Identifying candidate billers or payees of a payor

• US 20040088237A1
• Filed: 11/01/2002
• Published: 05/06/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 11/01/2002
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Checkfree Corporation (Fiserv Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Checkfree Corporation (Fiserv Incorporated)
• Inventors: Brothers, John, Dreyer, Hans, Moenickheim, Peter, Ward, Cheryl, McCoy, Randal, Stratton, Richard
• Application Number:
  US10/285,709
• Publication Number:
  US 20040088237A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/35
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/04 Payment circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/14 specially adapted for billing systems
• 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

Abstract

A technique for identifying a payees and billers to be paid by an electronic commerce service provider on behalf of a consumer is provided. An electronic commerce service provider receives information identifying a consumer. The consumer identifying information does not identify any payee or biller. The electronic commerce service provider identifies one or more candidate payees by accessing at least one of credit report information, geographic information, industry classification information, and socio-demographic information. The service provider then presents identified candidate payees to the consumer.

Claims

1. A method for identifying a payee to be paid by an electronic commerce service provider on behalf of a consumer, comprising:

receiving, by the electronic commerce service provider, information identifying the consumer, the received information excluding information identifying any payee of the consumer;

accessing, based upon the received consumer identifying information, at least one of credit report information of the of the consumer, information identifying geographic locations of a plurality of businesses, industry classification information of a plurality of businesses, and information identifying socio-demographic statuses of customers of a plurality of businesses;

identifying at least one candidate payee of the consumer based upon the accessed information; and

transmitting candidate payee information, including the at least one identified candidate payee, to the consumer.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

subsequent to identifying the at least one candidate payee, retrieving information associated with at least one identified candidate payee from a managed payee database storing information associated with a plurality of payees to whom the electronic commerce service provider has made at least one payment on behalf of any payor; and

wherein the transmitted candidate payee information includes at least a portion of the information retrieved from the managed payee database.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein:

accessing the credit report information includes identifying creditors of the consumer included in a credit report of the consumer;

identified creditors are identified as candidate payees;

accessing the geographic information includes identifying businesses having customers in a residency location of the consumer;

identified business having customers in the consumer residency location are identified as candidate payees;

accessing the socio-demographic information includes identifying businesses having customers having a socio-demographic status of the consumer;

identified businesses having customers having the socio-demographic status of the consumer are identified as candidate payees;

the received consumer identifying information includes information identifying a type of business the consumer pays and excludes any information naming any business;

accessing the industry classification information includes identifying businesses of the business type identified by the consumer identity information;

identified businesses of the identified business type are identified as candidate payees.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, responsive to the transmitted candidate payee information, a consumer selection of at least one candidate payee as a definite payee of the consumer.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the selected at least one definite payee includes a first definite payee, and further comprising:

receiving, by the electronic commerce service provider, a consumer request to make a payment to the first definite payee on behalf of the consumer;

retrieving the information associated with the first definite payee, the retrieved information not received from the consumer; and

completing the payment to the first payee on behalf of the consumer based at least in part upon the retrieved first definite payee information;

wherein if the first definite payee is identified as a candidate payee based upon the accessing of the credit report database, the retrieved information associated with the first definite payee includes an account number assigned to the consumer by the first definite payee, the account number obtained by the electronic commerce service provider from the credit report information.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the at least one definite payee includes a first definite payee, and further comprising:

determining that the first definite payee is a payee that receives recurring payments; and

transmitting to the consumer an offer to set up recurring payments to the first definite payee on behalf of the consumer.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein:

the consumer identifying information is received during a network communication session;

the candidate payee information is transmitted during the network communication session; and

the selection is received during the network communication session.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the transmitted information identifying the at least one candidate payee identifies a plurality of candidate payees;

the transmitted information identifying the plurality of candidate payees includes information identifying a business type of at least one candidate payee; and

the business type of the at least one candidate payee is based upon standard industry classification codes.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the consumer identifying information is received during an enrollment session for services of the electronic commerce service provider; and

the one or more candidate payees are identified by the electronic commerce service provider without a consumer request to identify payees of the consumer.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmitted candidate payee information includes at least a portion of information necessary to set up the one candidate payee as a definite payee of the consumer.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, responsive to the transmitted candidate payee information and via a first network session, less than all information necessary to set up the one candidate payee as a definite payee of the consumer;

storing the received information necessary to set up the one candidate payee;

receiving, during a second network session different than the first network session and subsequent to the storage of the information necessary to set up the one candidate payee, the remainder of the information necessary to set up the one candidate payee; and

completing set up of the one candidate as a definite payee of the consumer based upon the retrieved information and the information received during the second network session;

wherein the one candidate payee is not available as a payee of the consumer until the set up is completed.

12. A system for identifying a payee to be paid by an electronic commerce service provider on behalf of a consumer, comprising:

a communications interface configured to receive information identifying the consumer, the received information excluding information identifying any payee of the consumer;

a memory configured to store at least one of credit report information of the consumer, information identifying geographic locations of a plurality of businesses, industry classification information of a plurality of businesses, and information identifying socio-demographic statuses of customers of a plurality of business; and

a processor configured to access, based upon the received information, at least one of the stored credit report information, geographic information, and socio-demographic information to identify at least one candidate payee of the consumer and to cause the communications interface to transmit candidate payee information, including the at least one identified candidate payee, to the consumer.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein:

the memory is further configured to store a managed payee database storing information associate with a plurality of payees to whom the electronic commerce service provider has made at least one payment one behalf of any payor;

the processor is further configured to access the managed payee database to retrieve information associated with at least one identified candidate payee; and

the transmitted candidate payee information includes at least a portion of the information retrieved from the managed payee database.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein:

accessing the credit report information includes identifying creditors of the consumer included in a credit report of the consumer;

identified creditors are identified as candidate payees;

accessing the geographic information includes identifying businesses having customers in a residency location of the consumer;

identified business having customers in the consumer residency location are identified as candidate payees;

accessing the socio-demographic information includes identifying businesses having customers having a socio-demographic status of the consumer;

identified businesses having customers having the socio-demographic status of the consumer are identified as candidate payees;

the received consumer identifying information includes information identifying a type of business the consumer pays and excluding information naming any business;

accessing the industry classification information includes identifying businesses of the business type identified by the consumer identity information; and

identified businesses of the business type are identified as candidate payees.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the communications interface is further configured to receive, responsive to the transmitted candidate payee information, a consumer selection of at least one candidate payee as a definite payee of the consumer.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein:

the selected at least one definite payee includes a first definite payee;

the memory is further configured to store information associated with the first definite payee not received from the consumer;

the communications interface is further configured to receive a consumer request for the service provider to make a payment to the first definite payee on behalf of the consumer;

the processor is further configured to retrieve the stored information associated with the first definite payee not received from the consumer and to cause payment to the first definite payee to be completed based at least in part upon the retrieved definite payee information; and

if the first definite payee is identified as a candidate payee based upon the accessing of the credit report database, the retrieved information associated with the first definite payee includes an account number assigned to the consumer by the first definite payee, the account number obtained by the electronic commerce service provider from the credit report information.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein:

the at least one definite payee includes a first definite payee; and

the processor is further configured to determine that the first definite payee is a payee that receives recurring payments and to cause the communications interface to transmit to the consumer an offer to set up recurring payments to the first definite payee on behalf of the consumer.

18. The system of claim 12, wherein:

the transmitted information identifying the at least one candidate payee identifies a plurality of candidate payees;

the transmitted information identifying the plurality of candidate payees includes information identifying a business type of at least one candidate payee; and

the business type of the at least one candidate payee is based upon standard industry classification codes.

19. The system of claim 12, wherein:

the consumer identifying information is received during an enrollment session for services of the electronic commerce service provider; and

the one or more candidate payees are identified by the processor without a consumer request to identify payees of the consumer.

20. The system of claim 12, wherein:

the communications interface is further configured to receive, responsive to the transmitted candidate payee information and via a first network session, less than all the information necessary to set up the one candidate payee as a definite payee of the consumer and to receive, during, a second network session different than the first network session and subsequent to the storage of the information necessary to set up the one candidate payee, the remained of the information necessary to set up the one candidate payee;

the processor is further configure to cause the memory to store the received information necessary to set up the one candidate payee, to retrieve the stored information necessary to set up the one candidate payee upon the receipt of the information via the second network session, and to complete set up of the one candidate payee as a definite payee of the consumer based upon the retrieved information and the information received during the second network session; and

the one candidate payee is not available as a payee of the consumer until the set up is completed.