Patent ID: 7433845

Claim:
In a data processing system for facilitating a financial transaction between a payer and a payee using a personal payment number permitting only one-way credit-only funds transfer, said personal payment number comprising routing information for directing a personal payment number transaction to a personal payment number site and an identifier unique to said payee, wherein prior to a payer-initiated transaction a personal payment number is obtained by the payee and communicated to said payer, a method of processing a one-way credit-only funds transfer comprising: receiving a payment message from the payer, said payment message containing the personal payment number and an amount to be paid in said transaction; creating a transaction message incorporating the personal payment number and the amount to be paid; routing the transaction message to the personal payment number site; modifying the transaction message by replacing information in the personal payment number with information in a database linked to the personal payment number, wherein the linked information identifies an account number of the payee and a routing number of a financial institution associated with the payee; and routing the modified transaction message to the financial institution associated with the payee for completion.