Methods and Systems for the Determination and Display of Payment Lead Time in an Electronic Payment System

Abstract

A system and method for determining and displaying a payment lead time or expected payment delivery time in an electronic payment system is disclosed. A payee associated with a payor is identified. Prior to receiving a payment request to pay the payee on behalf of the payor, an expected payment delivery time for a payment to fulfill the payment request is determined. The expected payment delivery time is based on at least one payment attribute associated with the payee and at least one payment attribute associated with the payor. An interface screen is then generated for displaying the determined expected payment delivery time.

1 . A method comprising:
 identifying, by a service provider, a payee associated with a payor, wherein the payee is capable of receiving both a paper payment type and an electronic payment type, and wherein a payment type for a payment to the payee on behalf of the payor is not determined until after a payment request associated with the payment is received;   determining, by the service provider prior to receiving the payment request, an expected payment delivery time for the payment based on a plurality of payment attributes comprising at least one payment attribute associated with the payee and at least one payment attribute associated with the payor, wherein the at least one payment attribute associated with the payor comprises at least one of an attribute associated with past payments of the payor or a special status associated with the payor; and   transmitting, by the service provider for presentation to the payor, an indicator associated with the determined expected payment delivery time.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one payment attribute associated with the payee includes at least one of (i) an electronic payment acceptance status of the payee, (ii) a reversibility ceiling of the payee, (iii) a rate of electronic payment failures to the payee, (iv) an average payment amount of payments to the payee, (v) a statistical function of payments made to the payee, (vi) a payment history associated with the payee, or (vii) a status of the payee. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one payment attribute associated with the payor further includes at least one of (i) an electronic payment status of the payor for the payee, (ii) a rate of electronic payment failures of the payor, (iii) the average payment amount of payments made by the payor, (iv) a statistical function of payments made by the payor, or (v) a history of payments made on behalf of the payor by the service provider. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the determination of the expected payment delivery time is further based on at least one payment attribute associated with the service provider, wherein the service provider is configured to submit a payment to the payee on behalf of the payor. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the at least one payment attribute associated with the service provider comprises a rate of electronic payment failures of payments made by the service provider for a predefined scope. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the predefined scope includes one of all the payments made by the service provider during a predefined period of time or the payments made by the service provider to the payee during a predefined period of time. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the expected payment delivery time is associated with a predicted payment type. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the predicted payment type is one of an electronic payment or a paper payment. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving the payment request from the payor to remit the payment to the payee on behalf of the payor;   determining, based on at least one condition, whether to perform at least one of (i) fulfilling the payment request via an electronic payment to the payee, (ii) fulfilling the payment request via a paper payment to the payee, or (iii) performing additional risk processing on the payment request in order to determine a payment type; and   completing processing of the payment request in accordance with the determination.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the at least one condition is one of (i) electronic payment acceptance status of the payee, (ii) a determination of whether a time until the due date of the payment is within a predetermined time window, (iii) a determination of whether a previous payment has been submitted to the payee on behalf of the payor, (iv) a determination of whether a last payment submitted to the payee on behalf of the payor was an electronic payment, (v) a determination of whether the payor has a negative history, or (vi) a determination of whether a reversibility ceiling associated with the payee has been exceeded. 
     
     
         11 . A system comprising:
 a processor configured (i) to determine, prior to receiving a payment request to pay a payee on behalf of a payor, an expected payment delivery time for the payment request based on a plurality of payment attributes comprising at least one payment attribute associated with the payee and at least one payment attribute associated with the payor, wherein the at least one payment attribute associated with the payor comprises at least one of an attribute associated with past payments of the payor or a special status associated with the payor, wherein the payee is capable of receiving both a paper payment type and an electronic payment type, and wherein a payment type for a payment to the payee is not determined until after the payment request is received; and   a network interface configured to transmit an indicator associated with the expected payment delivery time to the payor.   
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the at least one payment attribute associated with the payee includes at least one of (i) an electronic payment acceptance status of the payee, (ii) a reversibility ceiling of the payee, (iii) a rate of electronic payment failures to the payee, (iv) an average payment amount of payments to the payee, (v) a statistical function of payments made to the payee, (vi) a payment history associated with the payee, or (vii) a status of the payee. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the at least one payment attribute associated with the payor further includes at least one of (i) an electronic payment status of the payor for the payee, (ii) a rate of electronic payment failures of the payor, (iii) the average payment amount of payments made by the payor, (iv) a statistical function of payments made by the payor, or (v) a history of payments made on behalf of the payor by a payment service provider. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the processor is associated with a payment service provider and the determination of the expected payment delivery time is further based on at least one payment attribute associated with the payment service provider. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein the at least one payment attribute associated with the payment service provider comprises a rate of electronic payment failures of payments made by the payment service provider for a predefined scope. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 15  wherein the predefined scope includes one of all the payments made by the payment service provider during a predefined period of time or the payments made by the payment service provider to the payee during a predefined period of time. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the expected payment delivery time is associated with a predicted payment type. 
     
     
         18 . The of  claim 17 , wherein the predicted payment type is one of an electronic payment or a paper payment. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
 receive the payment request from the payor to remit the payment to the payee on behalf of the payor;   determine, based on at least one condition, whether to (i) fulfill the payment request via an electronic payment to the payee, (ii) fulfill the payment request via a paper payment to the payee, or (iii) perform additional risk processing on the payment request in order to determine a payment type; and   complete processing of the payment request in accordance with the determination.   
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 19 , wherein the at least one condition is one of (i) an electronic payment acceptance status of the payee, (ii) a determination of whether a time until the due date of the payment is within a predetermined time window, (iii) a determination of whether a previous payment has been submitted to the payee on behalf of the payor, (iv) a determination of whether a last payment submitted to the payee on behalf of the payor was an electronic payment, (v) a determination of whether the payor has a negative history, or (vi) a determination of whether a reversibility ceiling associated with the payee has been exceeded.