Patent ID: 8185471

Claim:
A system for processing bill payments received by mail, the system comprising: a capture device configured to: receive a plurality of payment-related mail items comprising a plurality of envelopes containing one or more items; scan the plurality of envelopes and the items to obtain data about each of the plurality of payment-related mail items; identify, using a computer processor, one or more exception situations regarding one or more payment-related mail items based on the scanned data; automatically store, using a computer processor, one or more exception indicators along with the data obtained about the one or more payment-related mail items in a memory device, wherein the exception indicator provides an indication as to an exception type selected from a plurality of exception types, the one or more exception indicators providing an indication of a foreign payment instrument comprising a payment from a foreign bank or a foreign currency and a situation where the legal amount on a check does not match a courtesy amount on the check, wherein the legal amount comprises an amount written on a line of the check and the courtesy amount comprises a numerical representation of an amount written in a box of the check; display the one or more exception indicators and processing instructions associated with the one or more exception indicators on a graphical user interface of an operator terminal that is in communication with the capture device; and communicate the data about the plurality of payment-related mail items along with the one or more exception indicators to a payment processing system.