System and method to push payment to beneficiary account using an alias

A method comprising:

• receiving an alias character string in a message from a service provider;
• using the alias character string to route a request to an issuer of a user bank account, the request for obtaining credit information about a user who owns said user bank account;
• receiving a response to the request from the issuer of the user bank account, said response providing a positive or negative indication regarding the user;
• and
• transmitting said positive or negative indication to the service provider.

A method comprising:

• receiving a funds transfer request, the funds transfer request including target account information, the target account information for identifying a bank account to which funds are to be transferred pursuant to the request;
• determining that the target account information does not include a bank account number;
• and
• in response to determining that the target account information does not include a bank account number, initiating a process to translate an alias character string contained in the target account information to a bank account number.