Patent ID: 7720754

Claim:
A method of transferring a sum of money from a customer to a beneficiary via a money-transfer company, a network of money dispensing machines and a plurality of distributors of money pick-up devices and corresponding personal codes capable of selective operation of said money dispensing machines, said method comprising: collecting during a transaction said sum of money, via said money-transfer company, from a customer for transfer to a beneficiary; generating, during the transaction with the customer, a transaction record within a database on a server computer controlled by the money-transfer company, the transaction record associated with the transaction with the customer and including data identifying the sum of money for transfer to the beneficiary and identifying the beneficiary; generating, during the transaction with the customer, by the money-transfer company a unique single-use device pick-up code associated with the transaction with the customer, the transaction record associated with the transaction including the single-use device pick-up code; providing, during the transaction with the customer, by the money-transfer company the generated unique single-use device pick-up code to the customer; providing the unique single-use device pick-up code from the customer to the beneficiary; presenting by said beneficiary said unique single-use device pick-up code to one of said distributors; activating, by the distributor, one of said money pick-up devices the activating step including: accessing the database on the server computer controlled by the money-transfer company to ascertain the transaction record generated during the transaction with the customer containing the presented unique single-use device pick-up code and identifying the beneficiary; generating a device record within a database on a server computer associated with the money-transfer company, the generated device record including data representing a money pick-up device, the money pick-up device representing an activated money pick-up device, the generated device record further including data identifying the sum of money for transfer to the beneficiary as reflected in the transaction record; generating a personal code associated with the money pick-up device, the generated personal code being different than the single-use device pick-up code, the generated device record including data representing the personal code; providing, by the distributor to the beneficiary, the activated money pick-up device and the generated personal code; and operating, by the beneficiary, one of said money dispensing machines to receive at least a portion of the sum of money identified in the generated device record using the activated money pick-up device and the personal code; updating the device record to reflect the receiving by the beneficiary of the at least a portion of the sum of money.