Patent ID: 8744959

Claim:
A system for third party bill payment services used by a payer to pay a biller with whom a payer has an account, comprising: a third party computer system for accessing biller data from a plurality of billers, the biller data for the payer in relation to one of the plurality of billers comprising at least one account identifier, an amount due, and a nominal bill due date; one or more payment option rules associated with each of the plurality of billers, the payment option rules defining variable payment options for the associated biller, at least one of the payment options including a calculation for defining a payment amount due based in part on a difference between a proposed payment date and the nominal bill due date; a rules management portal permitting access to the payment option rules for changing or modifying parameters of the payment option rules, including parameters of the calculation for the payment amount due; a payment option generator for accessing the one or more payment option rules associated with a biller and developing at least one payment option for the payer based on at least a subset of the one or more payment option rules associated with the billet wherein the at least one payment option comprises a payment amount due based in part on a difference between a proposed payment date and the nominal bill due date; a payer interface for staging a money transfer to make payment to the billet, the payer interface configured for presenting the at least one payment option to the payer and for accepting a payment option selection and a payment funding confirmation for the payment amount due and payment date, wherein the third party computer system builds a staging record based on the payment option selection˜ wherein the variable payment options are available for the payer to pay early relative to the nominal bill due date and to pay later relative to the nominal bill due date; and a payment execution controller responsive to the payment option selection and the payment funding confirmation for receiving the payment amount due, wherein the bill payment staging record is updated to a fulfilled payment record, the payment execution controller configured for applying fee and settlement rules established between the payer and a provider of third party bill payment services and initiating the money transfer to make payment to the biller's account on behalf of the payer.