Patent ID: 7699221

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for determining authorization of a financial transaction, the method comprising: maintaining, at a transaction processor, a historical transaction value for past transactions associated with related promissory payments; receiving, at the transaction processor via a network, a request from a merchant to determine authorization of a financial transaction associated with a proffered promissory payment; determining, at the transaction processor, whether the merchant has authorized simplified risk assessment; accessing, by the transaction processor when the merchant has authorized simplified risk assessment, the historical transaction value associated with the related promissory payments; and determining, at the transaction processor based on the historical transaction value, to authorize the financial transaction based on absence of negative data for the customer associated with the promissory payment stored in a negative database when the merchant has authorized simplified risk assessment; or performing a more detailed risk assessment based on a plurality of factors associated with the financial transaction when the merchant has not authorized simplified risk assessment or when negative data associated with the customer appears in the negative database.