Process of and apparatus for notification of financial documents and the like

A computer system for allowing a payer to pay a payee as a financial transaction through a financial institution's computer system and securely providing the payee with access to a financial document relating to the financial transaction comprising:

• a payments adviser computer system remote from the payer's computer system and payee's computer system;
• at least one payments clearance computer system remote from the payer's computer system and payee's computer system;
• the payments adviser computer system configured to receive from the payer's computer system a request over the internet for a document reference code for a financial document relating to the payment constructed by the payer's computer system;
• the payment adviser system configured to allocate a document reference code to the payer's computer system in response to the request, document reference code being allocated as a short uniform resource identifier (URI) having a character length within an available character limit imposed by the payments clearance computer system to be used by the payer's financial institution's computer system;
• the payments adviser system configured to receive from the payer's computer system, at or after the time of the request, an upload over the internet of financial document to for storage per the document reference code;
• at the time of uploading the financial document, the payments adviser computer system configured to receive from the payer's computer system (a) payment account details of the payee and (b) security authentication information;
• at least one payments clearance computer system configured to process a payment instruction issued by the payer to the payer's financial institution's computer system that includes the amount to be transferred, the payment account details of the payee and the document reference code such that the document reference code appears in a transaction field in the documents received by the payee from the payee's financial institution's computer system;
• the at least one payments clearance computer system configured to process the payment instruction by debiting the payer financial institution's computer system and crediting the payee financial institution's computer system, such that the payee financial institution's computer system provides to the payee details of transaction including the document reference code;
• the payments adviser computer system configured to be contacted by the payee via the internet using in the URI the document reference code;
• the payments adviser computer system configured to provide to the payee the uploaded copy of the financial document via the internet.

In a system which includes:

• a payer's computer system operable by a payer,
• a payee's computer system operable by a payee;
• a payments adviser computer system comprising computer software executing on computer hardware remote from the payer and payee and communicable over the internet;
• and
• a payments clearance computer system comprising computer software executing on computer hardware remote from the payer's computer system and payee's computer system and which hardware includes a payer's financial institution's computer system and a payee's financial institution's computer system,
• the process comprising:
• the payee's computer system sending by the payee's computer system over the internet to the payments adviser computer system a request for a document reference code for a financial document, the payment adviser system allocating a document reference code to the financial document in response to the request, the document reference code being allocated as a short uniform resource identifier (URI) having a character length within an available character limit imposed by the payments clearance computer system to be used by the payer's financial institution's computer system;
• the payee's computer system at or after the time of the request, uploading over the internet the financial document to the payments adviser system for storage per the document reference code;
• and
• the payee's computer system sending by the payee's computer system to the payer's financial institution's computer system through the payments clearance system:
• a request for a payment;
• and
• the document reference code that signifies to the payer the location to access the financial document.

A process in a system for use by a payer and a payee, wherein the system comprises:

• a payments adviser computer system comprising computer software executing on computer hardware remote from the payer's computer system and payee's computer system and communicable over the internet;
• and
• a payments clearance system comprising computer software executing on computer hardware remote from the payer's computer system and payee's computer system and which hardware includes a payer's financial institution's computer system and a payee's financial institution's computer system,
• the process comprising:
• in response to a request from the payer's computer system, the payment adviser system allocating an identifier for a financial document of the payer, the identifier being allocated as a short uniform resource identifier (URI) having a character length within an available character limit imposed by the payments clearance system;
• the payments adviser system receiving an upload of the financial document from the payer's computer system at or after the time of the request and storing the financial document against the identifier;
• the payments clearance system receiving from the payer's computer system a payment and a payment reference containing or consisting of the identifier which signifies a location to access the financial document;
• the payments clearance system sending to the payee's financial institution's computer system a first payment advice containing information from the payer' financial institution including the identifier thereby enabling the payee's financial institution's computer system to create a second payment advice or a bank statement accessible to the payee containing information from the first payment advice, thereby allowing the payee to provide the identifier and access the stored financial document.

A computer system for allowing a payer to pay a payee as a financial transaction through a financial institution and providing the payee with means to access a financial document relating to the financial transaction, the system comprising:

• a payments adviser computer system remote from the payer's computer system and payee's computer system;
• and
• at least one payments clearance computer system remote from the payer's computer system and payee's computer system;
• the payment adviser system being adapted to allocate a document reference code in response to a request from the payer's computer system for the document reference code for a financial document constructed by the payer's computer system, the document reference code being allocated as a short uniform resource identifier (URI) having a character length within an available character limit imposed by the payments clearance system;
• the payments adviser system being adapted to receive the financial document from the payer's computer system at or after the time of the request and to store the financial document per the document reference code;
• the payments adviser system being further adapted to receive from the payer's computer system (a) payment account details of the payee and (b) security authentication information;
• the at least one payments clearance computer system being further adapted to:
• debit the payer's financial institution and crediting the payee's financial institution's computer system upon receiving confirmation that a payment instruction has been issued to the payer's financial institution's computer system including the amount to be transferred, the payment account details of the payee and the document reference code and that the payer's financial institution's computer system has processed the payment;
• and
• to provide to the payee a copy of the uploaded financial document via the internet upon being contacted by the payee via the internet using the document reference code.