Patent ID: 8255303

Claim:
A method for operating a payment service provider, the method comprising: providing a server having at least one processor; and using the at least one processor to perform a method comprising: associating the identity of a buyer with each of a plurality of payment source accounts of the buyer to form a corresponding plurality of buyer-identity/buyer's-payment-source-account associations; assigning a unique number to each of the associations; storing the associations and their corresponding unique numbers in a database of the payment service provider; receiving an authorization from the buyer to make a payment from a selected one of the buyer's payment source accounts to a designated seller's payment depository account, the authorization including a specified payment amount and the unique number associated with the selected buyer's payment source account from which the buyer desires the payment to be made; and effecting a transfer of the specified payment amount from the selected buyer's payment source account to the designated seller's account.