Patent ID: 7356502

Claim:
An Internet check payment computer system comprising: a merchant computer executing a stored program to communicate with the Internet to create an Internet site listing products for sale to the public and indicating an option for payment for the products by check drawn on funds held by a third party bank independent of the merchant; an anonymous customer computer independent from the merchant computer, and executing a stored program for communicating with the merchant computer over the Internet to identify the product desired to be purchased and to select the check payment option, the computer further transmitting at least one unique customer identifier from a customer over the Internet; and a processor computer independent from the customer computer and the merchant computer programmed to receive the at least one unique customer identifier in response to a selection of the payment by check option, the processor computer further including a data structure matching the unique customer identifier to at least one statistical element indicating a probability of a payment obligation by the customer being honored, the probability of a payment being honored being determined without communication with the third party bank, wherein the processor computer determines whether check payment for the product should be accepted based on the probability of the payment being honored, produces an authorization indication, and upon the authorization indication indicating that check payment should be accepted, transmits the authorization indication to the merchant computer and generates a printed check including the customer's name, the third party bank name, a check amount, and further including bank routing information, whereby the printed check may be processed at any location using standard check processing channels.