Persistent dynamic payment service

In a method of making a payment from a payer to a merchant in an online transaction involving an online purchase over a first network, the transaction being of the type where the payment involves the merchant accepting a proposed payment in the form of an account number having a standard syntax at completion of the purchase, followed by the merchant requesting an authorization for the proposed payment from a financial institution, the improvement comprising the following acts performed by a trusted third party service:

• a) allowing the payer to initiate a persistent channel with the trusted third party service prior to completing the online purchase;
• b) receiving a request from a Payment Processor for approval of the proposed payment pertaining to the account number, whereby the account number was submitted as the proposed payment in the online transaction;
• c) verifying the proposed payment by verifying that the persistent channel is available, and optionally contacting the payer over the persistent channel for additional verification, if additional verification is required by predetermined;
• and
• d) transmitting an instruction to the Payment Processor wherein the content of said instruction depends on whether the transaction is verified or denied.

In a method of making a payment from a payer to a merchant in an online transaction over a first network, the transaction involving an online purchase and being of the type where the payment involves the beneficiary accepting a proposed payment in the form of an account number having a standard syntax, followed by the merchant requesting an authorization for the proposed payment from a financial institution, the improvement comprising the following acts performed by a trusted third party service:

• a) associating an identifier assigned to the payer with at least one valid account number and other information pertaining to the payer in a database accessible to the trusted third party service;
• b) allowing the payer to initiate a persistent channel over the first network with the trusted third party service prior to completing the online purchase;
• c) receiving a request from a Payment Processor for approval of the proposed payment pertaining to the account number, whereby the account number was submitted as the proposed payment in the online transaction, and wherein the account number is in the standard syntax and comprises routing information associated with the Payment Processor;
• d) verifying the proposed payment by verifying that the persistent channel is available, and optionally contacting the payer over the persistent channel for additional verification, if additional verification is required by predetermined;
• e) processing the request by identifying the at least one valid account number;
• and
• f) transmitting an instruction to the Payment Processor wherein the content of said instruction depends on whether the transaction is verified or denied, and if the transaction is verified, the instruction comprises a valid account number associated with said identifier.

A dynamic payment system in a node joining a first network whereupon online transactions are conducted and a private payment approval network comprising:

• a) at least one computer server comprising software executing thereon comprising the following functionality:
• i) functionality for establishing a persistent channel with a plurality of user's for dynamic approval of online payment transactions taking place on the first network using the users' network enabled devices
• ii) functionality for recognizing and receiving requests from a Payment Processor for authorization of proposed payments originating from the users' network enabled devices, the requests having been transferred to the Payment Processor over the private payment approval network,
• iii) functionality for verifying the proposed payments over the persistent channel, and
• iv) functionality for transferring a plurality of instructions to the Payment Processor, each of said plurality of instructions depending on whether a proposed payment is verified;
• and
• b) a database comprising users' data and preferences.

In a method for transferring funds between a payer having a payer's account in a first institution said account being represented by a payer's debit card number and a receiver having a receiver's account in a second institution said receiver's account represented by a receiver's debit card number wherein the transfer is initiated by the payer on an on-line service and routed for processing between the first financial institution and the second financial institution by a Payment Processor, the improvement comprising the following acts performed by a trusted third party service:

• a) associating a proxy debit card number assigned to the receiver with at least one valid debit account number and other information about the receiver in a database accessible to the trusted third party service, wherein the proxy debit card number follows a standard syntax for debit cards and comprises routing information which allows it to be routed to the trusted third party service;
• b) receiving a request from the Payment Processor pertaining to a payment intended for the proxy debit account number;
• c) processing the request comprising finding the at least one valid debit account number corresponding to the proxy debit card number;
• d) transmitting at least one instruction to the Payment Processor comprising a valid debit account number associated with the proxy debit account number.

A dynamic payment system in a node joining a first network whereupon online transactions are carried out, and a private payment approval network, the system comprising:

• a) agent means for establishing persistent channels with a plurality of users' network accessible devices and transmitting and receiving messages over said plurality of persistent channels;
• b) portal means for presenting a web page to each of the plurality of users' network accessible devices, and sending and receiving information between the dynamic payment system and the plurality of users' network accessible devices, and maintaining connection data pertaining to said plurality of users' network accessible devices;
• c) server means for mapping data pertaining to a plurality of users into a database means, receiving and processing requests from a Payment Processor, and responding to the Payment Processor;
• and
• d) database means for storing said data pertaining to a plurality of users.