Systems and methods for performing financial transactions

Abstract

Systems, methods and computer-readable media for initiating, facilitating and/or performing financial transactions are disclosed. A request associated with a financial transaction may be received on behalf of a requestor. At least one financial account to be debited and at least one financial account to be credited in connection with the financial transaction may be identified based on information included or provided in association with the request. Respective payment networks that provide access to the financial accounts may be identified. One or more of the financial accounts may be accessible in real-time via a respective payment network. A respective debit or credit instruction may be transmitted to each of the identified payment networks to post a debit or credit to a corresponding financial account. Corresponding debit and/or credit status information may be received, and various status indications may be generated and transmitted, potentially for presentation to the requestor.

That which is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system, comprising:
 one or more computers comprising:   at least one memory storing computer-executable instructions; and   at least one processor configured to access the at least one memory and to execute the computer-executable instructions to:
 receive, on behalf of a requestor, a request associated with a financial transaction, wherein the request comprises first information associated with a first financial account to be debited and second information associated with a second financial account to be credited; 
 identify (i) the first financial account based at least in part on the first information and (ii) the second financial account based at least in part on the second information; 
 identify (i) a first payment network and (ii) a second payment network, wherein the first financial account and the second financial account are accessible by the payment system via the first payment network and the second payment network, respectively, wherein at least one of: i) the first payment network or ii) the second payment network comprises a network of financial institutions enabled by a payment processing module respectively provided at each of the financial institutions, and wherein the payment processing module comprises a network interaction component configured to communicate with the system to enable the system to access at least one of: (i) the first financial account or (ii) the second financial account in real-time; and 
 transmit (i) a debit instruction to the first payment network to post a debit to the first financial account and (ii) a credit instruction to the second payment network to post a credit to the second financial account, wherein the debit instruction and the credit instruction are associated with the financial transaction. 
   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the payment processing module further comprises an integration component configured to communicate with a respective core account processing system associated with each of the financial institutions, wherein the integration component is further configured to communicate with the network interaction component. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to access the at least one memory and to execute the computer-executable instructions to:
 generate, subsequent to at least one of: (i) transmitting the debit instruction or (ii) transmitting the credit instruction, an indication of one of: (i) a transaction status associated with the financial transaction or (ii) a debit status associated with the debit, or iii) a credit status associated with the credit,   wherein the transaction status comprises one of: (i) success of the financial transaction or (ii) failure of the financial transaction,   wherein the debit status comprises one of: (i) successful posting of the debit or (ii) failed posting of the debit, and   wherein the credit status comprises one of: (i) successful posting of the credit or (ii) failed posting of the credit; and   transmit, for presentation to the requestor, the indication of one of: (i) the transaction status, (ii) the debit status, or (iii) the credit status.   
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the payment processing module forms at least part of PEP+. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the first payment network comprises the network of financial institutions, wherein the first financial account is accessible in real-time by the system via the network interaction component of the payment processing module, and wherein the at least one processor is configured to transmit the debit instruction to the network interaction component of the payment processing module to post the debit to the first financial account in real-time. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the second payment network comprises the network of financial institutions, wherein the second financial account is accessible in real-time by the system via the network interaction component of the payment processing module, and wherein the at least one processor is configured to transmit the credit instruction to the network interaction component of the payment processing module to post the credit to the second financial account in real-time. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein one of: (i) the first payment network or (ii) the second payment network comprises the network of financial institutions, and wherein the other of: (i) the first payment network or (ii) the second payment network is one of: (i) a different real-time network from the network of financial institutions or (ii) a non-real-time network. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 7 , wherein the non-real-time network comprises an Automated Clearinghouse (ACH) network. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein transmission of one of: (i) the debit instruction or (ii) the credit instruction to the ACH network is enabled by PEP+. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein a settlement of funds associated with the financial transaction is enabled by PEP+. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to:
 validate at least one of: (i) the first financial account prior to transmitting the debit instruction to the first payment network or (ii) the second financial account prior to transmitting the credit instruction to the second payment network.   
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to validate at least one of: (i) the first financial account or (ii) the second financial account by:
 (i) performing a lookup of information stored in one or more datastores,   (ii) transmitting a respective validation request to each of at least one of: (i) the first payment network or (ii) the second payment network, or   (iii) transmitting a request for account information to each of at least one of: (i) the first payment network or (ii) the second payment network.   
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the payment processing module enables the validation of at least one of: (i) the first financial account or (ii) the second financial account. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to:
 format at least one of: (i) the debit instruction or (ii) the credit instruction to the network of financial institutions in accordance with an ACH standard.   
     
     
         15 . A method, comprising:
 receiving, by a payment system comprising one or more computers and on behalf of a requestor, a request associated with a financial transaction, wherein the request comprises first information associated with a first financial account to be debited and second information associated with a second financial account to be credited;   identifying, by the payment system, (i) the first financial account based at least in part on the first information and (ii) the second financial account based at least in part on the second information;   identifying, by the payment system, (i) a first payment network and (ii) a second payment network, wherein the first financial account and the second financial account are accessible by the payment system via the first payment network and the second payment network, respectively, wherein at least one of: i) the first payment network or ii) the second payment network comprises a network of financial institutions enabled by a payment processing module respectively provided at each of the financial institutions, and wherein the payment processing module comprises a network interaction component configured to communicate with the payment system to enable the payment system to access at least one of: (i) the first financial account or (ii) the second financial account in real-time; and   transmitting, by the payment system, (i) a debit instruction to the first payment network to post a debit to the first financial account and (ii) a credit instruction to the second payment network to post a credit to the second financial account, wherein the debit instruction and the credit instruction are associated with the financial transaction.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the payment processing module further comprises an integration component configured to communicate with a respective core account processing system associated with each of the financial institutions, wherein the integration component is further configured to communicate with the network interaction component. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 15 , further comprising:
 generating, by the payment system and subsequent to at least one of: (i) transmitting the debit instruction or (ii) transmitting the credit instruction, an indication of one of: (i) a transaction status associated with the financial transaction or (ii) a debit status associated with the debit, or iii) a credit status associated with the credit,   wherein the transaction status comprises one of: (i) success of the financial transaction or (ii) failure of the financial transaction,   wherein the debit status comprises one of: (i) successful posting of the debit or (ii) failed posting of the debit, and   wherein the credit status comprises one of: (i) successful posting of the credit or (ii) failed posting of the credit; and   transmitting, by the payment system for presentation to the requestor, the indication of one of: (i) the transaction status, (ii) the debit status, or (iii) the credit status.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the payment processing module forms at least part of PEP+. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein one of: (i) the first payment network or (ii) the second payment network comprises the network of financial institutions, and wherein the other of: (i) the first payment network or (ii) the second payment network is one of: (i) a different real-time network from the network of financial institutions or (ii) a non-real-time network. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein the non-real-time network comprises an Automated Clearinghouse (ACH) network, and wherein transmission of one of: (i) the debit instruction or (ii) the credit instruction to the ACH network is enabled by PEP+. 
     
     
         21 . A system, comprising:
 one or more computers comprising:   at least one memory storing computer-executable instructions; and   at least one processor configured to access the at least one memory and to execute the computer-executable instructions to:
 receive, on behalf of a requestor, a first request, wherein the first request is associated with a financial transaction, and wherein the first request comprises: (i) information identifying a financial account, and (ii) a funds amount associated with the financial transaction; 
 identify a payment network for accessing the financial account, wherein the payment network comprises a network of financial institutions enabled by a payment processing module respectively provided at each of the financial institutions, and wherein the payment processing module comprises a network interaction component configured to communicate with the system to enable the system to access the financial account in real-time; 
 transmit a second request associated with the first request to the payment network, wherein the second request comprises a request to determine, in real-time, whether a sufficient amount of funds is associated with the financial account; 
 receive a response to the second request from payment network; 
 transmit, for presentation to the requestor and based at least in part on the response received from the payment network, an indication of whether the sufficient amount of funds are associated with the financial account to permit a debit of the financial account of the funds amount. 
   
     
     
         22 . The system of  claim 21 , wherein the payment processing module further comprises an integration component configured to communicate with a respective core account processing system associated with each of the financial institutions, wherein the integration component is further configured to communicate with the network interaction component. 
     
     
         23 . The system of  claim 21 , wherein the payment processing module forms at least part of PEP+. 
     
     
         24 . The system of  claim 21 , wherein the response received from the payment network indicates that the sufficient amount of funds are associated with the financial account, and wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to:
 transmit, to the payment network, a request to initiate a hold of the funds amount for a period of time, wherein the hold is associated with the financial account and is enabled by the payment processing module.   
     
     
         25 . The system of  claim 21 , wherein the second request comprises a request for an account balance associated with the financial account, and wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to:
 identify the account balance from the response received from the payment network, wherein the response is enabled by the payment processing module; and   determine whether the sufficient amount of funds is associated with the financial amount based at least in part on the identified account balance and the funds amount.   
     
     
         26 . A method, comprising:
 receiving, by a payment system comprising one or more computers and on behalf of a requestor, a first request, wherein the first request is associated with a financial transaction, and wherein the first request comprises: (i) information identifying a financial account, and (ii) a funds amount associated with the financial transaction;   identifying, by the payment system, a payment network for accessing the financial account, wherein the payment network comprises a network of financial institutions enabled by a payment processing module respectively provided at each of the financial institutions, and wherein the payment processing module comprises a network interaction component configured to communicate with the payment system to enable the payment system to access the financial account in real-time;   transmitting, by the payment system to the payment network, a second request associated with the first request, wherein the second request comprises a request to determine, in real-time, whether a sufficient amount of funds is associated with the financial account;   receiving, by the payment system from the payment network, a response to the second request;   transmitting, by the payment system for presentation to the requestor and based at least in part on the response received from the payment network, an indication of whether the sufficient amount of funds are associated with the financial account to permit a debit of the financial account of the funds amount.   
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 26 , wherein the payment processing module further comprises an integration component configured to communicate with a respective core account processing system associated with each of the financial institutions, wherein the integration component is further configured to communicate with the network interaction component. 
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 26 , wherein the payment processing module forms at least part of PEP+.