Methods for discovering and paying debts owed by a group

A computer-implemented method to rank payment requests, comprising:

• receiving, using one or more computing devices, a plurality of payment requests from payment requesters, each payment request being received from a requester computing device associated with a particular one of the payment requesters, and each payment request comprising identification information for the particular one of the payment requesters, and indication of an amount for which the particular one of the payment requesters would like to be paid;
• associating, using the one or more computing devices, a payment request identifier with each of the plurality of payment requests;
• receiving, using the one or more computing devices, a message requesting a ranking of payment requests, the message being received from a payor computing device associated with a payor;
• searching, using the one or more computing devices, social network information of the payor for occurrences of the payment requesters to assess a strength of social network connections between the payor and each of the plurality of payment requesters;
• comparing , using the one or more computing devices, the location data of the payor computing device with the location data of each of the requester computing devices to determine whether the location of the payor computing device provided in the location data for the payor computing device matches the location for any of the requester computing devices providing in the location data for each of the requester computing devices;
• searching, using the one or more computing devices, a transaction history of the payor to identify a number of previous transactions between the payor and each of the plurality of payment requestors;
• generating , using the one or more computing devices, a ranked list of the payment requests by ranking the payment requests based at least in part on one or more of the, the strength of social network connections between the payor and each of the plurality of payment requesters, and the number of previous transactions between the payor and each of the plurality of payment requesters ;
• and
• providing, using the one or more computing devices, the ranked list of the payment requests to the payor computing device for display to the payor computing device.

A computer program product, comprising:

• a non-transitory computer-readable storage device having computer-executable program instructions embodied thereon that when executed by a computer rank payment requests, the computer-executable program instructions comprising:
• computer-executable program instructions to receive a plurality of payment requests each payment request being received from a requester computing device associated with a particular one of the payment requesters, and each payment request comprising identification information for the particular one of the payment requesters, and indication of an amount for which the particular one of the payment requesters would like to be paid;
• computer-executable program code to associate a payment request identifier with each of the plurality of payment requests;
• computer-executable program instructions to receive a message requesting a ranking of payment requests, the message being received from payor computing device associated with a payor ;
• computer-executable program instructions to search social network information of the payor for occurrences of the payment requesters to assess a strength of social network connection between the payor and each of the plurality of payment requesters;
• computer-executable program instructions to generate a ranked list of the payment requests by ranking the payment requests based at least in part on one or more of the strength of social network connections between the payor and each of the plurality of payment requesters, and the number of previous transactions between the payor and each of the plurality of payment requesters;
• and
• computer-executable program instructions to provide the ranked list of the payment requests to the payor computing device for display to the payor .

A system to rank payment requests, the system comprising:

• a storage device;
• a network device;
• and
• a processor communicatively coupled to the storage resource and the network module, wherein the processor executes application code instructions that are stored in the storage resource and that cause the system to:
• receive plurality of payment requests, each payment request being received from a requestor computing device associated with a particular one of the payment requesters, and each payment request comprising identification information of the particular one of the payment requests, and an indication of an amount for which the particular one of the payment requesters would like to be paid;
• associate a payment request identifier with each of the plurality payment requests;
• receive a message requesting a ranking of payment requests, the message being received from a payor computing device associated with a payor;
• search social network information of the payor for occurrences of the payment requesters to assess a strength of social network connection between the payor and each of the plurality of payment requests;
• search a transaction history of the payor to identify a number of previous transactions between the payor and each of the plurality of the payment requestors;
• generate a ranked list of the payment requests by ranking the payment requests based at least in part on one or more of the strength of social network connections between the payor and each of the plurality of payment requesters, and the number of previous transactions between the payor and each of the payment requesters;
• and
• provide the ranking of the payment requests to the payor for display on the payor computing device.