Systems and methods for verifying payee information in electronic payments

Abstract

A computer system including a processor, in communication with a database, programmed to identify a plurality of billers from the database, including biller information, and receive a payee file including payee information identifying a payee which issued a bill to a payor. The processor determines an approximate match score for each of the billers in a first set of billers of the plurality of billers by comparing payee information to biller information and identifies a candidate list of billers from the first set of billers having an approximate match score indicating a likelihood of matching the payee information. The processor adjusts the candidate list of billers by altering the match score of at least one candidate biller by comparing a payee account number of the payee information to an account mask associated with the candidate biller and generates an output file of candidate biller information from the adjusted candidate list.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computer system for verifying payee information in an electronic payment, said computer system comprising a processor in communication with a database, said processor programmed to:
 identify a plurality of billers from the database, each biller of the plurality of billers including biller information;   receive a payee file that includes payee information identifying a payee, wherein the payee issues a bill for payment to a payor;   determine, by the processor, an approximate match score for each biller in a first set of billers of the plurality of billers by comparing the payee information to the biller information;   identify a candidate list of billers from the first set of billers, wherein each of the billers included within the candidate list has an approximate match score indicating a likelihood of matching the payee information;   adjust the candidate list of billers, including altering the match score of at least one candidate biller by comparing a payee account number of the payee information to an account mask associated with the at least one candidate biller; and   generate an output file of candidate biller information from the adjusted candidate list.   
     
     
         2 . A computer system in accordance with  claim 1 , wherein the output file includes at least one electronic biller identifier corresponding to the payee in the payee file and corresponding to at least one of the candidate scores. 
     
     
         3 . A computer system in accordance with  claim 1 , wherein the processor is further programmed to generate at least one n-gram representation of the payee information and at least one n-gram representation of the biller information. 
     
     
         4 . A system in accordance with  claim 3 , wherein the processor is further programmed to generate a first n-gram representation of at least one of a payee name and a payee address. 
     
     
         5 . A system in accordance with  claim 4 , wherein the processor is further programmed to generate a second n-gram representation of at least one of a biller name and a biller address, wherein comparing the payee information further includes comparing based at least in part on the first n-gram representation and the second n-gram representation. 
     
     
         6 . A system in accordance with  claim 5 , wherein the processor is further programmed to identify the candidate list based at least in part on selecting a subset of billers based at least in part on a plurality of highest approximate match scores. 
     
     
         7 . A system in accordance with  claim 1 , wherein the processor is further programmed to adjust at least one candidate score to exclude a biller if the biller is at least one of a private biller and a share restricted biller. 
     
     
         8 . A system in accordance with  claim 1 , wherein the processor is further programmed to alter at least one score of the candidate list based at least in part on one or more of a biller's account mask and a biller's check digit routine. 
     
     
         9 . A computer-based method for verifying payee information in an electronic payment using a computer device in communication with a database, said method comprising:
 identifying a plurality of billers from the database, each biller of the plurality of billers including biller information;   receiving a payee file that includes payee information identifying a payee, wherein the payee issues a bill for payment to a payor;   determining, by the computer device, an approximate match score for each biller in a first set of billers of the plurality of billers by comparing the payee information to the biller information;   identifying a candidate list of billers from the first set of billers, wherein each of the billers included within the candidate list has an approximate match score indicating a likelihood of matching the payee information;   adjusting the candidate list of billers, including altering the match score of at least one candidate biller by comparing a payee account number of the payee information to an account mask associated with the at least one candidate biller; and   generating an output file of candidate biller information from the adjusted candidate list.   
     
     
         10 . A method in accordance with  claim 9 , wherein generating an output file comprises generating an output file including at least one electronic biller identifier corresponding to the payee in the payee file and corresponding to at least one of the candidate scores. 
     
     
         11 . A method in accordance with  claim 9 , wherein comparing the payee information includes generating at least one n-gram representation of the payee information and at least one n-gram representation of the biller information. 
     
     
         12 . A method in accordance with  claim 11 , wherein generating at least one n-gram representation of the payee information includes generating a first n-gram representation of at least one of a payee name and a payee address. 
     
     
         13 . A method in accordance with  claim 12 , wherein generating at least one n-gram representation of the biller information includes generating a second n-gram representation of at least one of a biller name and a biller address, wherein comparing the payee information further includes comparing based at least in part on the first n-gram representation and the second n-gram representation. 
     
     
         14 . A method in accordance with  claim 13 , wherein identifying a candidate list includes selecting a subset of billers based at least in part on a plurality of highest approximate match scores. 
     
     
         15 . A method in accordance with  claim 9 , wherein adjusting the candidate list includes adjusting at least one candidate score to exclude a biller if the biller is at least one of a private biller and a share restricted biller. 
     
     
         16 . A method in accordance with  claim 9 , wherein adjusting the candidate list includes altering at least one score based at least in part on one or more of a biller's account mask and a biller's check digit routine. 
     
     
         17 . At least one non-transitory computer-readable storage media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon, wherein when executed by at least one processor, the computer-executable instructions cause the processor to:
 identify a plurality of billers from a database, each biller of the plurality of billers including biller information;   receive a payee file that includes payee information identifying a payee, wherein the payee issues a bill for payment to a payor;   determine, by the processor, an approximate match score for each biller of a first set of billers stored within a database by comparing the payee information to biller information stored within the database;   identify a candidate list of billers from the first set of billers, wherein each of the billers included within the candidate list has an approximate match score indicating a likelihood of matching the payee information;   adjust the candidate list of billers, including altering the match score of at least one candidate biller by comparing a payee account number of the payee information to an account mask associated with the at least one candidate biller; and   generate an output file of candidate biller information from the adjusted candidate list.   
     
     
         18 . The computer-readable storage media of  claim 17 , wherein the output file includes at least one electronic biller identifier corresponding to the payee in the payee file and corresponding to at least one of the candidate scores. 
     
     
         19 . The computer-readable storage media of  claim 17 , wherein the computer executable instructions further cause the processor to generate at least one n-gram representation of the payee information and at least one n-gram representation of the biller information. 
     
     
         20 . The computer-readable storage media of  claim 19 , wherein the computer executable instructions further cause the processor to generate a first n-gram representation of at least one of a payee name and a payee address. 
     
     
         21 . The computer-readable storage media of  claim 20 , wherein the computer executable instructions further cause the processor to generate a second n-gram representation of at least one of a biller name and a biller address, wherein comparing the payee information further includes comparing based at least in part on the first n-gram representation and the second n-gram representation. 
     
     
         22 . The computer-readable storage media of  claim 21 , wherein the computer executable instructions further cause the processor to identify the candidate list based at least in part on selecting a subset of billers, wherein selecting the subset of billers is based at least in part on a plurality of highest approximate match scores. 
     
     
         23 . The computer-readable storage media of  claim 17 , wherein the computer executable instructions further cause the processor to alter at least one candidate score based at least in part on one or more of a biller's account mask and a biller's check digit routine.