Patent ID: 8626662

Claim:
A method for clearing a check by a first entity, the check being previously issued from a first party to a second party, the first party having a first account with the first entity, the second party having a second account with a second entity, the method comprising: a) receiving the check from the second party; b) providing a computer processor, the computer processor having a computer readable storage medium, the computer readable storage medium comprising instructions stored therein for executing on said processor, the instructions when read and executed, for: i. identifying first information from the check, the first information including information for identifying the first party, a unique pseudorandom number of the check, and a check amount; ii. authenticating at least a portion of the first information from the check; iii. determining the status of activating the check using at least a portion of the first information from the check and a stored activation code, wherein the stored activation code was previously generated as a unique code for a plurality of checks including the check and was previously stored in a file accessible by the computer processor; iv. receiving second information from the second party, the second information comprising at least an account number of the second account and a routing transit number of the second entity; and c) transferring funds from the first account of the first party to the second account of the second party using at least a portion of the authenticated first information and the second information.