Patent ID: 7630937

Claim:
A method for performing a financial transaction comprising: identifying, by at least one computing device, a plurality of payment options associated with a payer executing the financial transaction, wherein each of the plurality of payment options is linked to a financial account of the payer; gathering, by the at least one computing device, cost data and benefit data for each of the plurality of payment options, wherein the cost data comprises a cost of using the payment option for the financial transaction and the benefit data comprises a benefit, received by the payer, of using the payment option for the financial transaction; selecting, by the at least one computing device, a preferred payment option from the plurality of payment options for the financial transaction based on the cost data and the benefit data, wherein selecting the preferred payment option comprises: identifying an initial contender group comprising the plurality of payment options; determining whether compliance with a rule is mandatory; eliminating, from the contender group when compliance to the rule is mandatory, at least one payment option of the plurality of payment option based on a violation of the rule by the cost data and the benefit data for the at least one payment option to create a revised contender group; eliminating, from the contender group when compliance to the rule is not mandatory, the at least one payment option based on the violation of the rule to create the revised contender group when the contender group comprises a payment option of the plurality of payment options after eliminating the at least one payment option; generating a score for each of the plurality of payment options in the revised contender group, wherein the score is generated by comparing the cost data and the benefit data of the payment option with a selection criteria, wherein the selection criteria defines a goal of the payer, wherein generating the selection criteria comprises: identifying a cost of using each of the plurality of payment options during a specified type of financial transaction; assigning a first point value to the cost based on the effect of the cost on the specified type of financial transaction; identifying a benefit of using each of the plurality of payment options during the specified type of financial transaction; assigning a second point value to the benefit based on the effect of the benefit on the specified type of financial transaction; and defining the selection criteria for the specified type of financial transaction by the first point value and the second point value; and selecting, as the preferred payment option, a payment option having an optimal score from the plurality of payment options in the revised contender group; displaying the preferred payment option for the payer; and processing the financial transaction using the preferred payment option, when accepted by the payer, to obtain a transaction confirmation.