Patent Publication Number: US-9892389-B2

Title: Method, system, and computer program product for customer-level data verification

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     The present application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/448,767 filed Jun. 8, 2006 (now U.S. Pat. No. 9,195,985); the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Field of the Invention 
     The present invention generally relates to fraud detection and more particularly to reducing transaction errors. 
     Background Art 
     Many customers have multiple financial transaction instruments and transaction accounts with a financial institution. These customers often have different billing addresses, mailing addresses, names, telephone numbers, and/or e-mail addresses associated with their different financial transaction instruments and transaction accounts. Thus, when a customer provides a billing address, a mailing address, a name, a telephone number, or an e-mail address to a merchant, the customer may accidentally provide information that is valid, but not identical to that on record for a specific financial transaction instrument or transaction account. When the merchant provides this information to an address verification system, the address verification system responds that the information provided does not match, or only partially matches, that on record. This may result in an incorrect calculation of transaction risk, an incorrectly declined transaction, or an authorization error as well as a reduction in customer satisfaction. This problem has aggravated negative effects because it is likely to occur to devoted customers having multiple transaction accounts and/or financial transaction instruments. 
       FIG. 1A  illustrates an example of the problem where a customer has a first transaction account  102  and a second transaction account  104  with identical names associated with the accounts, but different addresses. Both account records contain information including an account number  106 A,B; a name  108 A,B; an address  110 A,B; and a postal code  112 A,B. 
     The problem arises when a customer presents data  114  to a merchant. In the example of  FIG. 1A , presented data  114  includes a financial transaction instrument or an account number  116  similar to that of the first transaction account  102 , a presented address  118  similar to that of the second transaction account  104 , a presented postal code  120  similar to that of the second transaction account  104 , and a presented name  122  similar to that of both transaction accounts  102 ,  104 . The merchant communicates presented data  114  to an address verification system. The address verification system compares presented data  114  to first transaction account  102  based on the similarity between presented account number  116  and first transaction account&#39;s account number  106 A. The address verification system compares presented address  118  and presented postal code  120  to address  110 A and postal code  112 A of the first transaction account  102 . The address verification system erroneously responds that presented address  118  and presented postal code  120  do not match that of the customer. This error may result in an incorrect calculation of transaction risk, an incorrectly declined transaction, or an authorization error. 
       FIG. 1B  illustrates another example of the problem where a customer has two transaction accounts with identical addresses, a maiden name on a first transaction account  151 , and a married name on a second transaction account  152 . In this example, both accounts contain information including an account number  156 A,B; a name  158 A,B; an address  160 A,B; and a postal code  162 A,B. 
     The problem arises when a customer presents data  164  to a merchant. In the example of  FIG. 1B , presented data  164  includes a financial transaction instrument or an account number  163  similar to that of first transaction account  151 , a presented address  166 , a presented postal code  168 , and a presented name  170  similar to that of the second financial transaction account  152 . The merchant communicates the presented data to an address verification system. The address verification system compares presented data  164  to first transaction account  151  based on the similarity of presented account number  163  and the first transaction account&#39;s  151  account number  156 A. The address verification system compares the presented address  166  to first transaction account&#39;s  151  address  160 A and responds there is a match. The address verification system also compares presented postal code  168  to first transaction account&#39;s  151  postal code  162 A and correctly responds that there is a match. However, when the address verification system compares presented name  170  to the first transaction account&#39;s  151  name  158 A, the address verification system erroneously responds that the name provided does not match that of the customer. Thus, the address verification system erroneously provides a partial match result. This may result in an incorrect calculation of transaction risk, an incorrectly declined transaction, or an authorization error. 
     Thus, given the foregoing, what is needed is a system, method, and computer program product for customer-level data verification that overcomes the shortcomings listed above. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The customer-level data verification tool meets the above-identified needs by providing a system, method, and computer program product that verifies data elements across multiple records for an individual customer. An advantage of the customer-level data verification tool is that it improves accuracy of transaction risk calculations by reducing a probability of errors during a fraud detection process. This provides a reduction in the number of incorrectly declined transactions due to authorization errors as well as providing an increase in customer satisfaction. Another advantage of the customer-level data verification tool is that it provides a merchant system and/or merchant with comparison results at the data element level so the merchant system and/or merchant has comparison results available as input to a decision-making process. 
     The customer-level data verification tool first receives at least one data element as well as transaction account data and/or financial transaction instrument data. Then, a customer is determined from a first record associated with the transaction account data and/or financial transaction instrument data. The customer may be identified in the form of a customer number. A record search is performed to identify at least one additional record associated with the customer. The record search may be based on a search for a common customer number. Finally, the data element is compared to information contained in an additional record to create a comparison result that verifies a customer address. The comparison result may be used as an input to transaction risk calculations. The comparison result may also be provided to a merchant system and/or merchant for use in a decision-making process, for example, to verify customer identity. 
     Further embodiments, features, and advantages of the customer-level data verification tool, as well as the structure and operation of the various embodiments of the customer-level data verification tool, are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS/FIGURES 
       The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein and form a part of the specification, illustrate the invention and, together with the description, further serve to explain the principles of the invention and to enable a person skilled in the pertinent art to make and use the invention: 
         FIG. 1A  illustrates an example of the problem that occurs when one customer has two accounts with an identical name and different addresses; 
         FIG. 1B  illustrates an example of the problem that occurs when one customer has two accounts with an identical address and different names; 
         FIG. 2  is a block diagram of an exemplary system for customer-level data verification; 
         FIG. 3  is a flowchart of an exemplary process for customer-level data verification; 
         FIG. 4A  is another flowchart of an exemplary process for customer-level address verification; 
         FIG. 4B  is a block diagram of an exemplary process for customer-level address verification showing received data elements and filed data elements; 
         FIG. 5A  is a flowchart of an exemplary process for customer-level address verification where a financial transaction instrument is presented; 
         FIG. 5B  is a block diagram of an exemplary process for customer-level address verification showing received data elements and filed data elements where a financial transaction instrument is presented; 
         FIG. 6A  is a flowchart of an exemplary process for customer-level address verification where a financial transaction instrument is not presented by a customer to a merchant; 
         FIG. 6B  is a block diagram of an exemplary process for customer-level address verification showing received data elements and filed data elements where a financial transaction instrument is not presented; and 
         FIG. 7  is a block diagram of an exemplary computer system useful for implementing the present invention. 
     
    
    
     The invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. The drawing in which an element first appears is typically indicated by the leftmost digit(s) in the corresponding reference number. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     I. Overview 
     While specific configurations and arrangements are discussed, it should be understood that this is done for illustrative purposes only. A person skilled in the pertinent art will recognize that other configurations and arrangements can be used without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. It will be apparent to a person skilled in the pertinent art that this invention can also be employed in a variety of other applications. It will also be apparent to a person skilled in the pertinent art that this invention may be implemented in a variety of geographic regions including, and not limited to, national, continental, international, and world-wide regions. 
     The terms “user,” “end user,” “consumer,” “customer,” “participant,” and/or the plural form of these terms are used interchangeably throughout herein to refer to those persons or entities capable of accessing, using, being affected by and/or benefiting from the tool that the present invention provides for customer-level data verification. Furthermore, the terms “business” or “merchant” may be used interchangeably with each other and shall mean any person, entity, distributor system, software and/or hardware that is a provider, broker, and/or any other entity in the distribution chain of goods or services. For example, a merchant may be a grocery store, a retail store, a travel agency, a service provider, an on-line merchant, or the like. 
     1. Transaction Accounts and Instrument 
     A “transaction account” as used herein refers to an account associated with an open account/card system or a closed account/card system (as described below). The transaction account may exist in a physical or non-physical embodiment. For example, a transaction account may be distributed in non-physical embodiments such as an account number, frequent-flyer account, telephone calling account or the like. Furthermore, a physical embodiment of a transaction account may be distributed as a financial transaction instrument. A customer may have multiple transaction accounts. 
     A financial transaction instrument may be traditional plastic transaction cards, titanium-containing, or other metal-containing, transaction cards, clear and/or translucent transaction cards, foldable or otherwise unconventionally-sized transaction cards, radio-frequency enabled transaction cards, or other types of transaction cards, such as credit, charge, debit, pre-paid or stored-value cards, or any other like financial transaction instrument. A financial transaction instrument may also have electronic functionality provided by a network of electronic circuitry that is printed or otherwise incorporated onto or within the transaction instrument (and typically referred to as a “smart card”), or be a fob having a transponder and an RFID reader. A customer may have multiple financial transaction instruments. 
     2. Open Versus Closed Cards 
     “Open cards” are financial transaction cards that are generally accepted at different merchants. Examples of open cards include the American Express®, Visa®, MasterCard® and Discover® cards, which may be used at many different retailers and other businesses. In contrast, “closed cards” are financial transaction cards that may be restricted to use in a particular store, a particular chain of stores or a collection of affiliated stores. One example of a closed card is a pre-paid gift card that may only be purchased at, and only be accepted at, a clothing retailer, such as The Gap® store. 
     3. Stored Value Cards 
     Stored value cards are forms of transaction instruments associated with transaction accounts, wherein the stored value cards provide cash equivalent value that may be used within an existing payment/transaction infrastructure. Stored value cards are frequently referred to as gift, pre-paid or cash cards, in that money is deposited in the account associated with the card before use of the card is allowed. For example, if a customer deposits ten dollars of value into the account associated with the stored value card, the card may only be used for payments together totaling no more than ten dollars. 
     4. Use of Transaction Accounts 
     With regard to use of a transaction account, users may communicate with merchants in person (e.g., at the box office), telephonically, or electronically (e.g., from a user computer via the Internet). During the interaction, the merchant may offer goods and/or services to the user. The merchant may also offer the user the option of paying for the goods and/or services using any number of available transaction accounts. Furthermore, the transaction accounts may be used by the merchant as a form of identification of the user. The merchant may have a computing unit, for example, a merchant system  204 , implemented in the form of a computer-server, although other implementations are possible. 
     In general, transaction accounts may be used for transactions between the user and merchant through any suitable communication means, such as, for example, a telephone network, intranet, the global, public Internet, a point of interaction device (e.g., a point of sale (POS) device, personal digital assistant (PDA), mobile telephone, kiosk, etc.), online communications, off-line communications, wireless communications, and/or the like. 
     5. Account and Merchant Numbers 
     An “account,” “account number,” or “account code,” as used herein, may include any device, code, number, letter, symbol, digital certificate, smart chip, digital signal, analog signal, biometric or other identifier/indicia suitably configured to allow a consumer to access, interact with or communicate with a financial transaction system. The account number may optionally be located on or associated with any financial transaction instrument (e.g., rewards, charge, credit, debit, prepaid, telephone, embossed, smart, magnetic stripe, bar code, transponder or radio frequency card). 
     The account number may be distributed and stored in any form of plastic, electronic, magnetic, radio frequency (RF), radio frequency identification (RFID), wireless, audio and/or optical device capable of transmitting or downloading data from itself to a second device. A customer account number may be, for example, a sixteen-digit credit card number. Each credit card issuer has its own numbering system, such as the fifteen-digit numbering system used by American Express Company of New York, N.Y. Each issuer&#39;s credit card numbers comply with that company&#39;s standardized format such that an issuer using a sixteen-digit format will generally use four spaced sets of numbers in the form of:
 
N 1 N 2 N 3 N 4  N 5 N 6 N 7 N 8  N 9 N 10 N 11 N 12  N 13 N 14 N 15 N 16  
 
     The first five to seven digits are reserved for processing purposes and identify the issuing institution, card type, etc. In this example, the last (sixteenth) digit is typically used as a sum check for the sixteen-digit number. The intermediary eight-to-ten digits are used to uniquely identify the customer, card holder or cardmember. 
     A merchant account number may be, for example, any number and/or alphanumeric characters that identifies a particular merchant for purposes of card acceptance, account reconciliation, reporting and the like. 
     6. RFID and Transmission of Magnetic Stripe Data 
     It should be noted that the transfer of information in accordance with the present invention, may be done in a format recognizable by a merchant system or account issuer. In that regard, by way of example, the information may be transmitted from an RFID device to an RFID reader, or from the RFID reader to the merchant system in magnetic stripe or multi-track magnetic stripe format. 
     Because of the proliferation of devices using magnetic stripe format, the standards for coding information in magnetic stripe format were standardized by the International Organization for Standardization in ISO/IEC 7811-n (characteristics for identification cards) which are incorporated herein by reference. The ISO/IEC 7811 standards specify the conditions for conformance, physical characteristics for the card (warpage and surface distortions) and the magnetic stripe area (location, height and surface profile, roughness, adhesion, wear and resistance to chemicals), the signal amplitude performance characteristics of the magnetic stripe, the encoding specification including technique (MFM), angle of recording, bit density, flux transition spacing variation and signal amplitude, the data structure including track format, use of error correction techniques, user data capacity for ID-1, ID-2 and ID-3 size cards, and decoding techniques, and the location of encoded tracks. 
     Typically, magnetic stripe information is formatted in three tracks. Certain industry information must be maintained on certain portions of the tracks, while other portions of the tracks may have open data fields. The contents of each track and the formatting of the information provided to each track is controlled by the ISO/IEC 7811 standard. For example, the information must typically be encoded in binary. Track  1  is usually encoded with user information (i.e., name) in alphanumeric format. Track  2  is typically comprised of discretionary and nondiscretionary data fields. In one example, the nondiscretionary field may comprise 19 characters and the discretionary field may comprise 13 characters. Track  3  is typically reserved for financial transactions and includes enciphered versions of the user&#39;s personal identification number, country code, current units amount authorized per cycle, subsidiary accounts, and restrictions. 
     As such, where information is provided in accordance with the present invention, it may be provided in magnetic stripe track format. For example, the counter values, authentication tags and encrypted identifiers, described herein, may be forwarded encoded in all or a portion of a data stream representing data encoded in, for example, track  2  or track  3  format. 
     Persons skilled in the relevant arts will understand the breadth of the terms used herein and that the exemplary descriptions provided are not intended to be limiting of the generally understood meanings attributed to the foregoing terms. 
     It is noted that references in the specification to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” “an example embodiment,” etc., indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, and/or characteristic, but every embodiment may not necessarily include the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it would be within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to effect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described. 
     II. System 
       FIG. 2  is a block diagram of an exemplary system  200  for data element verification. The system includes merchant system  204  which, among other functions, gathers customer information. Customer information includes, for example, and not limited to, transaction instrument data  201 , transaction account data  222 , and/or a data element  202 . 
     Transaction instrument data  201  is data that identifies a financial transaction instrument. Transaction instrument data  201  includes information that is stored in, on, or by any financial transaction instrument. Examples of transaction instrument data  201  include, and are not limited to, radio frequency identification (RFID) data, magnetic stripe data, an account number, account data, account name, a credit card verification number, and an expiration date. 
     Data element  202  is information known by both a financial transaction instrument issuer and the customer having a financial transaction instrument issued by the financial transaction instrument issuer. Data element  202  is used for identity verification and/or as a fraud prevention tool. Examples of data element  202  include, and are not limited to, a name, a phone number, an address, a postal code, an e-mail address, an IP address, a complete social security number, a partial social security number, an account number, a customer code, a personal identification number, and a customer-specific alphanumeric identifier. Data element  202  is often provided to a merchant during the normal course of a transaction, thus collection of data elements for data verification imposes little, if any, burden on the customer. Although systems and methods will be described herein with reference to address verification, one of skill in the related art(s) will recognize that other data verifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. 
     Merchant system  204  is a system for, among other functions, collecting transaction instrument data  201  and/or data element  202  for transaction processing. In an embodiment, a merchant system includes, and is not limited to, a telephone network, an intranet, a global public Internet, a point of interaction device (e.g., a point of sale (POS) device, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile telephone, a kiosk, etc.), an online communications device, an off-line communications device, a wireless communications device, and/or the like. Transaction processing includes, and is not limited to, identity verification, data verification, and authorization of use of a financial transaction instrument. 
     Merchant system  204  is coupled via a communication link  212  to an authorization system  206 . Examples of communication link  212  include, and are not limited to, a telephone network, a cable, a radio frequency transmission system, a cellular telephone, and/or a computer network. 
     Authorization system  206  is a system that provides, among other functions, an authorization decision based on risk analysis in response to an authorization request. In an embodiment, authorization system  206  provides a data verification reply in response to a data verification request. In an embodiment, authorization system  206  includes merchant system  204 . In another embodiment, merchant system  204  includes authorization system  206 . 
     Authorization system  206  is coupled via a communication link  214  to a database of customer information  208 . Examples of communication link  214  include, and are not limited to, a telephone network, a cable, a radio frequency transmission system, a cellular telephone, and/or a computer network. 
     Database of customer information  208  stores customer records  216 A,B;  218 ; and  220 . Information contained in the records may be in any format and may contain alphanumeric characters. Database of customer information  208  may be part of authorization system  206 . In an embodiment, customer records  216 A,  216 B,  218 , and  220  are stored on the basis of individual financial transaction instruments. One record is kept for each individual financial transaction instrument. For example, a customer having a first financial transaction instrument and a second financial transaction instrument would have two records in database of customer information  208 . In an example, first record  216 A is associated with the first financial transaction instrument and second record  216 B is associated with the second financial transaction instrument. Multiple records may be kept for each individual financial transaction instrument. 
     In another embodiment, customer records  216 A,  216 B,  218 , and  220  are stored on the basis of customers. One record is stored per customer with all of the customer&#39;s financial transaction instruments recorded on the same record. For example, a first customer having a first plurality of financial transaction instruments is associated with first record  218  while a second customer having a second plurality of financial transaction instruments is associated with second record  220 . 
     III. Process 
       FIG. 3  is a flowchart of an exemplary process  300  for data element verification. In step  302 , transaction instrument data and a data element is received. The transaction instrument data and a data element may be received by a system or computer product that performs data verification. In an example, in step  302 , transaction instrument data  201  and/or data element  202  are received by authorization system  206  from merchant system  204  via communication link  212 . In another embodiment, in step  302 , transaction instrument data  201  and/or data element  202  are received by merchant system  204 . In another example, transaction instrument data  201  and/or data element  202  are received at least in part from one of a point-of-sale device, a sales platform, a computer, or a website. In an embodiment, the exemplary process of  FIG. 3  is performed by the system illustrated in  FIG. 7 . 
     In one example of step  302 , data element  202  is, or represents, at least one of a name, a phone number, an address, a postal code, an e-mail address, an IP address, a complete social security number, a partial social security number, an account number, a customer code, a personal identification number, and/or a customer-specific alphanumeric identifier. In an example, data element  202  may include a billing address or a shipping address. 
     In another embodiment, step  302  is commenced in response to reception of a stand-alone verification request. A stand-alone verification request may be a request made by merchant system  204  that does not simultaneously contain an authorization request. A stand-alone verification request may be made by merchant system  204  to verify an address and/or data element  202  provided by a customer. For example, a stand-alone verification request may be made to verify a shipping address, a mailing address, a billing address, a customer address, and/or data element  202 . 
     In step  304 , a customer is determined from transaction instrument data  201 . In an example, step  304  is performed by authorization system  206 . The customer may be identified by authorization system  206  through a search for at least one customer record in database of customer information  208 . In step  304 , the transaction instrument data may include an account number and/or a customer number. In an embodiment, step  304  is performed by merchant system  204 . 
     In step  306 , a second transaction instrument associated with the customer is identified. In an example, step  306  is performed by authorization system  206 . The customer may be identified by a customer number that is common to transaction instrument data  201 , a second transaction instrument, and/or at least one record associated with a second transaction instrument. In another example, the customer is identified by information that is common to transaction instrument data  201 , a second transaction instrument, and/or at least one record associated with a second transaction instrument and/or transaction account. In an example, the second transaction instrument associated with the customer is identified by authorization system  206  by searching at least one customer record  216 A,  216 B,  218 , and  220  in database of customer information  208 . In an embodiment, step  306  is performed by merchant system  204  and/or a merchant. 
     In step  308 , data element  202  is compared with at least one record  216 A,  216 B,  218 , and  220  associated with the second transaction instrument to create a comparison result that verifies an address. In an example, step  308  is performed on data element  202  and at least one customer record  216 A,  216 B,  218 , and  220  contained in database of customer information  208  by authorization system  206 . In an embodiment, step  308  is performed by merchant system  204  and/or a merchant. In one example of step  308 , customer record  216 A,  216 B,  218 , and  220  associated with the second transaction instrument contains data representing at least one of a name, a phone number, an address, a postal code, an e-mail address, an IP address, a complete social security number, a partial social security number, an account number, a customer code, a personal identification number, and/or a customer-specific alphanumeric identifier. 
     The comparison result of step  308  may then be provided to merchant system  204  and/or a merchant. The comparison result may, for example, be an identifier such as match, partial match, or no match. The comparison result may also identify customer record  216 A,  216 B,  218 , and  220  upon which the comparison result is based. The comparison result may also identify whether the comparison result is, or is not, based on customer record  216 A,  216 B,  218 , and  220  associated with transaction instrument data  201  received in step  302 . In an example, the comparison result identifies data element  202  that does and/or does not match customer records  216 A,  216 B,  218 , and  220  in database of customer information  208 . In another example, the comparison result provides an alphanumeric response indicating a level of correlation between data element  202  and customer records  216 A,  216 B,  218 , and  220 . 
     Transaction risk may be calculated based in part on the comparison result. For example, the transaction risk calculation may be performed based in part on the comparison result by a data verification system, authorization system  206 , merchant system  204 , and/or a merchant. 
     An authorization result may be decided based in part on the comparison result. For example, the authorization result may be determined by a verification system, authorization system  206 , merchant system  204 , and/or a merchant. In an example, an authorization result is provided to a merchant by authorization system  206  and/or merchant system  204 . In another example, an authorization result is provided to merchant system  204  by authorization system  206  and/or a merchant. In an example, the provision of authorization results and/or comparison results is communicated via communication link  212 . 
       FIG. 4A  is a flowchart of an exemplary process  400  for customer-level address verification.  FIG. 4B  shows example received data elements  452  and example filed data elements and/or records  470  used in process  400 . In an embodiment, process  400  is performed by the system illustrated in  FIG. 2  and/or  FIG. 7 . 
     In step  402 , a merchant system gathers data elements including a billing address and account data. In an example, received data elements  452  that are gathered by the merchant system include a postal code  456 , a name  458 , an address  460 , a telephone number  462 , and/or an e-mail address  464 . The account data includes a financial transaction instrument number  454 . 
     In step  404 , the merchant system sends an address verification request including the data elements to an authorization system. In an example, the authorization system receives received data elements  452  with financial transaction instrument number  454  from the merchant system. 
     In step  406 , the authorization system determines a customer number from the account data. In an example, the authorization system searches filed data elements and/or records  470 . Filed data elements and/or records  470  may be part of customer records  471 A,  471 B, and  471 C in a database of customer information. Record  471 A is an exemplary customer record and includes a record number  472 A, a name  474 A, an address  476 A, a postal code  478 A, a telephone number  480 A, an e-mail address  482 A, and a customer number  483 A. Example records  471 B and  471 C include similar types of information. Information contained in a filed data element and/or record  470  may be in any format and may contain alphanumeric characters. In an example, the record number is a transaction account number. In another example, the record number is financial transaction instrument number  454 . The address may be a physical location at which a customer receives correspondence. The authorization system retrieves the customer&#39;s first record  471 B that is associated with financial transaction instrument number  454  in received data elements  452 . The authorization system then retrieves customer number  483 B that is part of the customer&#39;s first record  471 B. 
     In step  408 , the authorization system searches for, and retrieves, account records associated with the customer number. In an example, the authorization system compares the retrieved customer number  483 B with other customer numbers in the filed data elements and/or records  470 . In the example shown in  FIG. 4B , customer record  471 C contains customer number  483 C identical to customer number  483 B of the customer&#39;s first record  471 B. Record  471 C may be associated with a different financial transaction instrument than record  471 B. 
     In step  410 , the authorization system compares filed data elements in the retrieved records with the billing address to determine a comparison result. In an example, at least one of the filed data elements of the customer&#39;s second record  471 C is compared to received data elements  452 . For example, the filed data element of postal code  478 C is compared to the received data element of postal code  456 . The comparison yields a comparison result. In an example, the comparison result is match, partial match, or no match. 
     In step  412 , the authorization system communicates the comparison result to the merchant system. In an example, the comparison result of match, partial match, or no match is provided to the merchant system and/or the merchant for each comparison of gathered data elements as well as the over-all comparison result for all received data elements. For example, results provided to a merchant system are a comparison result for postal code of match, a comparison result for addresses of a partial match, a comparison result for name of match, a comparison result for e-mail of match, and an over-all comparison result of partial match. The authorization request results may be provided to a merchant point of sale device, website, and/or merchant sales system. The merchant system and/or merchant may use the comparison results as input to a decision-making process. 
       FIG. 5A  is a flowchart of an exemplary process  500  for customer-level address verification where a financial transaction card is presented by a customer to a merchant.  FIG. 5B  shows example received data elements  552  and example filed data elements  570  used in process  500 . In an embodiment, process  500  is performed by the system shown in  FIG. 2  and/or  FIG. 7 . 
     In step  502 , a merchant system gathers a received postal code and account data associated with a financial transaction instrument. In an example, received data elements  552  that are gathered by the merchant system include a postal code  556 . The account data includes financial transaction instrument number  554 . 
     In step  504 , the merchant system sends a data verification request including the received postal code and account data, to an authorization system. An optional authorization request may also be sent. In an example, the authorization system receives data elements  552 . 
     In step  506 , the authorization system determines a customer number for the financial transaction instrument from the account data. In an example, the authorization system searches filed data elements and/or records  570 . In an example, filed data elements and/or records  570  are part of customer records  571 A,  571 B, and  571 C. Record  571 A is an exemplary customer record, and includes a record number  572 A, a name  574 A, an address  576 A, a postal code  578 A, a telephone number  580 A, an e-mail address  582 A, and a customer number  583 A. Example records  571 B and  571 C include similar types of information. In an example, the record number is a transaction account number. In another example, the record number is financial transaction instrument number  554 . The authorization system retrieves the customer&#39;s first record  571 B that is associated with financial transaction instrument number  554  in received data elements  552 . The authorization system then retrieves customer number  583 B that is part of customer&#39;s first record  571 B. 
     In step  508 , the authorization system retrieves, from a database, filed postal codes from all records associated with the customer number. The authorization system may compare retrieved customer number  583 B with other customer numbers in filed data elements and/or records  570 . In the example shown in  FIG. 5B , second record  571 C contains customer number  583 C that is identical to customer number  583 B of the customer&#39;s first record  571 B. The second record may be associated with a different financial transaction instrument than the first record. Filed postal code  578 C of the customer&#39;s second record  571 C is retrieved for comparison with received data elements  552 . 
     In step  510 , the authorization system&#39;s matching logic compares the received postal code with the filed postal codes to determine a comparison result. In an example, filed postal code  578 C of the customer&#39;s second record  571 C is compared to received postal code  556 . The comparison yields a comparison result. In an example, the comparison result is match, partial match, or no match. 
     In step  512 , authorization request results are determined at least in part by the comparison result. This step is optional. In an example, the authorization request results in performance of risk analysis. An authorization request may yield an outcome of approved, pended, referred, or declined. The authorization result may be determined by a merchant, merchant system, or authorization system. 
     In step  514 , the authorization system communicates the authorization request results to the merchant system. This step is optional. In an example, the authorization result of approved, pended, referred, or declined is provided to the merchant system and/or the merchant. The authorization request results may be provided to a merchant point of sale device, website, and/or merchant sales system. 
     In step  516 , the authorization system communicates the comparison result to the merchant system. This step is optional. The comparison result may be for comparison of a single data element or for comparison of multiple data elements. In an example, the comparison result of match, partial match, and/or no match is provided to the merchant system and/or the merchant for each comparison of gathered data elements as well as the overall comparison result for all gathered data elements. For example, results provided to a merchant system are a comparison result for postal codes of match, a comparison result for address of a partial match, a comparison result for name of match, a comparison result for e-mail of match, and an over-all comparison result of partial match. The comparison results may be provided to a merchant point of sale device, website, and/or merchant sales system. The merchant system and/or merchant may use the comparison results as input to a decision-making process. 
       FIG. 6A  is a flowchart of an exemplary process  600  for customer-level address verification where a financial transaction instrument is not presented by a customer to a merchant, but instead, an account number or information from a financial transaction instrument is provided. This type of transaction takes place when a customer telephonically or electronically communicates with a merchant, for example, by purchasing a product via the internet and/or over a telephone.  FIG. 6B  shows example received data elements  652  and example filed data elements  670  used in process  600 . In an embodiment, process  600  is performed by the system shown in  FIG. 2  and/or  FIG. 7 . 
     In step  602 , a merchant system gathers account data and data elements including name, address, phone number, and/or e-mail address. In an example, received data elements  652  that are gathered include a postal code  656 , a name  658 , an address  660 , a telephone number  662 , and/or an e-mail address  664 . The account data includes a financial transaction instrument number  654 . 
     In step  604 , the merchant system sends, to an authorization system, an address verification request including the data elements of account data, name, address, phone number, and/or e-mail address. An optional authorization request may also be sent. In an example, the authorization system receives received data elements  652 . 
     In step  606 , the authorization system determines a customer from the account data. In an example, the authorization system searches filed data elements and/or records  670 . Filed data elements and/or records  670  may be part of customer records  671 A,B, and C. Record  671 A is an exemplary customer record, and includes a record number  672 A, a name  674 A, an address  676 A, a postal code  678 A, a telephone number  680 A, an e-mail address  682 A, and a customer number  683 A. Example records  671 B and  671 C include similar types of information. Record number  672 A may be a transaction account number and/or a financial transaction instrument number. The authorization system retrieves first record  671 B that is associated with financial transaction instrument number  654  in received data elements  652 . The authorization system then retrieves customer number  683 B that is part of first record  671 B. 
     In step  608 , the authorization system retrieves filed names, filed addresses, filed postal codes, filed phone numbers, and/or filed e-mail addresses associated with the customer from a database of customer information. In an example, the authorization system compares retrieved customer number  683 B with other customer numbers in filed data elements and/or records  670 . In the example shown in  FIG. 6B , there is a second record  671 C that contains the customer number  683 C identical to customer number  683 B of first record  671 B. The second record may be associated with a different financial transaction instrument or a different transaction account than the first record. Filed name  674 C, address  676 C, postal code  678 C, phone number  680 C, and/or e-mail address  682 C of second record  671 C may be retrieved for comparison. 
     In step  610 , the authorization system&#39;s matching logic compares the data elements of name, address, phone number, and e-mail address with filed name, filed address, filed phone number, and/or filed e-mail address information from the database of customer information to determine a comparison result. In an example, filed data elements of second record  671 C are compared to received data elements  652 . For example, filed data element of postal code  678 C is compared to the received data element of postal code  656 . The comparison yields a comparison result for each individual comparison as well as an over-all comparison result for the collection of comparisons. In an example, the comparison result is match, partial match, or no match. 
     In step  612 , the authorization system communicates the comparison result to the merchant system. In an example, the comparison result of match, partial match, and/or no match is provided to the merchant system and/or the merchant for each comparison of gathered data elements as well as the over-all comparison result for all gathered data elements. For example, results provided to a merchant system are a comparison result for postal codes of match, a comparison result for address of a partial match, a comparison result for name of match, a comparison result for e-mail of match, and an over-all comparison result of partial match. The authorization request results may be provided to a merchant point of sale device, website, and/or merchant sales system. The merchant system and/or merchant may use the comparison results as input to a decision-making process. 
     In step  614 , an authorization result is determined based in part on the comparison results. This step is optional. In an example, the authorization request results in performance of risk analysis. An authorization request may yield an outcome of approved, pended, referred, or declined. The authorization result may be determined by a merchant, merchant system, and/or authorization system. 
     In step  616 , the authorization system communicates the authorization results to the merchant system. This step is optional. In an example, the authorization result of approved, pended, referred, or declined is provided to the merchant system and/or the merchant. The authorization request results may be provided to a merchant point of sale device, website, and/or merchant sales system. 
     IV. Example Implementations 
     The methods and/or processes herein (i.e., the system and/or process listed above or any part(s) or function(s) thereof) may be implemented using hardware, software or a combination thereof and may be implemented in one or more computer systems or other processing systems. However, the manipulations performed by the present invention were often referred to in terms, such as adding or comparing, which are commonly associated with mental operations performed by a human operator. No such capability of a human operator is necessary, or desirable in most cases, in any of the operations described herein which form part of the present invention. Rather, the operations are machine operations. Useful machines for performing the operation of the present invention include general purpose digital computers and/or similar devices. 
     In one embodiment, the invention is directed toward one or more computer systems capable of carrying out the functionality described herein. An example of a computer system  700  is shown in  FIG. 7 . 
     Computer system  700  includes one or more processors  704 . Processor  704  is connected to a communication infrastructure  706  (e.g., a communications bus, cross-over bar, or network). Various software embodiments are described in terms of this exemplary computer system. After reading this description, it will become apparent to a person skilled in the relevant art(s) how to implement the invention using other computer systems and/or architectures. 
     Computer system  700  can include a display interface  702  that forwards graphics, text, and other data from communication infrastructure  706  (or from a frame buffer not shown) for display on display unit  716 . 
     Computer system  700  also includes a main memory  708 , preferably random access memory (RAM), and may also include a secondary memory  710 . Secondary memory  710  may include, for example, a hard disk drive  712  and/or a removable storage drive  714 , representing a floppy disk drive, a magnetic tape drive, an optical disk drive, an information storage device, etc. Removable storage drive  714  reads from and/or writes to a removable storage unit  718 . Removable storage unit  718  represents a floppy disk, a magnetic tape, an optical disk, etc. which is read by, and written to, by removable storage drive  714 . Removable storage unit  718  includes a computer usable storage medium having stored therein computer software and/or data. 
     In alternative embodiments, secondary memory  710  may include other similar devices for allowing computer programs or other instructions to be loaded into computer system  700 . Such devices may include, for example, removable storage unit  718  and an interface  720 . Examples of secondary memory  710  include a program cartridge and cartridge interface, a removable memory chip (such as an erasable programmable read only memory (EPROM), and/or programmable read only memory (PROM)) with an associated socket, and removable storage unit  718  and/or interface  720 , which allow software and data to be transferred from removable storage unit  718  to computer system  700 . 
     Computer system  700  may also include a communications interface  724 . Communications interface  724  allows software and data to be transferred between computer system  700  and an external device  730 . Examples of communications interface  724  may include a modem, a network interface (such as an Ethernet card), a communications port, a Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA) slot and card, etc. Software and data transferred via communications interface  724  are in the form of signals which may be electronic, electromagnetic, optical or other signals capable of being received by communications interface  724 . These signals are provided to communications interface  724  via a communications path (e.g., channel)  726 . Communications path  726  carries signals and may be implemented using wire or cable, fiber optics, a telephone line, a cellular link, a radio frequency (RF) link, and/or other communications channels. 
     In this document, the terms “computer program medium” and “computer usable medium” are used to generally refer to media such as removable storage drive  714 , a hard disk installed in hard disk drive  712 , and signals. These computer program products provide software to computer system  700 . The invention is directed to such computer program products. 
     Computer programs (also referred to as computer control logic) are stored in main memory  708  and/or secondary memory  710 . Computer programs may also be received via communications interface  724 . Such computer programs, when executed, enable computer system  700  to perform the features of the present invention, as discussed herein. In particular, the computer programs, when executed, enable processor  704  to perform the features of the present invention. Accordingly, such computer programs represent controllers of computer system  700 . 
     In an embodiment where the invention is implemented using software, the software may be stored in a computer program product and loaded into computer system  700  using removable storage drive  714 , hard drive  712  or communications interface  724 . The control logic (software), when executed by processor  704 , causes processor  704  to perform the functions of the invention as described herein. 
     In another embodiment, the invention is implemented primarily in hardware using, for example, hardware components such as application specific integrated circuits (ASICs). Implementation of the hardware state machine so as to perform the functions described herein will be apparent to persons skilled in the relevant art(s). 
     In yet another embodiment, the invention is implemented using a combination of both hardware and software. 
     V. Conclusion 
     While various embodiments of the present invention have been described above, it should be understood that they have been presented by way of example, and not limitation. It will be apparent to persons skilled in the relevant art(s) that various changes in form and detail can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Thus, the present invention should not be limited by any of the above described exemplary embodiments, but should be defined only in accordance with the following claims and their equivalents. 
     In addition, it should be understood that the figures illustrated in the attachments, which highlight the functionality and advantages of the present invention, are presented for example purposes only. The architecture of the present invention is sufficiently flexible and configurable, such that it may be utilized (and navigated) in ways other than that shown in the accompanying figures. 
     Further, the purpose of the foregoing Abstract is to enable the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the public generally, and especially the scientists, engineers and practitioners in the art who are not familiar with patent or legal terms or phraseology, to determine quickly from a cursory inspection the nature and essence of the technical disclosure of the application. The Abstract and Summary sections are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention in any way.