Electronic payment and authentication system with debit and identification data verification and electronic check capabilities

• US 8,060,441 B2
• Filed: 05/24/2010
• Issued: 11/15/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/23/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Fidelity Information Services, LLC (Fidelity National Information Services Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Efunds Corporation (Fidelity National Information Services Incorporated)
• Inventors: Gallmeier, Brian John, Crews, Teresa Marie, Hill, Robert Lawrence, Nipe, Mark Andrew, Haire, James Michael, Petersen, Matthew Lacey, Stewart, Whitney Hilton, Bates, Michael Richard
• Primary Examiner(s): Colbert; Ella
• Assistant Examiner(s): Tran; Hai
• Application Number:
  US12/785,879
• Publication Number:
  US 20100318460A1
• Time in Patent Office: 540 Days
• Field of Search: 705 35- 45
• US Class Current: 705/40
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/04 Payment circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/0425 the cheque being electronic only
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/085 involving remote charge determination or related payment systems
• 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 20/108 Remote banking, e.g. home banking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/28 Pre-payment schemes, e.g. "pay before"
• 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 20/401 Transaction verification
• 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 40/03 Credit; Loans; Processing thereof

Abstract

An electronic payment and authentication system that includes features to verify the authenticity of a payer, validate debit data, and facilitate debit (as opposed to credit) payment transactions. The electronic payment system allows a consumer to purchase items and services via a network while utilizing a debit transaction. The invention provides merchants with the ability to verify the identity of the consumer, determine if the consumer is a good debit transaction risk, and retrieve debit data associated with a particular consumer.

Claims

1. An electronic payment system comprising:

at least one electronic processor coupled to a memory device;

at least two of an electronic check module, an identity verification module, and a debit data validation module, each of the electronic check module, identity verification module and debit data validation module coupled to the at least one electronic processor,

the electronic check module having a consumer terminal configured to accept transactional debit data, the transactional debit data including at least one of order data, consumer data, or check data; and

an authorization computer coupled to the consumer terminal via a network and configured to receive the transactional debit data and configured to generate a message indicative of an acceptance of an electronic check payment or a declination of the electronic check payment;

the identity verification module being configured to, via the at least one electronic processor;

receive a request to verify an identity of a consumer involved in a debit transaction,

receive at least one consumer identification debit data element,

generate an identity verification score, compare the identity verification score against a threshold value, and

generate a response, based on the comparison, indicative of one of verification of the identity of the consumer or invalidation of the identity of the consumer; and

wherein the debit data validation module is configured to, via the at least one electronic processor, receive a request to validate debit data and receive transactional debit data that is to be validated;

a debit data search engine configured to, via the at least one electronic processor, receive the transactional debit data from the debit data validation module and process the transactional debit data.

2. An electronic check payment system for a network, the system comprising:

a consumer terminal configured to accept transactional debit data, including order data, consumer data, and check data; and

an authorization computer, including at least one processor, coupled to the consumer terminal via the network and configured to receive the transactional debit data and generate a response, based on the transactional debit data, indicative of acceptance of an electronic check payment or declination of the electronic check payment.

3. A system as claimed in claim 2, wherein the authorization computer is further configured to generate a clearinghouse message based on the response.

4. A system as claimed in claim 3, further comprising a clearinghouse computer coupled to the authorization computer via the network and configured to:

receive the clearinghouse message,

generate a merchant bank message including information regarding an amount of money to be deposited into a bank account of a merchant, and

generate a consumer bank message, wherein the consumer bank message includes information regarding an amount of money to be collected from a bank account of a consumer.

5. A system as claimed in claim 4, wherein the clearinghouse computer is further configured to generate the consumer bank message more than once.

6. A system as claimed in claim 2, wherein the authorization computer is coupled to a merchant computer via the network and the merchant computer is configured to accept additional transactional debit data.

7. A system as claimed in claim 6, wherein the merchant computer is coupled to the consumer terminal via the network and configured to receive the transactional debit data.

8. A system as claimed in claim 6, wherein the authorization computer is further configured to receive the additional transactional debit data, and

wherein the received transactional debit data includes the additional transactional debit data.

9. A system as claimed in claim 2, wherein the order data includes at least one of:

a name of a product to be purchased,

a name of a service to be purchased,

a price per unit of a product to be purchased,

a price per unit of a service to be purchased,

a quantity of a product to be purchased, or

a quantity of a service to be purchased.

10. A system as claimed in claim 2, wherein the consumer data includes at least one of a name, a residential address, a billing address, an email address, a phone number, a date of birth, a driver'"'"'s license number, or a driver'"'"'s license state.

11. A system as claimed in claim 2, wherein the check data includes magnetic ink character recognition (MICR), data.

12. A system as claimed in claim 11, wherein the MICR data includes at least one of a routing and transit number or a checking account number.

13. A system as claimed in claim 2, wherein the consumer terminal is further configured to display a merchant web site and to accept at least some of the transactional debit data using a checkout page of the merchant web site.

14. A system as claimed in claim 13, wherein the consumer terminal is further configured to display at least one data capture page of the merchant web site after accepting a request to make payment using the electronic check payment, and wherein a portion of the at least some transactional debit data is displayed in the at least one data capture page.

15. A system as claimed in claim 14, wherein the at least one data capture page includes an electronic facsimile of a paper check, and the consumer terminal is further configured to accept the check data using the electronic facsimile.

16. A system as claimed in claim 15, wherein the electronic facsimile includes two data fields and the consumer terminal is configured to accept the check data using the two data fields.

17. A system as claimed in claim 2, wherein the consumer terminal is configured to accept a request to make payment using the electronic check payment, and the authorization computer is further configured to receive the request to make payment using the electronic check payment.

18. A system as claimed in claim 17, wherein the request to make payment using the electronic check payment includes a request to make deferred payments using at least two electronic payments.

19. A system as claimed in claim 17, wherein the request to make payment using the electronic check payment includes a request to make recurring payments using at least two electronic payments.

20. A system as claimed in claim 2, wherein the authorization computer includes:

a pass-through application running on the primary server,

a converter and router that perform integrated data capture and data conversion,

a rules and formatter application executed on the converter and router, and

an electronic check module.

21. A system as claimed in claim 20, wherein the authorization computer further includes:

a tracking server coupled to the converter and router, and

an application server coupled to the converter and router, wherein the electronic check module runs on the application server.

22. A system as claimed in claim 21, wherein the authorization computer further includes:

a transaction adapter module running on the application server, wherein the transaction adapter module generates an authorization/funding request in one of an International Standards Organization 100 (ISO

     100) or an ISO 200 format; and

a transaction switch module configured to receive the authorization/funding request from the transaction adapter module.

23. A system as claimed in claim 22, wherein the authorization computer further includes a shared check authorization network (SCAN) server configured to receive the authorization/funding request from the transaction switch module.

24. A system as claimed in claim 23, wherein the SCAN server includes a SCAN online module, a SCAN reporter, and a SCAN host.

25. A system as claimed in claim 20, wherein the authorization computer further includes:

a first firewall,

a primary server coupled to the first firewall,

a failover server coupled to the first firewall, and

a second firewall coupled to the primary server and the failover server.

26. A system as claimed in claim 2, wherein the authorization computer is configured to generate at least one of an authorization request, a funding request, or an authorization and funding request.

27. A system as claimed in claim 26, wherein a SCAN server is configured to:

receive the at least one of the authorization request, the funding request, or the authorization and funding request, and

generate a SCAN response message indicative of acceptance of the at least one of the authorization request, the funding request, or the authorization and funding request or declination of the at least one of the authorization request, the funding request, or the authorization and funding request.

28. A system as claimed in claim 27, wherein the SCAN server is further configured to decline at least one of the at least one of the authorization request, the funding request, or the authorization and funding request.

29. A system as claimed in claim 27, wherein the SCAN server is further configured to accept at least one of the at least one of the authorization request, the funding request, or the authorization and funding request.

30. A system as claimed in claim 27, wherein the SCAN server is further configured to utilize at least one filter to process the at least one of the authorization request, the funding request, or the authorization and funding request, wherein the filter includes a do not exceed amount.

31. A system as claimed in claim 27, wherein the authorization computer generates the message using the SCAN response message.

32. A method, implemented by at least one electronic processor, comprising:

receiving, via a merchant computer, transactional debit data entered by a consumer on a merchant web site;

receiving, via the at least one electronic processor, check data entered by a consumer which is representative of a paper check;

receiving, via the at least one electronic processor, additional transactional debit data entered by a merchant;

processing, via the at least one electronic processor, the transactional debit data and the additional transactional debit data;

generating, via the at least one electronic processor, a response indicative of acceptance of an electronic check payment or declination of the electronic check payment.

33. A system comprising:

at least one electronic processor coupled to a memory device; and

an identity verification module, coupled to the at least one electronic processor,

receive a request to verify an identity of a consumer involved in a debit transaction,

receive at least one consumer identification debit data element,

generate an identity verification score,

compare the identity verification score against a threshold value, and

generate a response to the request indicative of verification of the identity of the consumer or contradiction of the identity of the consumer.

34. A system as claimed in claim 33, wherein the at least one consumer identification debit data element is one of a name, a current address, a previous address, a date of birth, a home phone number, a work phone number, a driver'"'"'s license number, an MICR number, or a social security number (SSN).

35. A system as claimed in claim 33, wherein the identity verification module is configured to perform fraud indicator searches.

36. A system as claimed in claim 35, wherein the fraud indicator searches include at least one of:

validating a phone number,

checking a phone number against a zip code,

checking a date of birth against a social security number (SSN) date of issuance, and

validation of an address.

37. A system as claimed in claim 35, wherein the identity verification module is further configured to generate a fraud indicator output.

38. A system as claimed in claim 37, wherein the identity verification module uses the fraud indicator output to generate the identity verification score.

39. A system as claimed in claim 33, wherein the identity verification module is configured to perform consumer identity validation searches.

40. A system as claimed in claim 39, wherein the consumer identity validation searches include at least one of:

checking a driver'"'"'s license number against an issuing state of the driver'"'"'s license number,

validating a social security number (SSN),

validating an individual taxpayer identification number,

checking a driver'"'"'s license date of birth against an date of issuance,

checking a date of birth against a driver'"'"'s license date of birth,

validating a name,

checking a name against a driver'"'"'s license number,

checking a name against a consumer address,

checking a name against an SSN,

checking a name against MICR data,

checking an address against a zip code,

checking a name against an address,

checking a name against a driver'"'"'s license number,

checking a name against an SSN,

checking a name against a phone number,

checking a name against MICR data,

checking a name against an address and a date of birth,

checking MICR and phone,

checking an MICR against an address, and

checking a name against an address and a phone.

41. A system as claimed in claim 39, wherein the identity verification module is further configured to generate a consumer identity validation output.

42. A system as claimed in claim 41, wherein the identity verification module uses the consumer identity validation output to generate the identity verification score.

43. A system as claimed in claim 33, wherein the threshold value is one of an aggressive threshold level, a median threshold level, or a conservative threshold level.

44. A system as claimed in claim 33, wherein the identity verification module is further configured to accept a debit transaction.

45. A system as claimed in claim 33, wherein the identity verification module is further configured to decline a debit transaction.

46. A system as claimed in claim 33, wherein the identity verification module is further configured to generate the identity verification score based in part on at least one of a fraud indicator output or a consumer identity validation output.

47. A method, implemented by at least one electronic processor, comprising:

receiving, at the at least one electronic processor, a request to verify the identity of a consumer involved in a debit transaction;

receiving, at the at least one electronic processor, at least one consumer identification debit data element;

generating, via the at least one electronic processor, an identity verification score;

comparing, via the at least one electronic processor, the identity verification score against a threshold value; and

generating, via the at least one electronic processor, a response indicative of verification of the identity of the consumer or contradiction of the identity of the consumer.