Patent ID: 7347362

Claim:
A process for selecting at least one source of positive pay information to query in association with a proposed check-cashing transaction, the process comprising: receiving a request from a check-cashing entity for positive pay authentication for a check presented to the check-cashing entity in association with a proposed check-cashing transaction; identifying a plurality of available positive pay information sources; accessing information, wherein the information is at least one of the set consisting of: characteristics of the available positive pay information sources; characteristics of the proposed check-cashing transaction; and preferences of the check-cashing entity; and determining, based at least in part on the accessed information, which of the available positive pay information sources are more likely to store positive pay information about the check; and selecting, based at least in part on the request received from the check-cashing entity and the determination, at least one of the available positive pay information sources to query earlier than the other of the available positive pay information sources.