Bill payment using direct funds transfer

• US 9,990,613 B1
• Filed: 12/12/2014
• Issued: 06/05/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/12/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Block, Inc. (f/k/a Square, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Block, Inc. (f/k/a Square, Inc.)
• Inventors: Bhatt, Anish, Kimble, Charles
• Primary Examiner(s): Ziegle, Stephanie
• Application Number:
  US14/569,491
• Time in Patent Office: 1,271 Days
• Field of Search: 705 35- 45
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/26 Debit schemes, e.g. "pay now"

Abstract

Introduced here is a technology that enables a bill payer, who is an account holder at a financial institution (e.g., a bank), to send a bill payment to a bill payee by submitting, via a financial application of the financial institution, the bill payee'"'"'s identifier and a bill payment amount, where funds for the bill payment amount are transferred directly to the bill payee substantially instantaneously upon the bill payer'"'"'s request. The technology involves communication between a computer system of a financial institution (“financial institution system”), a mobile financial application installed on a bill payer'"'"'s mobile device, and a third-party, remote computer system of a payment service (“PSS”). Upon receiving the identifier and amount from the financial institution system, the PSS identifies payment card information of the bill payer and the bill payee, and executes, or triggers execution of, the transfer of funds for the bill payment.

Claims

1. A method for enabling bill payment performed by a payment service system on behalf of a banking service facilitated by a banking server system, the method comprising:

receiving, at a banking application executing on a user device of a bill payer, a bill payment request from the bill payer, the bill payment request including a bill payment amount and a payee identifier of a bill payee, the payee identifier being any of an email address or a telephone number, wherein the banking application is associated with the banking service and is facilitated by the banking server system;

transmitting, by the banking application, the bill payment request to the banking server system;

upon receiving the bill payment request, identifying, by the banking server system, a payer debit card of the bill payer, wherein the payer debit card is associated with a payer account of the bill payer that is managed by the banking service;

transmitting, by the banking server system, bill payer information and bill payee information to the payment service system for processing on behalf of the banking server system, the bill payer information including payer debit card information associated with the payer debit card and the bill payee information including the bill payment amount and the payee identifier included in the bill payment request;

upon receiving the bill payer information and the bill payee information, processing, by the payment service system, the bill payment request on behalf of the banking service, said processing including;

accessing a database associated with the payment service system that maintains association data between user identifiers and user debit cards, wherein the association data is gathered, by the payment service system, from past transactions involving the payment service system in which at least some of the user debit cards were used;

identifying, from the association data in the database, a payee debit card of the bill payee based on an association between the payee identifier and the payee debit card;

in response to identifying the payee debit card, initiating, by the payment service system, a deposit of monetary funds into a payee account associated with the payee debit card, the payee account being a payee bank account at a financial institution, the monetary funds indicative of the bill payment amount included in the bill payment request from the bill payer at the banking application, wherein the initiating includes;

transferring, by the payment service system, the monetary funds from a payment service account of the payment service system into the payee bank account via a debit transfer;

transmitting, by the payment service system, a reimbursement request to the banking server system; and

after transferring the monetary funds from the payment service account of the payment service system into the payee bank account via the debit transfer, receiving, by the payment service system, a reimbursement amount deposited into the payment service account, wherein the reimbursement amount is transferred from the payer account to the payment service account based on a ledger entry adjustment executed by the banking server system that internally effects a transfer of the reimbursement amount from the payer account to the payment service account, wherein the payer account and the payment service account are financial accounts at the banking service facilitated by the banking server system; and

transmitting, by the payment service system and to the user device for display by the banking application, a money transfer confirmation to notify the bill payer the transfer is complete.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said initiating the deposit of the monetary funds comprises:

transferring, by the payment service system, the monetary funds from the payment service account of the payment service system to the payee account; and

transmitting, by the payment service system, the reimbursement request to the banking server system, the reimbursement request requesting the reimbursement amount to be deposited into the payment service account, the reimbursement amount being a reimbursement of the monetary funds to the payment service system.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

receiving, from the banking server system, the reimbursement amount deposited into the payment service account, wherein the reimbursement amount is transferred from the payer account to the payment service account via the ledger entry adjustment, wherein the payer account and the payment service account are financial accounts facilitated by the banking server system.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

receiving, from the banking server system, the reimbursement amount deposited into the payment service account, wherein the reimbursement amount is transferred from the payer account to the payment service account via an Automated Clearing House (ACH) transfer.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said initiating the deposit of the monetary funds comprises:

transferring, by the payment service system, the monetary funds from the payer account associated with the payer debit card to the payee account associated with the payee debit card via the debit transfer.

6. A method of processing a bill payment, comprising:

receiving, by a payment service system and from a financial institution system, a money transfer message associated with a sender having a sender financial account associated with the financial institution system, the money transfer message including sender account information and recipient information for transferring money from the sender to a recipient, the recipient information including a recipient identifier and a payment amount to be sent to the recipient;

generating, by the payment service system, a database that maintains association data between user identifiers and user debit cards, wherein the association data is gathered from past transactions involving the payment service system and at least some of the user debit cards;

upon receiving the money transfer message, processing, by the payment service system, the money transfer message on behalf of the financial institution system, said processing including;

accessing the database associated with the payment service system that maintains association data between the user identifiers and the user debit cards; and

identifying, from the association data in the database, a recipient debit card of the recipient based on an association between the recipient identifier and the recipient debit card;

in an event that the recipient debit card is identified, initiating, by the payment service system, a deposit of funds indicative of the payment amount from a payment service financial account associated with the payment service system into a recipient financial account associated with the recipient debit card, wherein the funds indicative of the payment amount are deposited into the recipient financial account via a debit transfer; and

after initiating the deposit of funds indicative of the payment amount into the recipient financial account, receiving, by the payment service system, a reimbursement amount for deposit into the payment service financial account associated with the payment service system, wherein the reimbursement amount is transferred from the sender financial account to the payment service financial account based on a ledger entry adjustment executed by the financial institution system that internally effects a transfer of the reimbursement amount.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the recipient identifier is an email address or a telephone number.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

in an event that the recipient debit card is not identified, transmitting, by the payment service system, a message to the recipient based on the recipient identifier, the message configured to prompt the recipient to submit recipient debit card information associated with the recipient debit card.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

receiving, by the payment service system, the recipient debit card information from the recipient;

validating the recipient debit card information; and

upon successful validation, causing the funds indicative of the payment amount to be deposited into the recipient financial account associated with the recipient debit card.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein initiating the deposit of the funds comprises:

transferring, by the payment service system, the funds from the payment service financial account to the recipient financial account; and

transmitting, by the payment service system, a reimbursement message to the financial institution system, the reimbursement message requesting the reimbursement amount to be deposited into the payment service financial account, the reimbursement amount being a reimbursement of the funds indicative of the payment amount to the payment service system.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving, from the financial institution system, the reimbursement amount deposited into the payment service financial account, wherein the reimbursement amount is transferred from the sender financial account to the payment service financial account via an ACH transfer.

12. The method of claim 6, wherein the sender account information includes sender debit card information associated with a sender debit card, the sender debit card associated with the sender financial account.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein initiating the deposit of the funds comprises:

transferring the funds indicative of the payment amount from the sender financial account associated with the sender debit card to the recipient financial account associated with the recipient debit card via the debit transfer.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the sender account information includes a sender identifier and an enrollment status.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the enrollment status is active, the method further comprises:

based on the enrollment status, storing the sender identifier in association with the sender debit card.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

receiving, by the payment service system, a money request message associated with the recipient, the money request message including the sender identifier and a request amount for requesting money to be transferred from the sender to the recipient;

based on the money request message, identifying, by the payment service system, the sender debit card associated with the sender identifier; and

in an event that the sender debit card is identified, initiating the deposit of funds indicative of the request amount into the recipient financial account associated with the recipient debit card, wherein the funds are deposited via a debit transfer.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

prior to initiating the deposit of the funds indicative of the request amount, transmitting an approval request to the sender to approve the request amount from the recipient.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the money request message is received from a second financial institution system, wherein the recipient financial account is associated with the second financial institution system, wherein the second financial institution system is the financial institution system or a different financial institution system.

19. The method of claim 6, wherein the past transactions include direct bill payments executed by the payment service system on behalf of a financial institution system associated with the financial institution system, another financial institution, or the recipient.

20. A payment service system for processing a bill payment request, comprising:

a network interface through which to communicate with remote systems;

a processor coupled to the network interface; and

a memory coupled to the processor, the memory storing instructions to perform the steps comprising;

receiving, from a recipient financial institution system, a bill payment request message associated with a recipient having a recipient financial account associated with the recipient financial institution system, the bill payment request message including recipient account information and sender information for requesting a bill payment from a sender to be transferred to the recipient, the sender information including a sender identifier and a payment request amount to be requested from the sender, the recipient account information including recipient payment card information associated with a recipient payment card of the recipient;

processing the bill payment request message, said processing including;

accessing a database associated with the payment service system that maintains association data between user identifiers and user debit cards, wherein the association data is gathered, by the payment service system, from past transactions in which at least some of the user debit cards were used;

identifying, from the association data in the database, a sender payment card of the sender based on an association between the sender identifier and the sender payment card;

initiating a deposit of funds indicative of the payment request amount into the recipient financial account associated with the recipient payment card using the sender payment card, wherein the funds indicative of the payment request amount are deposited into the recipient financial account via a debit transfer, said initiating including transferring the funds from a payment service financial account associated with the payment service system into the recipient financial account via the debit transfer; and

after transferring the funds from the payment service financial account of the payment service system into the recipient financial account via the debit transfer, receiving, by the payment service system, a reimbursement amount deposited into the payment service account, wherein the reimbursement amount is transferred from a sender account to the payment service account by effecting a transfer of the reimbursement amount from the sender account to the payment service account.

21. The payment service system of claim 20, wherein the sender identifier is an email address or a telephone number.

22. The payment service system of claim 20, wherein the instructions for initiating the deposit of the funds indicative of the payment request amount into the recipient financial account comprise:

transmitting a reimbursement message to a sender financial institution system associated with the sender payment card, the reimbursement message requesting a reimbursement amount to be deposited into the payment service financial account, the reimbursement amount being a reimbursement of the funds indicative of the payment request amount.

23. The payment service system of claim 22, wherein the reimbursement amount is transferred from a sender financial account associated with the sender payment card to the payment service financial account via any of:

a ledger entry adjustment, wherein the sender financial account and the payment service financial account are financial accounts facilitated by the sender financial institution system;

or

an Automated Clearing House (ACH) transfer.

24. The payment service system of claim 22, wherein the sender financial institution system is any of a same or a different financial institution system as the recipient financial institution system.