Patent ID: 8140432

Claim:
A method for a Post Office to process bills, the method comprising: receiving, at one or more computer systems associated with the Post Office, a first electronic list of bill recipients from a first biller and corresponding first amounts owed to the first biller by each bill recipient in the first electronic list; receiving, at the one or more computer systems associated with the Post Office, a second electronic list of bill recipients from a second biller and corresponding second amounts owed to the second biller by each bill recipient in the second electronic list; generating, for each bill recipient in the first and second electronic lists of bill recipients, an electronic aggregated listing of the first and second amounts owed to each of the first and second billers by each corresponding billing recipient with one or more processors associated with the one or more computer systems associated with the Post Office; making, using the one or more computer systems associated with the Post Office, the electronic aggregated listing available to each corresponding bill recipient over a computer network; receiving, at the one or more computer systems associated with the Post Office, from one of the bill recipients in the first and second electronic lists of bill recipients, an electronic order instructing the Post Office to cause a payment of at least one of the first and second amounts listed in the electronic aggregated listing; sequestering, using the one or more computer systems associated with the Post Office, funds at least equal to the payment specified in the received order from a predetermined numbered account designated by the bill recipient; and communicating, from the one or more computer systems associated with the Post Office to one or more computer systems associated with a financial service provider, information instructing the financial service provider to effectuate the payment specified in the received order from the sequestered funds.