Patent ID: 7455220

Claim:
An apparatus for processing a financial transaction involving a merchant, comprising: a conversion component that converts a payment associated with the financial transaction into electronic data that allows at least a portion of subsequent processing of the financial transaction to be performed electronically; a storage component having a first capacity that stores a plurality of record data associated with a plurality of converted payments thereby allowing a batch conversion of a plurality of non-face-to-face payments wherein the storing of the plurality of record data allows a corresponding plurality of authorization data to be processed for authorization efficiently by not having to transfer the plurality of the record data along with the plurality of authorization data; and a processor that monitors a throughput associated with processing of the plurality of non-face-to-face payments wherein the processor further performs at least one function that mitigates an adverse condition of the monitored throughput and wherein the at least one function comprises suspending processing of unprocessed checks when a level of storage in the storage component exceeds a specified level.