Method to identify clients and method for using a teleterminal device

A method for enabling a customer to conduct business transactions with a business service provider using a teleterminal connected to the business service provider's central service center via a telecommunications network, and for verifying whether the customer has rights to conduct the business transactions, comprising the steps of:

• (a) providing the central service center with a contract database for storing contract data representative of contracts for business transactions that may be conducted by the customer;
• (b) providing the central service center with an identification database for storing, in a customer identification file, identification data containing personal information representative of the customer's identity, and customer rights data comprising contract symbols representative of the customer's rights to conduct business transactions;
• (c) providing the central service center with a customer database for storing data necessary for conducting the business transactions between the teleterminal and the central service center;
• (d) at the customer's request, automatically generating a contract at the central service center from said contract database, said contract, when executed by the customer, granting the customer a right to conduct a particular business transaction through the central service center;
• (e) transmitting said contract from the central service center to the customer;
• (f) executing said contract by the customer, so that the customer is granted said right to conduct said particular business transaction through the central service center;
• (g) returning, by the customer, said executed contract to the central service center;
• (h) storing said executed contract in said contract database;
• (i) generating, at the central service center, a particular contract symbol representative of the customer's right to conduct said particular business transaction through the central service center;
• (j) storing said particular contract symbol in said identification database;
• (k) transmitting said particular contract symbol from the central service center to the customer;
• (l) at a time after said step (k), presenting by the customer, from the teleterminal, said particular contract symbol and at least a portion of said identifying data to the central service center to indicate that the customer wishes to initiate said particular business transaction and to provide proof of the customer's identity;
• (m) verifying, at the central service center, the customer's identity by comparing said at least a portion of the identifying data presented by the customer at said step (l) to the identifying data stored in said identification database, and verifying the customer's right to conduct said particular business transaction by comparing said particular contract symbol presented by the customer at said step (l) to contract symbols stored in said identification database;
• and
• (n) when the customer's identity and right to conduct said particular business transaction are verified at said step (m), enabling, by the central service center, the customer using the teleterminal to conduct said particular business transaction through said central service center in accordance with said customer database.