the payor.

37. A method comprising:

identifying, by a service provider, a payee associated with a payor, wherein the payee is capable of receiving both a paper payment type having an associated paper lead time for receiving the paper payment type and an electronic payment type having an associated electronic lead time for receiving the electronic payment type;

determining, by the service provider, an expected payment delivery time for the payee based on a plurality of payment attributes comprising at least one payment attribute associated with the payee and at least one payment attribute associated with the payor, wherein the least one payment attribute associated with the payor comprises at least one of an attribute associated with past payments of the payor or a special status associated with the payor, and wherein the expected payment delivery time is determined to be the electronic lead time;

transmitting, by the service provider for presentation to the payor subsequent to determining the expected payment delivery time, an indicator associated with the determined expected payment delivery time;

receiving, by the service provided subsequent to transmitting the indicator, a payment request to pay the payee on behalf of the payor;

processing, by the service provider, the payment request to determine a payment method for fulfilling the payment request, wherein the determined payment method comprises one of (i) the paper payment type or (ii) the electronic payment type;

directing, by the service provider, a payment to the payee on behalf of the payor by the determined payment method if (i) the determined payment method is the electronic payment type or (ii) the determined payment method is the paper payment type and the paper lead time is less than a time until a due date associated with the payment request; and

executing, by the service provider, an exception handling process if the determined payment method is the paper payment type and the paper lead time is greater than the time until the due date associated with the payment request,

wherein the above steps are performed by one or more computers associated with the service provider.