Notification of the availability of electronic bills

Abstract

To notify a person of the availability of electronic billing information, billing information associated with bills of a biller for its customers is stored in a first data store, and identify information identifying unregistered persons having billing information stored in the first data store, is stored in a second data store. Registration information identifying a person who is currently unregistered is received via a wide area network. The received registration information is compared with the identity information stored in the second data store. Based on the comparison, it is determined if the received registration information identifies a customer of the biller. If so, a notice of the availability of the stored billing information of the biller is transmitted to the person via the wide area network.

What is claimed: 
     
         1 . A system, comprising:
 one or more memories that stores computer-executable instructions; and   one or more computer processors configured to access the one or more memories, wherein at least one of the one or more processors is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to:
 determine a biller as an electronic biller whose bills are capable of being electronically presented by the system; 
 determine, responsive to determining the biller as an electronic biller, a payee list associated with a payor and comprising a payee that corresponds to the biller; 
 generate a first indication of the biller as an electronic biller; 
 generate a presentation of the payee list comprising a second indication of the biller as an electronic biller, wherein the second indication corresponds to the first indication; and 
 transmit the presentation of the payee list for presentation to the payor. 
   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the computer-executable instructions comprise further instructions to cause the one or more processors to:
 add the first indication to a database storing the payee list.   
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the computer-executable instructions to determine the payee list comprise further instructions to cause the one or more processors to:
 determine a set of payee lists comprising a respective payee that corresponds to the biller, and   wherein the computer-executable instructions to add the first indication to a database storing the payee list comprise further instructions to cause the one or more processors to:
 associate the first indication with each of the set of payee lists. 
   
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the computer-executable instructions to determine the biller as an electronic biller comprise further instructions to cause the one or more processors to:
 add the biller to a database that comprises electronic billers.   
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the second indication is generated based at least in part on the first indication. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the second indication is associated with the payee in the presentation. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the one or more processors to:
 receive, from the biller subsequent to being added to the payee list, billing information associated with the payor.   
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the second indication comprises a hyperlink selectable by the payor to cause the electronic bill presentment and payment system to inform the biller that the payor has selected electronic bill presentment for future bills from the biller. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the one or more processors to:
 receive a request from the payor to sign up for electronic bill presentment from the biller.   
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the request includes at least one of a selection to receive both electronic and paper bills, a selection to receive electronic bills only, a selection to receive both electronic and paper bills for a number of billing cycles or a time period and then electronic bills only, a selection to receive both electronic and paper bills for a trial period and then paper bills only, and a selection to receive electronic mail notification of available future billing information. 
     
     
         11 . A method comprising:
 determining, by a computerized electronic bill presentment and payment system comprising one or more computer processors, a biller as an electronic biller whose bills are capable of being electronically presented by the electronic bill presentment and payment system;   determining, by the computerized electronic bill presentment and payment system responsive to determining the biller as an electronic biller, a payee list associated with a payor and comprising a payee that corresponds to the biller;   generating, by the computerized electronic bill presentment and payment system, a first indication of the biller as an electronic biller;   generating, by the computerized electronic bill presentment and payment system, a presentation of the payee list comprising a second indication of the biller as an electronic biller, wherein the second indication corresponds to the first indication; and   transmitting, by the computerized electronic bill presentment and payment system via a network and for presentation to the payor, the presentation of the payee list.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising adding, by the computerized electronic bill presentment and payment system, the first indication to a database storing the payee list. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein determining the payee list comprises determining a set of payee lists comprising a respective payee that corresponds to the biller, and wherein adding the first indication to a database storing the payee list comprises associating the first indication with each of the set of payee lists. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising adding the biller to a database that comprises electronic billers. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the second indication is generated based at least in part on the first indication. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the second indication is associated with the payee in the presentation. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising receiving, from the biller subsequent to being added to the payee list, billing information associated with the payor. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the second indication comprises a hyperlink selectable by the payor to cause the electronic bill presentment and payment system to inform the biller that the payor has selected electronic bill presentment for future bills from the biller. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising receiving a request from the payor to sign up for electronic bill presentment from the biller. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein the request includes at least one of a selection to receive both electronic and paper bills, a selection to receive electronic bills only, a selection to receive both electronic and paper bills for a number of billing cycles or a time period and then electronic bills only, a selection to receive both electronic and paper bills for a trial period and then paper bills only, and a selection to receive electronic mail notification of available future billing information.