MXPA96001445A - System and automatic method of p - Google Patents

Abstract

A system and method for collecting payments, which uses an automatic system that generates a document, payable to the payee of the payer's checking account, after its authorization. This document is executed by the debt collector with the authorized signature of the payer, and is deposited in the beneficiary's account for payment. The automatic system has an entry screen, with the necessary information for the payment document, which can be read to the system operator by telephone for the authorization of the payer. After verification, the system generates a document payable to the beneficiary, using MICR ink, and thus the document can be processed in the bank as an ordinary check. The signature table of the document is made by the collection agent "as a signature authorized by" the payer. The system provides an authorization key that will be given to a client system, to allow the printing of a given additional number of checks. The customer's system includes an indicator that is activated by lowering the remaining number of authorized checks. The client's instructions are also registered when an authorization key is requested, and a record is made of a location on a record medium of the registered authorization. The system supplies the automatic production of a deposit strip to deposit a plurality of checks.

Description

AUTOMATIC PAYMENT SYSTEM AND METHOD FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to systems and methods for the collection of payments, which uses an automatic payment document printing system, operated by a payment collector.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The efficient operation of the modern economy depends on the easy availability of payment mechanisms, by which funds can be transferred between the parties. A number of mechanisms have been made available for use both at the point of sale and for the collection of debts related to previous sales. At the point of sale, the most popular payment mechanisms in recent times have been cash, personal checks and credit cards issued by banks, including MasterCard ™, VISA ™, Discover ™ and American Express ™. Other methods of payment include credit accounts issued by warehouses, bank account debit cards, delivery against payment (COD) and contracted payment plans, in which the customer agrees to pay for the products or services according to a program predetermined.

Advance payment is the only one of these methods that is not subject to non-payment or later revocation, which could prevent the merchant from collecting the amount owed. Personal checks can be returned for insufficient funds and are subject to arrest warrants by your sender. Sales by credit cards are subject to federal laws that allow for non-payment, or at least a considerable delay in payment, if the customer indicates that the quality of the products or services provided was not satisfactory. Issuers of credit cards, credit accounts and payment plans run the risk that the credit bill, even if it is not disputed, is not paid in accordance with the credit agreement. Sales by debit cards are subject to the federal regulations for the electronic transfer of funds, which make it possible, under certain circumstances, to later disapprove a transaction. Delivery versus payment transactions (COD) can be rejected by the buyer at the time of delivery, which leaves the seller the absorption of the cost of delivery deprecated. While some refusals of payment are the result of a legitimate dispute between the buyer and the seller, many of these cases are a violation of the customer's duty to pay. The losses of the bad debts must be absorbed by the merchant and passed on to future clients. Thus, many merchants may prefer to charge cash to customers. However, the inherent loss risk of carrying large amounts of cash discourages many people from doing so and employs them to pay for many of the more expensive products and services. Likewise, when the products or services are to be delivered some time later, customers will not want to pay in advance and thus assume the risk of default or bankruptcy of the seller, before delivering the products or services. The customer has no funds to make the purchase and needs to finance the purchase through a loan.For these reasons and others, these alternative payment mechanisms have become collectively more popular in comparison to the payment in advance with cash. and merchants must necessarily offer alternative methods of payment Several systems have been developed to reduce the risk of merchants by accepting checks and other non-cash instruments, for example, US Patent No. 5,053,607 of Carlson and collaborators, shows a system at the point of sale to verify the availability of funds, so that the merchant can determine if accept or not a check Of course, these systems do not protect against a subsequent order to stop payment, issued by the customer. The popularity of these "promises to pay" has also resulted in the growth of a whole collection industry, dedicated to finally collect debts represented by checks, credit accounts and payment agreements, in cases where these debts have not been paid in a timely manner. When a debt is not paid, a merchant or the issuer of the credit can hire a collection agency to seek recovery of the debt. This collection agency usually makes repeated contact with the debtor by telephone and / or by mail in an attempt to obtain payment. In general, collection agencies try to persuade the debtor to send a check to them in payment of the debt. Of course, debtors often postpone payment with the phrase, often used, of "the check has been mailed". Even if the check is received, it is subject to rejection, as mentioned above. Collection agencies can also accept credit cards, but many debtors do not have credit cards or do not have enough credit to pay the amount due using their credit cards. Also, a cable service is offered by ester Union ™, for example, which allows people to pay cash or by check at a remote location and transfer the funds to the collection agency, for a substantial fee. This system requires the debtor to physically go to the wire transfer office to pay and it is less convenient and effective for that reason. Due to the substantial manual effort involved in repeated contact with a debtor, collection agencies are often paid in the form of a substantial percentage of the amounts charged. Again, this represents a loss to the merchant, which must be recovered through price increases to future customers. As mentioned before, a particular type of debt that often causes collection problems is an agreement to make scheduled payments. A variety of products and services, such as in automobiles, household services, large drying products, and health club memberships, are often purchased in payment plans. Due to the repeated nature of the payments, it is possible that even the most diligent payer, at some point, may forget to send the payment or send it later. Similarly, while the mail system in developed countries, such as in the United States of America, achieves a very high delivery regime, it is statistically inevitable that some payments by mail will not be delivered. One solution to the problems of reliably charging repeated payments is a previously automated self-debiting electronic debit. Many large, well-connected creditors, such as banks and carmakers' financial meetings, generate monthly authorized payment tapes, which are then processed electronically within the banking system. The funds are withdrawn from the consumer's checking account and transferred directly to the creditor. This service has recently been made available to smaller accounts with a substantial charge per transaction. However, this bank electronic system is adapted primarily by the process of previously authorized transfers, on predetermined particular dates, and the deposits, therefore, can not be fully processed in the manner convenient for the parties. A connection to a bank is necessary, which involves obtaining and maintaining a direct connection or the use of a transaction processing company. Likewise, these electronic funds transfers can not be authorized by telephone; and a written authorization is legally required, so the immediate authorized collection of a debit can not be achieved by this method. Other automatic payment systems have been developed, but do not achieve the advantages of the present invention. U.A. Patent No. 5,121,945 to Thomson et al. Shows a system for the generation of regular checks, such as for the payment of service bills, in customer accounts using a laser printer with a magnetic toner cartridge. With the use of the information stored in the accounts, an authorized check is generated by the central system and transmitted to the payer for approval, signed and returned. While this system may be advantageous for the limited purposes described, it does not provide a system in which transfers can be authorized by telephone and executed without the delays of the mail. U.A. Patent No. 4,823,264 to Deming shows a system in which a customer can electronically pay invoices using a computer. The customer's computer transmits an order to pay an invoice to a central location, and a payment document is generated for transmission to the beneficiary. The availability of funds can be verified before the generation of the payment document. This system requires that the debtor have a particular computer equipment and, therefore, will not be effective in generalized debt collection situations. The patent of E. U. A., No. 4,960,981 of Benton et al. Discloses a method and system for transferring funds, wherein the order signed by the customer to pay is transmitted to the bank by fax. The bank's fax receiver is equipped with a character recognition device, which takes the necessary information from the order, after which the system verifies the availability of funds and makes the required payment if these funds are available. This system can only be used in cases where the bank involved has the special equipment required and the customer is present to sign the payment instructions. Accordingly, it is believed that there is a need for an improved system and method for debt collection, which can be used to charge these immediately to the debtor's bank account, when the debtor authorizes this method of charging by telephone.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Therefore, a general object of the present invention is to provide a method to collect funds from a client's checking account, when this is authorized, without requiring that the executed check be mailed to the beneficiary. It is another object of the present invention to provide a method for providing an authorization key to a customer system, to allow authorized printing of a specified additional number of checks. It is a further general object of the present invention to provide a system which facilitates the authoritative generation of a payment order for the transfer of funds from a customer's checking account.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a method for providing a method that supplies a customer system with an indication that the remaining number of authorized checks is low. Another object of the present invention is to provide a system for generating authorized payment documents in a plurality of financial accounts belonging to a plurality of payers. A further object of the present invention is to provide a system for the generation of authorized payment documents, which receive sufficient input information to generate this payment document, and to process the information to produce a payment document that will be executed by an agent authorized for the payer. It is another object of the present invention to provide a method for registering client instructions that require an authorization key, and registering a location on a means of registering the authorization itself. Another object of the present invention is to provide an isolation system for producing payment documents in a plurality of accounts, in which this system includes a laser printer using a MICR toner cartridge.

A further object of the present invention is to provide systems for producing payment documents in a plurality of accounts belonging to a plurality of persons, who receive the input information and verify this information to prevent the generation of non-negotiable payment documents. Still another object of this invention is to provide a system for automatically producing payment documents, which verifies the key information of the bank's entry route, comparing the information to a database, with the bank's identification information. A further object of the present invention is to provide a system for automatically producing payment documents that verify the probable validity of a account number that identifies a financial account. Another object of the present invention is to provide a payment system that produces a payment document, which identifies high-risk documents and proportions an increased level of verification for such documents. A further object of the present invention is to provide a programming system for automatically scheduling the future production of payment documents, which includes a predetermined limited sequence of payment documents or a series of periodic payment documents.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a system which automatically generates authorized payment documents and also automatically generates a verification notice to the person authorizing the payment documents. Another object of the present invention is to provide a geographically dispersed system for the payment document process, in which a plurality of data collection stations are connected to a central payment document production system, which generates these payment documents. payment. It is another object of the present invention to provide a method for automatically producing a deposit strip to deposit a plurality of checks. Another object of the present invention is to provide a payment document production system, which has security measures associated with it, to reduce the probability of production of unauthorized payment documents. A more particular object of the present invention is to provide a payment document production system, which is designed to produce payment documents payable only to a predetermined part, so that the name of this part can not be easily changed by a user of the system.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a process for receiving payments, in which an automatic payment document production system is provided, to produce payment documents from a payer's account, which can be executed by another person besides the payer. It is also an object of the present invention to provide a process for collecting a payment, in which a payer authorizes the withdrawal of funds from his checking account, for example by telephone, a payment document is generated using an automatic production system of these documents, the negotiability of the document is verified, the document is executed on behalf of the payer and deposited in the account of the payment collector. Still another object of the present invention is to provide a process for collecting payments, in which a payer authorizes the withdrawal of funds from the checking account of this payer, for example by telephone, a payment document is generated with the use of the system production of this document, the document is executed on behalf of the payer, and deposited in the payment collector's account, in which the authorizations are received in a plurality of geographically dispersed locations and are transmitted to the central location of the service for the generation of payment documents.

Other objects of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from a review of the specification, drawings and claims of the present invention. These objects and others are achieved, according to the present invention, by the provision of a system and method for collecting debts, in which an automatic process generates a payment document, payable to the creditor and withdrawn from the account of the debtor's checks, upon receiving authorization from this debtor. The payment document is then executed by the debt collector as authorized by the debtor's signature, and deposited in the creditor's account. The automatic system used to generate the payment documents in the preferred mode has a simple entry screen, which receives the information necessary for the generation of the payment document, which in the preferred scenario is read to the system operator on the telephone by the debtor, who has authorized the payment. The system then immediately verifies the information of the bank and the account by comparing the input information to the data in the database of the bank information, associated with the system. This verification process ensures that any error in the transmission of the identification information of the account can be rectified during the convere > with the debtor.

Optionally, after verifying the account information, the system can generate a question to the bank to determine the availability of funds in the debtor's account. When all the verification is complete, the system generates a bank payment document payable to the creditor, using MICR ink, so that this payment document can be processed in the bank's system as an ordinary check. The block of signatures of payment documents is made for the collection agent "as a signature authorized by" the debtor. In this way, it is possible to obtain authorization for the payment of a debt in a telephone conversation with the debtor and to immediately deposit the payment document authorized by the debtor to begin the payment process, without depending on the debtor and the system of payment. mail for the delivery of a signed payment order, to a collection agent of the creditor. This system and method is particularly advantageous in the automation of the debt process by the copper agencies and as an alternative payment to credit cards and COD deliveries for products and services ordered by telephone. Finally, this system and method can be used advantageously for the generation of regular payments by businesses whose previously authorized payments are not sufficiently regular to justify the electronic transfers of funds in regular amounts.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 is a diagram of the hardware (equipment) used in a preferred embodiment of the present invention for generating payment documents in a customer's bank account; Figure 2 is a flow chart showing a preferred embodiment of the automatic charging method, in accordance with the present invention; Figure 3 is a representation of the main menu display in the preferred embodiment of the invention; Figure 4 is a representation of the data entry screen, according to the preferred embodiment of the invention; Figure 5 is a representation of the display of the screen when instructions of a subsequently dated payment document are entered into the system; Figure 6 is a representation of the display case, showing an error message, indicating an invalid identification number of the bank; Figure 7 is a diagram of a screen display showing an error message of the postal area; Figure 8 is a diagram of a further preferred embodiment of the present invention, in which computer systems are provided in a plurality of locations, to collect and verify the data of the payment document and this data is then transmitted to an office central service for the production of payment documents; Figure 9 is a schematic diagram of frames of the software structure (programs) in the preferred embodiment of the present invention; Figure 10 is a sample of a payment document generated in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention; Figure 11 is a flowchart schematically illustrating the steps used to supply a customer system with an authorization key; Figure 12 is a flow diagram, schematically illustrating the steps used to supply a customer system with an indication that the remaining number of authorized checks is low; Figure 13 is a flowchart, schematically illustrating the steps for registering the instructions of the client requesting the authorization key, the registration of a location in the registration means of this authorization; and Figure 14 is a flow diagram, schematically illustrating the steps performed in automatically producing a deposit strip to deposit a plurality of checks.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED MODALITIES In general, as described above, the present invention provides a system and method for collecting payments, in which an automatic system generates a payment document, payable to the beneficiary and charged to the checking account of the beneficiary. payer, when authorized by this payer. The payment document is then executed by the beneficiary's collector with the authorized signature of the payer and deposited in the beneficiary's account. The automatic system used to generate the payment documents in the preferred mode has a simple entry screen, which receives the necessary information for the generation of the document, which in a typical scenario will be read to the system operator through the telephone by the payer, who authorizes the transfer. The system then immediately verifies the information of the bank and the account, co-pando the information of entrance to the data in the database of the information of the bank, associated with the system. This verification process ensures that any errors in the transmission of the account identification information can be rectified during the conversation with the payer. Optionally, after verifying the account information, the system can generate a question to the bank to determine the availability of funds in the payer's account. When the verification is complete, the system generates a bank payment document, payable to the creditor, using the MICR ink, so that the payment document can be processed in the bank's system as an ordinary check. The block of signatures of the payment documents is made for the collection agent "as a signature authorized by" the payer. In this way, it is possible to obtain authorization for the payment of a debt in a telephone conversation with the payer and immediately deposit the payment document authorized by the payer to begin the payment process, without depending on the payer and the mail system to deliver a signed payment order to the beneficiary's collection agent. Referring first to Figure 1, the present invention is performed in a first preferred embodiment, using a localized computer system 100, comprising a personal computer 102 and an exhibit screen 104, a keyboard 106 and a printer 108 connected to the personal computer 102. The printer 108 is preferably a page laser printer, such as any of the printers sold under the trademark of Laserjet ™ by the Hewlett-Packard company. The printer 108 operates using a toner cartridge 110, installed inside this printer 108, and the toner cartridge is of the type which prints with a magnetically charged ink, which can be read by the Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) equipment. (Recognition of Magnetic Ink Characters), used by the automatic check clearing centers of the bank system. These MICR toner cartridges can be obtained from a number of sources, for example from the LaserScript division of Matrix Tehnology, Inc., 7129 Banjo Ct. , Columbia, MD 21045; or from MICT Tech Group, Inc., P.O. Box 152, Brownstown, IND 47220. The cartridge used must be one selected for compatibility with the make and model of the printer 108 that is used. The personal computer 102 can be an IBM ™ compatible personal computer, which incorporates an INTEL 80X86 ™ microprocessor and operates the Microsoft MS-DOS ™ operating system or another of several operating systems adapted to work in this class of computers. Of course, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the system can also be adapted to a variety of personal computers, minicomputers or mainframe computers, using a variety of printers, and the invention is not limited to the particular hardware described in this embodiment. preferred The system 100 can be operated on a single input workstation, as shown, or multiple input workstations can be supplied.

The computer 102 is optionally provided with a fax modem (demodulator-modulator) 112, which can be installed internally on the computer 102 and connected to a telephone line of output (not shown). The 112 fax modem can be a JT FAX Board, made by Hayes Microcomputer Products, Inc., of Atlanta, Georgia. The fax modem 112 allows the software operating on the computer 102 to electronically generate fax images and subsequently tune to a remote fax machine and transmit the image to this remote machine. As will be explained in more detail later, this fax modem can be used in the preferred embodiment of the present invention to generate and deliver a research letter to the debtor's bank, to determine whether this debtor's account has good goodwill and has sufficient funds. to make the payment to an authorized payment document. The system disclosed here can be used advantageously as part of the debt collection process in which the debtor is in contact with the collection agent through the telephone and, if he wishes to pay, he is asked to authorize the generation and presentation of a document of payment in the debtor's checking account. The name, address and phone number of the debtor, the description of the debt and the amount are typically already known by the collection agent. In the case of using this system for orders by mail or telephone of products and services, this information will be obtained by the person who receives the order and is entered into the system. The remaining entry information, described in the desired transaction of the payment document, particularly the ABA number, account number and number of the next check, is obtained from the debtor, usually by reading the numbers in the background of one of the checks of the debtor. The next check number n the sequence of the debtor's checks is obtained and the debtor is instructed to destroy the existing check bearing that number. After processing by the check clearing office system, the generated payment document will appear on the statements of the debtor's bank account as a numbered check and the paid document will be returned to the debtor with his other checks, depending on the practices of the financial institution of the debtor. For convenience, the person operating the system will generally be referred to hereinafter as a "collection agent" or collections and the payer will be referred to as the "debtor". However, it must be recognized that the present system and method can be used not only to collect previously existing debts, but also as a payment mechm for telephone or other sales. In this case, the person authorizing the payment document will be a customer and the system operator will be a processor of the order. Likewise, for convenience, the financial institution that maintains the debtor's account will be generally referred to as a bank, but it must be understood that this financial institution can be a savings and loan company, a credit union, a brokerage company, a company of investments or an issuer of money market accounts, or any other public or private institution in which the debtor may legally issue an instruction to pay funds to a designated party. The software program operating on the computer 102 is preferably actuated by menus. Figure 3 shows a preferred main menu for the software program. As can be seen with reference to Figure 3, the software functions accessible from the main menu preferably include the entry of new information of the production of payment documents (checks); the entry of information for the production of a series of payment documents in the same account; edit payment documents currently scheduled for production and deposit; edit payment documents scheduled for future production and deposit; view or delete the information of the payment document registered in the system; see records (file information) of past payment documents produced by the system; printing of payment documents; perform the system's service functions; and finish the execution of the program. The selection of system services in the main menu preferably produces the display of a service menu that provides a number of system management functions. For example, these functions preferably include the re-ranking of the databases associated with the system, the data support functions, the security functions, such as the change of authorized words of approval for the operation of the system, the update to the databases, such as the postal area database and the ABA database, the system configuration functions, such as the selection of the port to which the printer is connected, the type of Sora, etc .; adjustment of facsimile verification functions, purging of stored records, such as records of archived checks, and other desired functions of system management. The software preferably operates in accordance with the flow chart of Figure 2. As shown in Figure 2, in Table 202, the information necessary to specify the payment document is entered into the computer 102 as part of a process of information entry, preferably during the course of the telephone conversation, described above, with the debtor. Specifically, in table 202 the information of the transaction is entered into computer 102 (shown in Figure 1). This transaction information is preferably entered using the keyboard 106 (shown in Figure 1). In performing the stage of table 202, the screen 104 (shown in Figure 1) will preferably display a data entry screen, such as that shown in Figure 4. As can be seen in Figure 4, the information of the transaction preferably includes the name and address of the debtor, the next check number in the sequence for the debtor's account, the date of the payment document, the amount of the document, a brief entry describing the debt, an identification number from the American Banking Association, which specifies the bank or other financial institution that maintains the debtor's checking account, and the debtor's checking account number. The process of entering information in table 202 can also include the programming of future payments for which payment documents will be generated by the system. Figure 5 shows a screen display that allows the entry of future payments that will be generated. Preferably, there are several modes for entering future payments. In a first mode, payments of the same amount are scheduled regularly at predetermined intervals in the future and the generation of payment documents will continue at defined intervals, until the system is instructed to discontinue payments. In a second mode, one or more payments of variable amounts can be scheduled for defined dates in the future. These features are particularly useful in several situations that can be found by the system operator. As a first example, when contact is made with respect to overdue debts, debtors frequently indicate the desire to pay at a future date, when funds are expected to be available. For example, the debtor may offer to pay $ 50 of a debt of $ 120 the following Friday, when the debtor will receive a paycheck and may agree to pay the remaining $ 70 due two weeks later, upon receiving his next paycheck. Since the system allows the programming of a plurality of future payment documents at any desired date and with varying amounts, the system will easily accommodate such arrangements between the debtor-creditor. As a second example, the system can be used as a payment system for a sale that requires periodic payments, for example a membership of a health club for which monthly payments will be made. In this case, the buyer can agree on a payment document for a defined amount, for example of% 19.95 per month, which will be sent automatically on an agreed day each month of the payment due. The system will be programmed to automatically generate this payment document every month, until receiving different instructions. For example, if the customer wishes to interrupt the membership, the system operator will instruct this system to stop the regular production of the payment documents in the client's account. As a third example, the system can be used to generate regular periodic payments of different amounts. For example, a customer of a service using this system can authorize the automatic payment of utility bills monthly. The payments, in this case, would be periodic, but the system will require the entry of varying amounts to generate each payment document. For such uses, the customer can advantageously provide a general authorization to generate periodic payment documents for the amount due in each period, and this information can be automatically transferred from a billing recording system to the system of the present invention, to initiate the generation of payment documents in the appropriate amount. It may often be desirable to interface the system of the present invention with invoices, accounts or other programs used by the beneficiary. For example, such an interface can be achieved by the transfer of process files or information in batches, between the present system and the billing and accounting programs by writing the files to a mass storage device or through a program of interface, such as Microsoft Windows ™. The information that is entered to define future payment documents (dated later) will be stored for future use, as described below with respect to table 212 of the flow chart. As the information enters the block 202, or immediately after the complete entry, this given information is preferably checked against the appropriate databases and the checking algorithms associated with the computer 102, as shown in tables 204, 206 and 208. In Table 210, any warning message determined by the verification process will be displayed to the operator. It should be d that the display of these warning messages is displayed in a single block of the flowchart for convenience and the verification functions can be performed and the warning messages displayed immediately after the data entry is completely complete. . However, it may also be convenient to have each data verification function performed during the process of entering the information, as the lines of the corresponding data enter and to immediately display a warning message if the line just entered is erroneous .

In conjunction with the software that performs the verification function, the databases and the algorithms provided are means of verification to immediately verify the validity of the data entry. As a first step in the verification process, the number of ABA entered to identify the debtor's financial institution is veiled by comparing entries in the database of the financial institution, which has a record of each authorized ABA number. , as shown in table 204 of Figure 2. This database of the financial institution is preferably constructed from records which each describe a financial institution, and includes the ABA number, name, address, telephone number and Fax number of the financial institution. If the ABA number is in the database, the software program displays the name and address of the financial institution on the screen in Figure 4, so the collection agent can verify the veracity of this information with the debtor. If the corresponding ABA number is not found, a warning message will be provided to the collection agent operating the system, according to the function in table 210, and as illustrated in Figure 6. This message indicates that the number of ABA is believed to be invalid. Although the system preferably provides a method for bypassing this error detection and uses the suspect bank identification number, in general, the collection agent will ask the debtor to re-read the bank identification information at the bottom of the bank. debtor's check, so a corrected identification number from the financial institution can be entered. In this way, the present invention provides particular advantages in the context of a process for easily generating payment transactions once. This verification process provides an opportunity to verify the accuracy of the essential information of the transaction process at the time when the debtor is still on the telephone line and can provide the corrected information if necessary. In this way, the returned payment documents and the associated rights assessed by the financial institution of the creditor can be avoided. This verification process can be accomplished using a local computer system without any direct attachment to the bank's electronic information networks. Referring again to Figure 2, a further verification step may be performed on the account number, as shown in Table 206. Many financial institutions limit the used account numbers to numbers that meet the requirements of a something - Default rate, for example, all account numbers can be divisible by a predetermined number or the sum of the digits can have a predetermined characteristic. If the database of the financial institution associated with the computer 102 is provided with information defining such algorithms for verification of the account number for the financial institution involved, the validity of the account number can be verified and if a number of Invalid account, issue an immediate warning to the collection agent. The functions of the subsequent verification can be performed at the entry of the operator of the postal area of the debtor, as shown in table 208 of Figure 2. In one mode, the database that associates all valid postal areas with their cities and names of associated states, may be associated with the computer 102, and the entry of the postal area may result in the display of the city and the debtor's State for verification by this debtor, or may result in an error message indicating that the postal area that appears is incorrect, as shown in Figure 7. Referring again to Figure 2, in another preferred embodiment, the postal area database may include empirical or statistical information in the postal area. prevalence of check frauds that originate in that postal area. This information will be particularly useful in cases where the present system is used as a payment mechanism for mail or telephone orders. If the debtor's postal area is one that has experienced a high proportion of check fraud or bad checks, an indication will be generated to the system operator and additional verification procedures will be carried out. Additional information may be required from the debtor, or the collection agent may take steps to prevent the document from being paid, such as verifying the availability of funds directly with the debtor's financial institution or obtaining a guarantor from the debtor. check of a company specializing in these transactions. To achieve greater accuracy than can be obtained merely from checking the postal area, a database of overdrawn account numbers and the names and addresses of those who have issued bad checks, it can also be provided, and a correspondence with an entry in this database it can be used similarly to produce a warning to the collection agent to take protective actions, such as one or more of the techniques suggested above. Following completion of the verification functions, as shown in Table 210 in Figure 2, the system will display any appropriate message to the operator, indicating possible errors in data entry or information received from the payer. In the flow chart, this function is shown in a single box after the verification stages, but it may be preferable to display appropriate messages immediately after each verification step, to provide feedback to the operator, as soon as an entry has occurred wrong The display of error indications may also occur at a certain time after data entry, for example as part of an exception report for a large batch of payment documents that are printed. In the next step, as shown in table 212, the information of the transaction defining the payment document to be produced can be stored in the computer 102, preferably in a mass storage device, associated therewith. . The information that defines each printed payment document is preferably filed permanently for future reference in the case of any issue or dispute. As mentioned before, it is also possible to program future payments with the use of the system according to the present invention. For example, the system can be programmed to generate subsequently dated payment documents or a series of regular periodic payment documents. These subsequently dated payment documents can be printed immediately and kept on deposit by the operator until their effective date, or the data defining the subsequently dated payment documents can be stored in a table 212 storage stage, and the program can operate for the scheduled production of subsequently dated payment documents and activate the printer to print these payment documents on the date they are required. Once the data defining the subsequently dated payment documents is stored, these documents are viewed and edited in any desired way, or they are deleted or deleted before their real generation, as previously mentioned in the description of the documents. functions of the main menu. For example, if a series of payment documents has been programmed and the payer changes banks or account numbers, the corrected information for the payment documents is entered at a later date through the editing function, before generate the payment documents. As another example, the authorization of a series of payment documents can be suppressed, using the suppression function of the main menu. As part of the function of printing the payment documents and scheduling these payment documents in advance, the software will preferably automatically generate a standard style of notice letter in writing to the payer, which lists the amount and the date of payment documents, these documents will be presented later for payment. The written notice may include a portion of the form that includes the language authorizing the transaction and is designed to be signed and returned to the payment collector to provide written authorization to enforce the payment document (s) in the account of the payer. This notice must be printed on the printer 108 or, preferably, on another printer (not shown) associated with the system, which is loaded with the appropriate paper for correspondence. Referring again to Figure 2, the system can take action automatically in table 214 to verify the availability of funds in the payer's account. This verification operation is particularly important in the case of one-time transactions, for which the present system and method are particularly applicable. The payer can be a person with a questionable credit record, in cases where the system is used by the collection agency, or the payer can be a new customer and has an indeterminate record in cases when the system is used to take an order by telephone, such as in response to television advertisements or mail order catalogs.

The fund verification process, executed by the system, can take any desired form, but, in the present invention, two particular forms are preferred. In the first preferred mode, a fax letter is generated automatically and transmitted to the payer's financial institution, which identifies the payer and his account number, indicating the amount of the authorized transaction, and which requires the financial institution make immediate contact with the system operator (preferably by an exempt number of rights or by a collect call) if sufficient funds are not available or the payer's account is not open and with good commercial credit. The fax letter is based on a letter of standardized form, and the information of the payer, account, amount and identification of the bank are then automatically inserted into the letter by the program, from the production data of the payment document, when This fax verification feature is enabled by the operator or by programming the system. The bank's fax number can be obtained from the database of the financial institution associated with the system, and the program uses the fax modem 112 (shown in Figure 1) to automatically transmit the fax letter to the bank . Thus, the generation and transmission of this fax letter is fully electronic and automatic and does not require any operator intervention. The time of transmission of the fax letter can also be controlled by the operator through a screen entry or by the system through predetermined criteria. For example, it may be convenient to store a record of the facsimiles to be transmitted and then transmit these faxes during the evening, night or weekend hours, when the lowest telephone service rates are in effect. . In a second mode of fund verification, the function of the frame 214, the system can be selectively connected using the fax modem 112 (shown in Figure 1), to one of the central clearinghouses or to databases capable of Provide check authorization or check guarantees online. In this embodiment, the software of the present invention will automatically connect to the check verification service and transmit the appropriate information from the payment document as part of an investigation to determine whether sufficient funds are available. The software can also compare the information of the payer and / or account, to a "negative database", which lists the names and addresses, social security numbers, account numbers or other identifying information of people who have issued bad checks. . Any or all of these methods can be used. If sufficient funds are not available or the account does not exist with good business credit, the system can then automatically generate an indication to the operator. These fund verification functions can be enabled and disabled selectively by the operator, based on predetermined criteria, or they can be enabled and disabled automatically by the system, based on predetermined criteria, for example the lack of a customer's payment history. particular or the use of a suspicious postal area. When a payment document is going to be produced, or because the system is operating in the immediate mode of production or because the production of "post dated documents" has been required by the operator, the software operates for the format of the payment documents, as shown in table 216 of Figure 1. The format of the payment document is achieved according to a predetermined design programmed in the system. The system determines the locations for the printing of data in the payment document and the size and fonts (fonts) to be used for each row of data. A sample payment document is illustrated in Figure 10, indicated by the reference number 1000. This payment document includes the name and address 1002 of the paid one, the date and sequence number of the payer's check, the designation of the beneficiary, 1004, the identification of the financial institution, 1005, the quantity 1008, a line of memo 1010, the automatic information 1012 of the clearing office and the signature block 1014. The designation of the beneficiary, 1004 is preferably permane encoded in the system and can not be changed easily. Similarly, the signature block 1014 is predetermined and can not be changed by the operator. As another option, a plurality of benefits and predetermined signature tables can be encoded in the system and this system can be programmed to selectively interrupt among the beneficiaries for the production of different payment documents. This feature accommodates the use of a single system to charge several companies. It is important that the beneficiaries of the system are limited to predetermined beneficiaries, so that a dishonest person, who has access to the system, can not generate unauthorized payment documents, payable to said person or to an entity controlled by that person. The automatic information of the compensation office, 1012, is printed in a readable source of the machine, compatible with automatic check clearing systems, in accordance with the standards promulgated by the American Banking Association. This automatic 1012 information from the clearing house includes the financial institution's identification number, account number, check number and may also include the amount. Each field is separated by designated field identification characters, in accordance with the ABA's appropriate check printing rules. Preferably, the system operates to place the check number on several sites within the automatic information of the clearing office, depending on the practice of the financial institution involved. For example, personal checks issued at banks usually have the check number at the end of the data line. Business accounts usually have the check number in front of the bank's routing number, and credit unions usually place the check number between the routing number and the account number information. In one embodiment, the placement of the check number is determined by an operator input. In another modality, the information that defines the placement of the check number can be included in the database of the bank information, associated with the system and the appropriate placement of the check numbers can be determined automatically by the system through of the reference to the database.

The signature block 1014 of the payment document 1000 is generated by a signature, in addition to the signatures under which the bank is normally authorized to pay documents, ie a signature different from that of the payer. Preferably, the signature block is prepared by the beneficiary or an agent acting "as a signature authorized by" the payer. In this case, the beneficiary or an agent of the parties will execute the payment document on behalf of the beneficiary. Alternatively, the system can be programmed to print legally effective marks as a "signature" on the payment document, eliminating the need for any manual signature. This format of the payment document can be achieved immediately following the entry of the information defining the document or more preferably the information of the document can be permanently achieved and / or temporarily stored in a more compact form. The format, in terms of the placement of information and sources, can then be made immediately before the printing of the payment document. The format data is then transmitted to the printer of the payment document, as shown in table 218 of Figure 2, to produce a payment document, as shown in Figure 10. This payment document is preferably printed on security paper, of the type that has a background pattern, which makes evident the occurrence of erasures or other modifications. As mentioned before, all the payment document, or at least the portion of the payment document that will be read by the automatic character recognition equipment, in the automatic check clearing offices, can be printed in ink, which is compatible with these systems. Currently, an ink is used that has a magnetic component in these systems and this ink must be used when producing a payment document that will be processed automatically. The security functions are particularly important in the present invention, since there is a clear potential for the misuse of this invention, if the system is not designed properly and access to the system 100 is obtained by dishonest persons. However, the preferred modality has several characteristics that prevent unauthorized persons from generating unauthorized payment documents, payable to themselves. First, the system is preferably provided with an approval word protection, so that access to the printing functions of the payment document can not be obtained by unauthorized persons. As a second level of defense, the software is preferably encrypted, so each copy of the software will be printed only on documents payable to a predetermined beneficiary. That is, the beneficiary is permanently encoded in the program and can not be easily changed, even by an authorized user of the system. In general, the default beneficiary will be the company that operates the system. Preferably, the coding of the beneficiary in the program will not be an ASCII format in sequence, which could be easily reviewed and changed by a person with limited knowledge of computers. The beneficiary's information is preferably coded using a key operator and / or mixing and dispersing through the program file, so that modification of the beneficiary will require extensive study and program compilation. This feature discourages the incen- tive for a fraud, ensuring that any fraudulent printed payment document will be payable to the company's order, rather than payable to any individual operator. The system of the present invention has been described up to now in terms of an isolated system that receives data input and prints payment documents. However, additional security advantages are obtained in another preferred embodiment, shown in Figure 8., in which the functions of printing payment documents are performed in a central security location. As shown in Figure 8, the computer 102 and the associated display 104 the keyboard 106 are placed in a first location 800. In this mode, it will be convenient to supply a plurality of computers 102 and the associated components in dispersed locations 800. The computers 102 is connected through the fax modem 112 to a telephone line 801, which is a resource for establishing a data transfer connection between the computer 102 and the computer 802 at a remote location of location 800. The computer 802 is connects to the printer 108, which has a magnetic ink cartridge 110, which prints payment documents in response to the data received from the computer 102 via the telephone line 801. The functions, previously described, for the computer 102, referenced in FIG. Figure 2 can be divided between computers 102 and 802, in any desired manner. For example, only data entry functions can be executed on computer 102 and data transmitted to computer 802 for the performance of all other functions. However, it has been found to be particularly advantageous to divide these functions, so that the data entry and verification functions (Tables 202-210 of Figure 2) are performed on the computer 102 at location 800 and the functions of format and printing of the payment document (tables 216-218 of Figure 2) are made in the 802 computer. The functions of storing future transactions and verifying the availability of funds (tables 214-216 of Figure 2) can be performed in any location, depending on the personnel and the organization of the users of the system. Variations in this modality are also possible.

In particular, the data transfer connection means, between the computer 102 and the computer 802, do not need to be over a telephone line and can be any data transfer system, which includes a local area network, a switch system package, a cell phone, a radio transmission system, a satellite transmission system, an infrared radiation transmission system, floppy disks or other mass storage transfer, or another method of transferring data from one location to another. Similarly, the data verification functions can be performed on the computer 102 and repeated by the computer 802 before this computer 802 prints the payment document. In another convenient embodiment, the central computer 802 can receive information from the payment document in a batch file, which could be transmitted by a communication link, by diskette or other means of data transfer. The batch file will contain the information necessary to generate at least one and generally a large number of payment documents. The central computer 802 will preferably check the data for each payment document in the batch file, before printing the document and will display or print an exception report that lists any payment document that could not be processed due to incorrect route numbers of the bank or other criteria, which were not met during the verification process. Preferably, the data is also verified at the time of the original entry, so that the operator can correct erroneous data before processing the payment documents. However, the verification process can take place at any or both times and locations, within the scope of the present invention. The time of transfer of data from computer 102 to computer 802, can be adjusted to achieve the particular convenience advantages, depending on the use of the system. The data defining each payment document can be transferred to the computer 802 immediately in the data collection, or the data for a document can be stored and transmitted to the 802 computer as part of a mass transmission of a group of documents of payment that will be printed. As an example, the information of the payment document can be transmitted and the printed document, at the end of the business day or in a predetermined number of moments during a business day. The software program, according to the present invention, can be designed according to a number of schemes, using a variety of languages and platforms, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art and the invention, in no way, will be limited to the software mode described here. In a preferred embodiment, illustrated in the block diagram of Figure 9, the software design includes a front end process program 902, which is a customary database program, carried out on a standard base platform of data. One suitable platform is the Clipper ™, sold by Computer Associates, of San Jose, California, USA The source code for the Clipper-based front end program 902, according to the present invention, is provided in the software appendix. . In general, this program performs software functions (see flow chart in Figure 2), by providing menu functions, 903, which include data entry functions, and an interface to 905 files of required verification data. When the payment documents are going to be printed. The main database program preferably passes the control to the source / format program, 904, which can be a Page Cardon ™ software, manufactured by Block Publishing, 800 SW 37th Ave., Suite 765, Coral Cables FL 33134 , or any other appropriate platform of control of format and sources. In general, the source / format program, 904 receives the production data from the payment document from the database program 902, in the form of an output file, such as a file in ASCII format. The 904 source / format program will then format and arrange it? input data in a form appropriate for production, such as a formatted payment document. In particular, the 904 source / format program will place the data lines in the appropriate line and column in the payment document, download appropriate fonts to an attached printer, as required to print the payment document, and produce commands to select these sources during printing, so several lines of information in the payment document will appear in an appropriate form. A particularly convenient function of the source / format program is the provision of a standard source of the bank number, which is recognized by the automatic equipment of the check process, and the printing of the ABA number, check number, account and optionally the amount, in the appropriate format in the background of the payment document, in accordance with the ABA rules for checks. As mentioned before, it will be preferable to connect the output of the font / format program 904 to a printer, which will print at least this process information from the bank with the use of magnetic ink, or other printing resources, which can be developed to improve automatic operations of the check clearing office. While the font / format functions can be more easily realized using a platform designed for this general purpose, such as the Page Garden program described above, these print control functions can also be promoted in the database program 902 or you can use a custom output format program. The main database program 902 also connects to the operation that selectively initiates the fax control program 906. The fax control program 906 is preferably software provided as part of the fax modem 112 (shown in Figures 1 and 8). The fax control program 906 preferably operates from a DOS command line interface and the main database program 902 is programmed to produce the DOS shell command and execute the desired functions. The fax control program 906 operates when it is activated to receive a data file, which defines a fax image and a destination telephone number, and then activates the fax moderator 112 (shown in Figures 1 and 8) to dial the desired phone number and transmit the specific image of the fax. This functionality is used in the transmission of a facsimile verification request to a financial institution, as previously described. Specifically, after the entry of the data defining a payment document, the verification of the fax can be indicated, or by the selection of the operator or because certain criteria are met, such as the transaction that originates in a particular area. or the payer who has a bad or nonexistent payment history with the creditor. When the fax verification is indicated, the database program 902 will have access to the record in the 905 data files, which define the financial institution that maintains the debtor's account. Typically, this record will already be available to database program 902, since this record is used to verify bank identification numbers, as previously described. The database program 902 will obtain the fax number of the financial institution from the data register and will pass this fax telephone number to the 906 fax control program. The database program 902 will also insert the key data describing the debtor, the debtor's bank account number and the amount of the proposed payment document in the form letter file., to create a letter image for transmission by fax to the financial institution. This letter image file is then transmitted to the fax control program 906 and transmitted to the destination fax machine. In Figure 11, a flow chart is shown, which schematically illustrates the steps used in supplying a customer system with an authorization key. As shown in Figure 11, step 301 indicates a request by a customer to an operator system for an authorization key. The authorization key, when made to enter the customer's system, as shown in step 302, authorizes the system to produce a number of printed checks, by the provision of an authorization key. The operator, as shown in step 303, provides this authorization key to the client. As shown in step 304, the client enters the authorization key in the client's system. This customer system, in step 305, uses the auto-rization key to authorize the printing of a specified number of checks. This specified number of checks printed in the preferred mode is selected by the customer at the time of the request. This will be described here below.

According to the preferred embodiment, the customer's system has a decreasing number, named a meter for the number of checks. The customer system allows the printing of a check only when the value of the check meter has a positive value, for example 1 or greater. The reason for that, in the preferred mode, is that the customer pays a fee based on the number of printed checks. In order to continuously use the system, the customer must pay for authorization to print additional batches of checks, as necessary. According to the preferred embodiment, the customer's system has a decoder element and an element that supplies a key, carried out in a CPU (central processing unit) by means of the system software. The element that supplies the key provides a sowing key to the operator's system at the time of the request. The sowing key can be based, for example, on an initial number, which can be a serial number associated with the customer's system or it can be another number generated by the customer's system. The serial number, or other key number generated by the client, is then preferably operated by the coding element in the customer's system, before being supplied to the operator's system, so the actual number supplied to the operator's system is not it can be used to determine the initial number used by the customer's system. The operator system uses an encoding algorithm, which uses that sowing key along with the number of authorized checks that the operator enters, to produce an authorization key. This authorization key is then supplied to the client for entry into the client's system. Then an invoice or note can be produced by the operator, based on the number of checks that have been authorized, so that they can be charged to the customer. When entering the client's system, the authorization key is decoded (based on the knowledge of the original seed number and a description algorithm), to produce a result, which allows the client's system to increase the sum of checks for the number of authorized checks. In the above, the generation of the sowing key, the transmission of the sowing code, the obtaining of the authorization key by the operator's system, the transmission of the sowing key to the customer's system, and the entry of the authorization key in the customer's system, can be done automatically by means of modem telecommunications, while it is under the control of the program by the customer's system and the operator's system for its respective operation stages, as discussed previously, or manually, by means of a telephone communication and the manual entry of data. Likewise, the present invention contemplates the use of any combination of manual and automatic operation steps to carry out the embodiment shown in Figure 11. The embodiment shown in Figure 12 schematically illustrates the steps used to supply the customer's system with a indication that the remaining number of authorized checks is low. The value of the number of checks meter is a number stored in a recordable medium, such as a magnetic disk of a standard hard disk drive, or it can be any other known type of recordable medium, which can be used with a computer or the CPU During the operation of the customer's system, periodically (ie, during the cycle of each program or when a check is printed, etc.) in step 322 the check meter value is read and compared to a predetermined value, the which is selected to indicate a "low" value. For example, a "low" value can be selected as 500, 1000, 2000, etc., depending on the typical daily volume handled by the customer's system. If the value of the check meter is not "low", then, as shown in step 323, no indication is made. On the other hand, if the value of the check meter is "low", then, as shown in step 324, an indication is made that the check meter has a low value. The form of such an indication may be the appearance of a warning symbol or a warning color in a part of a display terminal. For example, at a fixed location on the screen, you can select a green circle to represent the condition in which the value of the check meter is not "low", and you can select a red circle to represent the condition in which the value of the check meter is "low". Alternatively, the warning indication may be a direct display in the display terminal, which uses text or symbols indicating that the value of the check meter is in a "low" condition. In addition, the warning indication may be an audible indication by a speaker associated with the computer. This audible indication may include a warning tone and / or a pre-recorded voice message, which is used to indicate that the check meter is in a "low" condition. It will be noted that the value of the check meter will not be stored in a standard magnetic or optical hard drive of the computer, but may be stored alternately in a memory placed in a "security key", placed separately from the computer. These security keys are devices well known in the computer art and are not shown here. This security key is commonly used by computer software vendors, to ensure that patented software is not misused. As shown in Figure 13, the steps are schematically illustrated and used to supply a client system with an authorization key, in which a record of the client's request is made. This may be necessary, for example, for verification purposes, to detect fraud and to provide a record in the event of a dispute. Figure 13 is similar to Figure 11, and similar numbers indicate elements that have the same meaning and function. As shown in Figure 13, in step 301, the client requests an authorization key. At this time, in the embodiment of Figure 13, in step 330, a register is triggered to record the client's request in a recording medium. This recording medium can be, for example, a conventional audio recording tape, a magnetic recording disk, an optical recording medium, a conventional static RAM memory or any other known type of recording means. In the case where the client employs a person in step 301 who communicates by means of the telephone, for example, the recording medium records the voice of the person. When the automatic operation is used in step 301, and the communication is, for example, in the form of digital data transmitted by means of the modem, and in that case the recording medium will record the data transmitted electronically, sent by the client. . The operator system, in step 332, then separately record the location of the authorization record in the recording medium. For example, in the case where an audiotape is used as the recording medium, the indicator of the tape counter can be used (for example, indicating the number of revolutions of a take-up reel of the tape, measured from the guide end of the tape). Alternatively, the location of the record in the recording medium can be determined in any other way, which includes the sound pickup, which detects the sound of the working tape mechanism and the amount of time it has operated since the beginning of the recording. tape. As another alternative, the location of the record in the recording medium can be entered simply by a person employed by the operator, to enter these data into the operator's system. In that case, the location of the record in the record medium can be recorded in the hard drive of the computer or in any other location separate from the record medium, which records the actual request of the client. In Figure 13, the authorization key, when entered into the customer's system, as shown in step 302, authorizes the system to produce a number of printed checks by providing an authorization key. The operator, as shown in step 303, provides this authorization key to the client. In Figure 13, in step 304, the client enters the authorization key into the client's system. This customer system, in step 305, uses the authorization key to authorize the printing of a specific number of checks. This specific number of printed checks, in the preferred mode, is selected by the client at the time of the request. This was described above with respect to Figure 11. In Figure 14, a flow chart is provided, which schematically illustrates the steps performed in automatically producing a deposit strip to deposit a plurality of checks. For example, in an ordinary operation, the customer's system is used to produce a number of checks on a particular day (or on certain dates), to be deposited in the client's account. These checks, as already discussed above, are legally authorized by the debtors to be credited to the client. When making the deposit, it is necessary to prepare a deposit strip that lists the number of checks that are deposited, and the total amount of money deposited by these checks. This is done automatically, according to a preferred embodiment, as shown in Figure 14. In step 340, a request is made (or automatically under the control of the program or by a person operating the customer's system) for the production of the deposit belt. As shown in step 341, the customer's system adds the total number of checks to be deposited, under the control of the computer program. As shown in step 342, the customer's system also adds up the total amount of money that is deposited, adding all the individual amounts of each of the checks that are sent that day for the deposit. Steps 341 and 342, of course, can be exchanged, that is, they can be done in any order. In step 343, the customer's system then prints the deposit strip. Certain information may already be preprinted in this deposit slip, for example, this previously printed information may include the bank identification number, the name of the depositor, the address and telephone number of the bank and / or the depositor. Alternatively, some or all of the information, identified above, in the deposit strip can be printed by the customer's system. For security purposes, in the preferred embodiment, it is preferred that at least the customer's name and bank identification number be pre-printed on blank checks, so that fraud can be reduced or avoided. The deposit slip also includes the account number of the customer's own bank, in addition to the bank's identification number. Alternatively, in step 343, the customer system can print, in addition to the above information, line line information concerning each and every deposit line. For example, such line line information may include the name of the person or institution who has previously authorized the check to be deposited, and the amount of the check. In addition, additional information may be provided, which includes, but is not limited to, the check number, the customer's password or the account number for the person who has previously authorized the check., etc. Also, in yet another embodiment, in the process of Figure 14 that leads to the printing of the deposit strip, or in the process of Figures 11 and 13, which leads to the printing of the previously authorized check, it is possible to Also print a payment coupon. This payment coupon is the type usually associated with a statement from a service company or a credit card company, which contains a detachable coupon that bears the name of the payer or debtor, the account number, etc. This payment coupon can then accompany the previously authorized check for any purpose for which the detachable coupon, previously mentioned, can be used. Thus, a system and a method has been revealed which easily generates and processes authorized payment documents, in a debtor's account in a financial institution, to make the payment of debts. In its use as a tool for collecting debts, the present system provides a clear advantage over the systems of the prior art, in which the payment can be withdrawn from a debtor's account immediately, after authorization by the debtor's telephone. The system can be built with relatively few expenses as an isolated system and is practical in use by small agencies and companies that normally do not have access to electronic fund transfer systems. The system also provides significant advantages for businesses seeking an improved method to receive payment for products and services ordered by telephone. The system avoids the disadvantages of payment-to-delivery (COD) arrangements and eliminates the delay in completing the inherently required transactions if the customer must mail a check to the seller to initiate the shipment of the products or the performance of the services. Likewise, as a method of payment, this system offers advantages similar to those found with the use of credit cards, but does not require the buyer to have a credit card. The figures from the American Banker's Association show that only 80 million Americans have access to a credit card, but more than 183 million have checking accounts. Therefore, the present system and method improves access to mail orders for products and services by those who do not have a credit card. Finally, by generating the payment document at the beneficiary's location, instead of at the location of the payer, the present system and method reduces postal costs and prevents the loss of the mail, by the delivery of the immediate delivery of the document. paid to the beneficiary.

Claims (8)

1. NOVELTY OF THE INVENTION Having described the present invention, it is considered as a novelty and, therefore, property is claimed as contained in the following: CLAIMS 1. An automatic system for generating authorized payment documents in a plurality of financial accounts, belonging to a plurality of payers, in the payment of funds to a beneficiary, this system comprises: an input element, to provide input data, which include the identification information of accounts, to identify a particular account of financial accounts of the payer and the financial institution that maintains that account, and information of the amount, which defines an amount that will be paid to the beneficiary; a process element, connected to receive the input data from the input element, and thus receive the input information and process it to format a payment document in a financial account, payable to the beneficiary, this payment document includes the identification of the financial account, the identification of the financial institution that maintains the financial account, and an instruction to pay that amount to the beneficiary, which includes the beneficiary's particular identification, and also includes a block of signatures to authorize a different signature from that of the payer; a printing element, for printing the payment document in said format, this printing element produces a paper copy of the payment document, using a magnetically encoded ink and printing fonts (types) compatible with the printing process the compensation office; v an element to provide an authorization key to another system, operated by the client, to grant authorization and to print a specified additional number of checks. The system according to claim 1, wherein the external magnetic printing element is a laser printer, which uses a MICR toner cartridge. 3. The system according to claim 1, further comprising an element for indicating in the customer's system that the remaining number of authorized checks is below a previously selected number. 4. The system according to claim 1, further comprising an element for registering the instructions of the client requesting an authorization key, and registering the location in a recording medium, to provide data of this location related to the placement. of the instructions of the client requesting an authorization key. The system, according to claim 1, further comprising an element for automatically producing a deposit strip, for depositing a plurality of checks. 6. An automatic system for generating authorized payment documents in a plurality of financial accounts belonging to a plurality of payers, in payment of funds to a beneficiary, this system comprises: an input element, to supply input data, which include the identification information of accounts, to identify a particular financial account of the payer and the financial institution that maintains that account, and the information of the amount that defines an account that is going to be paid to the beneficiary; a process element, connected to receive the input data of the input elements, and thus receive the input information and process this input information for the format of a payment document in a financial account payable to the beneficiary, this document payment includes the identification of the financial account, the identification of the financial institution that maintains that financial account, and an instruction to pay said amount to the beneficiary, which includes the particular identification of said beneficiary, and also includes a block of signatures to authorize a signature different from that of the payer; a printing element, for printing the payment document in said format, this printing element produces a paper copy of the payment document, using a magnetically encoded ink and printing fonts (types) compatible with the printing equipment of checks from the clearing office; and an element to indicate in the customer's system that the remaining number of authorized checks is below a previously selected number. The system according to claim 6, wherein the external magnetic printing element is a laser printer using a MICR toner cartridge. 8. An automatic system for generating authorized payment documents in a plurality of financial accounts that belong to a plurality of payers, in payment of funds to a beneficiary, this system comprises: an input element, to provide input data that includes the account identification information, to identify a particular financial account of the payer and the financial institution that maintains the account, and the quantity information that defines the amount that will be paid to the beneficiary; a process element, connected to receive the input data from the input element, to receive the input information and process it for the format of a payment document in the financial account payable to the beneficiary, this payment document includes the identification of the financial account, identification of the financial institution that maintains the financial account, and an instruction to pay the amount to the beneficiary, which includes the particular identification of this beneficiary, and also includes a block of signatures for authorizing a signature in addition of the payer's signature; a printing element, for printing the payment document in said format, this printing element produces a paper copy of the payment document, which uses magnetically encoded ink and printing fonts (types) compatible with the printing process equipment the compensation office; and an element for automatically producing a deposit strip, for depositing a plurality of checks.