Systems and Methods for the Payment of Customer Bills Utilizing Payment Platform of Biller

Abstract

The present invention is directed to systems and methods providing payment into a pre-existing customer account with a provider of goods or services, the method facilitated between a customer, a provider of goods or services, and a processor. The method including steps such as receiving from the customer value, identifying information of the customer, and information sufficient to identify the provider and pre-existing account of the customer; accessing a payment platform of the provider; determining information required by the provider in order to provide payment into the customer account; communicating information required by the provider in order to provide payment into the customer account; and providing a value into the customer account.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 - 35 . (canceled) 
     
     
         36 . A computerized method of providing payment into a pre-existing customer account with a provider of goods or services, the method facilitated between a customer, a provider of goods or services, and a central processor, the method comprising:
 receiving at the central processor from the customer:
 value; 
   identifying information of the customer; and
 information sufficient to identify the provider and the pre-existing customer account; 
   accessing by the central processor a payment platform of the provider;   determining by the central processor information required by the payment platform of the provider in order to provide payment into the pre-existing customer account utilizing the payment platform of the provider;   communicating from the central processor to the payment platform of the provider information required by the payment platform of provider in order to provide payment into the pre-existing customer account;   determining by the central processor if the provider accepts payment via the payment platform in the form of value received from the customer;   upon a determination that the provider does not accept payment via the payment platform in the form of value received from the customer, creating, by the central processor, a virtual prepaid debit card number funded with an amount equal to the value to be provided to the payment platform of the provider;   providing the virtual prepaid debit card number by the central processor to the payment platform of the provider for conveyance of the associated value into the pre-existing customer account.   
     
     
         37 . The method of  claim 36 , wherein the value, identifying information of the customer, and information sufficient to identify the provider and the pre-existing customer account of the customer are received via a manner selected from the group consisting of the Internet, an automated voice recognition (IVR) system, a message sent via short message service (SMS), a message sent via media message service (MMS), an application running on a mobile device, a kiosk, a point-of-sale device, and a merchant location. 
     
     
         38 . The method of  claim 36 , wherein the value received from the customer comprises access to a stored value account. 
     
     
         39 . The method of  claim 38 , wherein the stored value account is a closed-loop stored value account. 
     
     
         40 . The method of  claim 36 , wherein the value received from the customer comprises payment made by the customer to a point-of-sale device, and wherein the central processor settles with the point-of-sale device at a later time. 
     
     
         41 . The method of  claim 36 , wherein the identifying information of the customer comprises information required by the payment platform of the provider to make a payment into the pre-existing customer account. 
     
     
         42 . The method of  claim 41 , wherein the identifying information includes log-in information and a password. 
     
     
         43 . The method of  claim 36 , wherein the information sufficient to identify the provider and pre-existing customer account-comprises an account number. 
     
     
         44 . The method of  claim 36 , wherein the information sufficient to identify the provider and pre-existing customer account comprises an indicia associated with the customer's account with the provider. 
     
     
         45 . The method of  claim 44 , wherein the indicia comprises a telephone number. 
     
     
         46 . The method of  claim 36 , wherein the step of accessing a payment platform of the provider is accomplished by the central processor via the Internet. 
     
     
         47 . The method of  claim 36 , wherein the step of accessing a payment platform of the provider comprises accessing by the central processor a payment web-page maintained by or associated with the provider. 
     
     
         48 . The method of  claim 36 , wherein the step of determining information required by the payment processor of the provider is accomplished by the central processor via a web-scraping or web data extraction program performed by the processor. 
     
     
         49 . The method of  claim 36 , wherein the step of communicating by the central processor information required by the payment processor of the provider in order to provide payment into the pre-existing customer account comprises inserting identifying information received from the customer into appropriate fields in the payment platform of the provider. 
     
     
         50 . The method of  claim 36 , wherein the step of communicating by the central processor information required by the payment platform of the provider comprises:
 identifying each piece of information requested by the payment platform of the provider;   determining the appropriate information from the identifying information received from the customer;   providing, in response to each piece of information requested by the payment platform of the provider, the appropriate information.   
     
     
         51 . The method of  claim 50 , wherein the step of communicating information required by the payment platform of the provider comprises automatically filling in an online form. 
     
     
         52 . The method of  claim 50 , wherein the step of providing a value into the pre-existing customer account comprises transmitting the value received from the customer to the pre-existing customer account with the provider. 
     
     
         53 . The method of  claim 52 , wherein the value provided into the pre-existing customer account is the remainder of the value received from the customer once applicable fees and taxes have been deducted. 
     
     
         54 . The method of  claim 53 , wherein value is received from the customer at a point-of-sale device and wherein applicable fees and taxes are calculated based upon one or more factors selected from the group consisting of: the location associated with the pre-existing customer account; the location of the point-of-sale device; the location of the processor; and the location of the provider.