Method and apparatus for facilitating customer payments to creditors from a remote site

An apparatus for enabling customers of a plurality of creditors to visit a remote site and tender payment in response to receiving from at least one of said creditors a creditor billing statement including a customer account balance owed to a corresponding creditor, wherein customer payments tendered at said remote site are applied to corresponding customer account balances and at least two of said customer payments are directed to different creditors, said apparatus comprising:

• an agent processor, disposed at said remote site, to receive customer information and process said customer payments tendered at said remote site and to store customer payment information relating to said customer payments, wherein said agent processor includes an agent communication device for transmitting to a service provider site, at selected transmission times, said customer payment information accumulated between said transmission times;
• a host processor, disposed at said service provider site, for receiving said accumulated customer payment information from said agent processor;
• and
• a report processor to receive said customer payment information from said host processor and to generate a creditor report for at least two of said creditors including creditor collection information relating to each of said customer payments tendered at said remote site for the respective creditors, wherein said report processor includes:
• a format unit to examine said creditor collection information associated with each customer payment contained within said received customer payment information and to arrange said creditor collection information into at least two creditor sections with each creditor section including said creditor collection information associated with a different creditor, wherein said creditor collection information contained within the same creditor section is associated with the same creditor;
• a report generation unit to generate said creditor report for said at least two creditors to include the creditor section associated with that creditor;
• an agent activity module to examine said received customer payment information and monitor customer payment activity processed by said agent processor at said remote site;
• and
• a report communications device to transmit said creditor report for each of said at least two creditors to the corresponding creditor to facilitate updating of said corresponding customer account balances based on the customer payments tendered at said remote site.

A method of enabling customers of a plurality of creditors to visit a remote site and tender payment in response to receiving from at least one of said creditors a creditor billing statement including a customer account balance owed to a corresponding creditor, wherein each said creditor is associated with a respective creditor site and customer payments tendered at said remote site are applied to corresponding customer account balances, and wherein at least two of said customer payments are directed to different creditors, said method comprising the steps of:

• (a) receiving customer information and payments at said remote site from customers visiting said remote site and tendering said customer payments;
• (b) processing said customer payments and storing customer payment information relating to said customer payments via a remote processing system disposed at said remote site;
• (c) transmitting to a service provider site, at selected transmission times, said customer payment information accumulated between said transmission times;
• (d) processing at said service provider site said accumulated customer payment information received from said remote site, via a host processing system, and generating a creditor report for at least two of said creditors including creditor collection information relating to each of said customer payments tendered at said remote site for the respective creditors, and wherein step (d) further includes:
• (d.1) examining said creditor collection information associated with each customer payment contained within said received customer payment information and arranging said creditor collection information into at least two creditor sections with each creditor section including said creditor collection information associated with a different creditor, wherein said creditor collection information contained within the same creditor section is associated with the same creditor;
• (d.2) generating said creditor report for said at least two creditors to include the creditor section associated with that creditor;
• and
• (d.3) examining said received customer payment information and monitoring customer payment activity processed by said remote processing system at said remote site;
• and
• (e) sending said creditor report for each of said at least two creditors from said host processing system to the corresponding creditor to facilitate updating of said corresponding customer account balances based on the customer payments tendered at said remote site.

A method of enabling customers of a plurality of creditors to visit a remote site and tender payment in response to receiving from at least one of said creditors a creditor billing statement including a customer account balance owed to a corresponding creditor, wherein each said creditor is associated with a respective creditor site and customer payments tendered at said remote site are applied to corresponding customer account balances, and wherein at least two of said customer payments are directed to different creditors, said method comprising the steps of:

• (a) receiving customer information and payments at said remote site from customers visiting said remote site and tendering said customer payments;
• (b) processing said customer payments and storing customer payment information relating to said customer payments via a remote processing system disposed at said remote site;
• (c) transmitting to a service provider site, at selected transmission times, said customer payment information accumulated between said transmission times;
• (d) receiving at said service provider site, via a host processing system, said accumulated customer payment information from said remote site;
• (e) processing said accumulated customer payment information received from said host processing system, via a report processor, and generating a creditor report for at least two of said creditors including creditor collection information relating to each of said customer payments tendered at said remote site for the respective creditors, and wherein step (e) further includes:
• (e.1) examining said creditor collection information associated with each customer payment contained within said received customer payment information and arranging said creditor collection information into at least two creditor sections with each creditor section including said creditor collection information associated with a different creditor, wherein said creditor collection information contained within the same creditor section is associated with the same creditor;
• (e.2) generating said creditor report for said at least two creditors to include the creditor section associated with that creditor;
• and
• (e.3) examining said received customer payment information and monitoring customer payment activity processed by said remote processing system at said remote site;
• and
• (f) sending said creditor report for each of said at least two creditors from said report processor to the corresponding creditor to facilitate updating of said corresponding customer account balances based on the customer payments tendered at said remote site.

An apparatus for enabling customers of a plurality of creditors to visit a remote site and tender payment in response to receiving from at least one of said creditors a creditor billing statement including a customer account balance owed to a corresponding creditor, wherein customer payments tendered at said remote site are applied to corresponding customer account balances and at least two of said customer payments are directed to different creditors, and wherein an agent processor is disposed at said remote site to process said customer payments tendered at said remote site and store customer payment information relating to said customer payments and to transmit to a service provider site, at selected transmission times, said customer payment information accumulated between said transmission times, said apparatus comprising:

• a host processor, disposed at a service provider site, for receiving said customer payment information from said agent processor and including:
• a creditor report module to generate a creditor report for at least two of said creditors including creditor collection information relating to each of said customer payments tendered at said remote site for the respective creditors, wherein said creditor report module includes:
• a report format unit to examine said creditor collection information associated with each customer payment contained within said received customer payment information and to arrange said creditor collection information into at least two creditor sections with each creditor section including said creditor collection information associated with a different creditor, wherein said creditor collection information contained within the same creditor section is associated with the same creditor;
• and
• a report generation unit to generate said creditor report for said at least two creditors to include the creditor section associated with that creditor;
• an agent activity module to examine said received customer payment information and monitor customer payment activity processed by said agent processor at said remote site;
• and
• a host communications device to transmit said creditor report for each of said at least two creditors to the corresponding creditor to facilitate updating of said corresponding customer account balances based on the customer payments tendered at said remote site.

A method of enabling customers of a plurality of creditors to visit a remote site and tender payment in response to receiving from at least one of said creditors a creditor billing statement including a customer account balance owed to a corresponding creditor, wherein each said creditor is associated with a respective creditor site and customer payments tendered at said remote site are applied to corresponding customer account balances, and wherein at least two of said customer payments are directed to different creditors, and wherein a remote processing system disposed at said remote site processes said customer payments, stores customer payment information relating to said customer payments and transmits to a service provider site, at selected transmission times, said customer payment information accumulated between said transmission times, said method comprising the steps of:

• (a) processing at said service provider site said accumulated customer payment information received from said remote site, via a host processing system, and generating a creditor report for at least two of said creditors including creditor collection information relating to each of said customer payments tendered at said remote site for the respective creditors, and wherein step (a) further includes:
• (a.1) examining said creditor collection information associated with each customer payment contained within said received customer payment information and arranging said creditor collection information into at least two creditor sections with each creditor section including said creditor collection information associated with a different creditor, wherein said creditor collection information contained within the same creditor section is associated with the same creditor;
• (a.2) generating said creditor report for said at least two creditors to include the creditor section associated with that creditor;
• and
• (a.3) examining said received customer payment information and monitoring customer payment activity processed by said remote processing system at said remote site;
• and
• (b) sending said creditor report for each of said at least two creditors from said host processing system to the corresponding creditor to facilitate updating of said corresponding customer account balances based on the customer payments tendered at said remote site.