Bill payment system and method

A method for requesting an interim payment comprising:

• sending a request to authorize a payment to the merchant, prior to enablement of a recurring payment process from the financial processor to the merchant;
• receiving a transaction coordination code from a bill pay service, wherein the bill pay service receives the transaction coordination code from a financial processor;
• and,
• requesting the interim payment, wherein the payment request includes the transaction coordination code.

A machine-readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of instructions for interim authorization, said plurality of instructions when executed by at least one processor, cause said processor to perform a method comprising the steps of:

• receiving a request from a merchant to authorize an interim payment to the merchant, prior to enablement of a recurring payment from the financial processor to the merchant;
• requesting a transaction coordination code from a financial processor;
• receiving the transaction coordination code;
• and,
• sending the transaction coordination code to the merchant, wherein the merchant obtains the interim payment from the financial processor using the transaction coordination code.

A bill payment management system comprising:

• a bill payment engine configured to:
• receive a request from a merchant to authorize an interim payment to the merchant, prior to enablement of a recurring payment from the financial processor to the merchant;
• request a transaction coordination code from a financial processor;
• receive the transaction coordination code;
• and,
• send the transaction coordination code to the merchant, wherein the merchant obtains the interim payment from the financial processor using the transaction coordination code.
• a bill payment tracking engine configured to track a plurality of bills through a bill payment cycle and to generate messages to at least one of:
• the merchant, the financial processor and a customer.