Claims
- 1. A method for accepting payments from a consumer, the method comprising:
receiving a promise-to-pay record from a lender; receiving a payment from the consumer; associating the payment with the promise-to-pay record; and sending a notice to the lender, the notice comprising an indicator that the payment has been received.
- 2. The method as in claim 1 further comprising storing a record of the payment in a database.
- 3. The method as in claim 1 further comprising electronically sending at least a portion of the payment to the lender.
- 4. The method as in claim 1 wherein receiving the payment comprises receiving the payment if the consumer provides a transaction identifier.
- 5. The method as in claim 4 wherein associating the payment with the promise-to-pay record comprises matching the consumer-provided transaction identifier with the promise-to-pay record.
- 6. The method as in claim 1 wherein the promise-to-pay record comprises a time limit, and wherein associating the payment with the promise-to-pay record comprises accepting the payment if receiving the payment occurs within the time limit.
- 7. The method as in claim 6 further comprising sending a request for instructions to the lender if the time limit expires.
- 8. The method as in claim 6 further comprising sending a request for instructions to the lender if the consumer attempts payment after the time limit expires.
- 9. The method as in claim 1 wherein receiving the promise-to-pay record comprises electronically receiving the promise-to-pay record, and receiving the payment comprises physically receiving the payment.
- 10. The method as in claim 1 wherein the payment comprises a cash payment.
- 11. The method as in claim 1 wherein the payment comprises a debit card payment.
- 12. The method as in claim 1 further comprising verifying a consumer identity prior to receiving the payment.
- 13. A method for staging a transaction involving a payment from a customer to a lender, the method comprising:
receiving a promise-to-pay from the customer; creating a promise-to-pay record, the promise-to-pay record including a payment amount and an expiration; transmitting the promise-to-pay record to a payment service provider, the payment service provider adapted to accept a cash payment from the customer if the customer attempts payment prior to the expiration; and receiving a notice of payment from the payment service provider if the payment service provider received from the customer a payment that equals or exceeds the payment amount.
- 14. The method as in claim 13 further comprising updating the promise-to-pay record with the notice of payment.
- 15. The method as in claim 13 further comprising receiving a notice of non-effective payment from the payment service provider, and updating the promise-to-pay record with the notice of non-effective payment.
- 16. The method as in claim 13 further comprising electronically receiving the payment amount from the payment service provider.
- 17. The method as in claim 13 wherein the customer comprises a borrower, and the promise-to-pay comprises a promise to pay a delinquent amount owed by the borrower.
- 18. The method as in claim 13 further comprising creating a transaction identifier associated with the promise-to-pay record.
- 19. The method as in claim 18 further comprising providing the transaction identifier to the customer.
- 20. The method as in claim 13 further comprising receiving a request for instructions from the payment service provider.
- 21. The method as in claim 20 further comprising providing the payment service provider with an instruction in response to the request for instructions.
CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a continuation-in-part application and claims the benefit of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/444,111, filed May 21, 2003, entitled “Staged Transactions Systems and Methods,” the complete disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. The aforementioned application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Ser. No. 10/112,258, filed Mar. 29, 2002, entitled “Electronic Identifier Payment Systems and Methods, which in turn is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Ser. No. 10/007,701, filed Dec. 10, 2001, which in turn is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/823,697, filed Mar. 31, 2001, and U.S. application Ser. No. 09/990,702, filed Nov. 9, 2001, the complete disclosures of which are also incorporated herein by reference.
Continuation in Parts (5)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
10444111 |
May 2003 |
US |
Child |
10676717 |
Sep 2003 |
US |
Parent |
10112258 |
Mar 2002 |
US |
Child |
10444111 |
May 2003 |
US |
Parent |
10007701 |
Dec 2001 |
US |
Child |
10112258 |
Mar 2002 |
US |
Parent |
09990702 |
Nov 2001 |
US |
Child |
10112258 |
Mar 2002 |
US |
Parent |
09823697 |
Mar 2001 |
US |
Child |
10112258 |
Mar 2002 |
US |