Patent ID: 7865439

Claim:
A method of verifying the identity of one party on behalf of another party, comprising: providing a money-transfer system having a host computer system, a network, a plurality of money-transfer locations with one or more transaction processing devices that communicate with the host computer system over the network, and a communication system that communicates with the money-transfer system; receiving at the money-transfer system from a first party over the communication system a first set of verification criteria data for confirming the identity of a second party, wherein the first set of verification criteria are identification procedures that must be complied with to verify the identity of the second party; storing the first set of verification criteria data in the host computer system of the money-transfer system; receiving at the money-transfer system from a third party over the communication system a second set of verification criteria data for confirming the identity of a fourth party, wherein: the first set of verification criteria data and the second set of verification criteria data are different; and the second set of verification criteria are identification procedures that must be complied with to verify the identity of the fourth party; storing the second set of verification criteria data in the host computer system of the money-transfer system; receiving an identification device from the second party at a money-transfer location; retrieving the first set of verification criteria data from the host computer system using the transaction processing device at the money-transfer location; determining the acceptability of the identification device in accordance with the first set of verification criteria data; if the identification device is acceptable, obtaining identification information from the identification device; and processing the identification information to verify the identity of the second party.