AU2003266781B2 - Bill Reminder and Payment System and Method - Google Patents

Description

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT

ORIGINAL

Name of Applicant: Actual Inventors: WHILEMOBILE.COM PTY LTD Stephen Bruce COULTER Michael John SHANNON Antony Colin HELLIAR Address for Service: Invention Title: Details of Associated Provisional Application: HODGKINSON AND McINNES Patent Trade Mark Attorneys Level 3, 20 Alfred Street MILSONS POINT NSW 2061 "Bill Reminder and Payment System and Method" Australian Patent Application No.

2002953164 filed 6 December 2002 The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us: BILL REMINDER AND PAYMENT SYSTEM AND METHOD FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a system and method for sending reminders and collecting payment regarding unpaid invoices.

The present invention is particularly applicable to utilities providing services such as electricity and/or gas to large numbers of customers, however, the invention is also applicable to other enterprises such as traders, merchants and the like who provide credit to their customers.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Service providers such as utilities conventionally have a monthly or quarterly billing cycle and post an invoice to their clients a predetermined number of days in advance of a due date for payment. By the due date for payment, most, but by no means all, of the customers will have paid the invoiced amount. Shortly after the due date, the service provider then sends reminders to those customers which still have not paid. The sending out of such reminders constitutes a substantial burden for the service provider and results in increased operating costs.

In order to reduce such operating costs, most service providers at this time provide a direct debit service where customers can make arrangements to have such monthly invoices directly debited to a bank account or directly debited to a credit and/or debit card.

However, such direct debit arrangements have not found general acceptance amongst customers because the customer has lost control and is unable to make a decision as to whether or not payment is made. Particularly in the event of a disputed item on the monthly invoice, the customer feels that if this disputed item has already been paid by direct debit, then the customer is in a weak bargaining position as regards disputing the item invoiced.

Because of this largely psychological problem, the direct debit systems offered by such service providers have not been widely adopted. Other types of payment mechanisms such as BPAY (trade mark) which permits invoices to be paid by telephone have also been implemented. However, such systems require each payment to be accompanied by the input of a not insubstantial amount of data and many customers find this tedious, and thus put off making the payment.

Furthermore, in recent years, many customers have responded positively to customer loyalty programmes operated by, for example, credit card providers which reward credit card use by the allocation of frequent flyer points, various different types of bonus, and the like. Such programmes provide a positive incentive for the customer to make a payment utilising this mechanism.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION The object of the present invention is to provide a reminder system and method which enables customers to be reminded (preferably shortly before the due date) that an unpaid invoice is still outstanding, and provide an easy payment authorisation arrangement in which the customer still remains in control as regards making a decision as to whether or not the invoice should be paid.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of sending enrolled customers a reminder concerning unpaid invoices of one or more service providers, the method including the steps of: at enrolment receiving from the customer customer data including a customer reference with the one or more service providers, customer payment details for each the service provider, customer SMS and/or email contact data and customer name; receiving from the one or more service providers a payment history file providing, for each customer, provider data including customer reference with service provider, customer name, amount invoiced and still unpaid, and due date for payment; matching the customer data and the provider data for each the customer to generate customer reminder data including provider name, amount invoiced and unpaid, customer card name, and contact data; using the customer reminder data to contact each the customer via SMS and/or email to request a return message authorising payment; and receiving payment authorisation return messages and instructing payment using the customer reminder data via a payment system known per se.

Preferably, the customers enrol with the method by email, internet registration, telephone, facsimile or regular postal mail.

In preferred embodiments, the method further includes the steps of defining a billing cycle for each invoice issued by the one or more service providers to the enrolled customers, defining conditions under which a pending customer contact is cancelled, defining the contents of a customer contact, defining reporting procedures, and recording status information relating to each invoice for each customer.

Preferably, the payment system issues receipt data and comprising the step of using the customer reminder data to contact each customer instructing payment to advise the receipt data of that customer. More preferably, the reminder is sent just before the due date.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention there is provided a reminder system for sending enrolled customers a reminder concerning unpaid invoices of one or more service providers, the system including: a customer data store in which for each enrolled customer is stored customer data including customer reference with the one or more service providers, customer payment details for each service provider, customer SMS and/or email contact data and customer name; a provider data store in which for the one or more service providers is stored a received payment history file providing for each customer provider data including customer reference with service provider, customer name, amount invoiced and still unpaid, and due date for payment; computer matching means connected to the customer data store and the provider data store to generate, for each the customer, reminder data including provider name, reference with service provider, customer amount invoiced and unpaid, customer card name, and contact data; computer contacting means connected to the computer matching means to route either an SMS or email reminder requesting a return message authorising payment to each the matched customer; and message receiving computer means to receive the return messages authorising payment and instruct payment utilising the customer data via a payment system known per se.

In preferred embodiments, the payment system issues receipt data and the reminder system further includes a receipt data store connected to the computer contacting means to receive the receipt data and pass same to the computer contacting means which contacts each customer instructing payment to advise the receipt data of that customer. More preferably, the reminder is sent just before the due date.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: FIG 1 is a schematic flow diagram of a prior art payments system; FIG 2 is a schematic flow diagram which sets forth the system and method in accordance with the preferred embodiment; and FIG 3 is a screenshot of part of the registration process in the system and method of FIG.

2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT As seen in Fig. 1, a service provider sends a monthly invoice 1 to a customer 2 via regular mail. There are several payment mechanisms open to the customer 2. One of these is to use regular mail to send a cheque back to the service provider in an envelope 3. Another alternative is to pay the bill at the service provider's office in cash 4. A still further possibility is to use the telephone 5 to make payments which involve entering data on each occasion the invoice is paid. A still further alternative is to utilise a credit card 6 to make the monthly payment, possibly at the premises of the service provider. The above is intended to be illustrative rather than exhausting. Still further payment options include internet banking (which suffers from similar disadvantages to telephone payment methods) and various payment facilities operated Post Offices and some merchants (eg Coles Myer).

A still further outcome is that the customer does not pay the service provider in which case a reminder 8 is despatched by regular mail to the customer 2.

A substantial proportion of those who do not pay by the due date are not in a position where they have inadequate funds to pay the service provider. Instead, failure to pay by the due date is symptomatic of a busy lifestyle on the one hand and the low priority allocated by most customers to paying routine bills on the other hand. Particularly where the reminder 8 is not acted upon promptly, in the case of utilities selling electricity and/or gas, procedures are often implemented to then disconnect the customer 2 from the supply.

If the payment is then received, such procedures have to be reversed and the customer then re-connected. Substantial costs are incurred by utilities as a result of such procedures.

Turning now to Fig. 2, a method and system of forwarding reminders which is thought to have many operational advantages, will now be described. In this system, it is necessary for the customer 12 to be enrolled at a central computer 13 typically operated by an agency to which service providers 14 have outsourced the reminder preparation function.

The enrolment of customers can be conducted either by telephone or by email and in this connection, each customer 12 notifies to the central computer 13 the names and unique customer reference numbers (which may be numeric, or alphanumeric, or alphabetical) for those service providers whose invoices the customer wishes to pay via the system, the details of credit and/or debit cards which the customer wishes to utilise in making such payments, the mobile telephone number of the customer and/or the email address of the customer, and of course the customer name. This information constitutes what might be termed "customer data" and is stored in the central computer 13. An example of a computer screen display of some customer registration data is shown in FIG 3.

Each service provider 14 sends out invoices in the manner indicated in Fig. 1 to the customer 12 in the regular way using the regular mailing service. However, preferably shortly before the due date for payment, the service provider 14 electronically transmits to the central computer 13 a payment history file 15 which lists all those invoices unpaid. In addition, the payment history file includes the names of the customers, customer reference number with service provider, the amount invoiced and still unpaid, and the due date for payment. This information may be termed "provider data" and is likewise stored in the central computer 13.

Being in possession of both the customer data and the provider data, the central computer 13 is able to undertake a customer/provider matching process schematically illustrated at 16 which essentially indicates which customers of the service provider 14 have not yet paid their monthly invoice and are enrolled customers 12. For such customers, the customer data and provider data can be passed to a router 18.

The router 18 identifies whether the customer has selected notification by SMS, email or both. Thus the router 18 is able to initiate an SMS (short message service) message direct to the customer's mobile phone 20 via an SMS transmitter 19. Typically, the SMS message would read as follows: "Your Integral Energy electricity Invoice No. 123456 for $267.93 is due today 30 November. To pay now with your National Australia Bank VISA card reply "yes" to this SMS".

The customer 12 uses his mobile phone 20 to make a decision as to whether or not the customer 12 wishes to pay the outstanding invoice. Three factors are important in this connection. Firstly, the customer 12 is in control of the process and is able to make a decision as to whether the invoice should be paid, or should not be paid. If the customer utilising the mobile phone 20 does not send a reply SMS message, or replies "No" (for example), then nothing further happens and the customer has merely received an SMS message. Alternatively, if the customer does decide to pay the outstanding invoice, then the customer knows that to respond "Yes" to the SMS message. The customer will be

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charged the market cost of an SMS message (which is more cost efficient than many other payment method channels, such as postage or mobile phone call). Furthermore, the invoice is able to be paid before the due date so no penalty is incurred. In addition, the invoice is able to be paid utilising the credit card which offers bonus points (these may be used to redeem rewards other than frequent flyer points, for example, as a bonus customer loyalty incentive scheme). These three factors provide a substantial psychological inducement to the user to answer the SMS message "Yes".

Such an answer is transmitted from the mobile phone 20 to an SMS receiver 21 which in turn relays the authorisation for payment via the router 18 back to the central computer 13.

The central computer 13 then in turn issues a payment instruction 22 to the existing payment gateway 24 which communicates with the banking system. This results in funds being transferred via the banking system to the service provider 14.

In addition, preferably the payment gateway 24 also issues a receipt number back to the central computer 13 in order to confirm that the payment has been made. The central computer 13 then passes this data to the router 18 which is then able to instruct an SMS message to be sent to the mobile phone 20 via the SMS transmitter 19 reading as follows: "Your Integral Energy Invoice No. 1234567 for $267.93 has been paid with your National Australia Bank VISA card, Receipt No. 54321. Thank you for using emPay." (emPay being the trade mark utilised by the agency operating the central computer 13.) As an alternative to sending an SMS message, it is also possible for the router 18 to instruct an email generator 26 to transmit an email message via the Internet to a personal computer 27 which is able to transmit an affirmative reply, or pay instruction, to an email receiver 28.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that for the purposes of clarity, the SMS transmitter 19 and SMS receiver 21 have been indicated as separate entities, however,

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these could be combined as a single SMS transceiver. A similar comment applies in relation to the email generator 26 and email receiver 28.

The customer 12 having received the receipt number can either discard the information, or keep the information stored electronically until receipt of the next month's invoice from that particular service provider. In the event of any dispute between the service provider and the customer as to payment, the receipt number provides a guarantee that payment has been received by the service provider.

It will be apparent that the above described system and method provide a number of advantages for both the service provider 14 and the customer 12. The customer 12 remains in control of the decision as to whether or not payment should be made, makes the payment by the due date to as to avoid any possible penalties, receives an advantage for making a payment via the particular card of his choice, utilises a low cost means such as a return SMS message thereby avoiding the cost of postage, for example, and also utilises a time efficient payment method. Similarly, the service provider 14 has the reminder generated electronically for a fraction of the cost of sending a conventional reminder by mail and, it is thought, in a majority of instances will receive an affirmative reply from the customer 12 so that the number of customers paying prior to the due date will be much increased. This should both improve cash flow and reduce the cost of finance.

The foregoing describes only one embodiment of the present invention and modifications, obvious to those skilled in the art, can be made thereto without departing from the scope of the present invention.

For example, in the unlikely event that the payment gateway 24 rejects the payment instruction (because the credit card is in a delinquent condition, for example) then instead of the receipt number being transmitted to the customer 12, an alternative message advising that the payment was unable to be effected can be transmitted. Similarly, the reminders can be sent just after the due date, rather than just before, if preferred.

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The term "comprising" (and its grammatical variations) as used herein is used in the inclusive sense of "having" or "including" and not in the exclusive sense of "consisting only of'.

Claims (9)

1. A method of sending enrolled customers a reminder concerning unpaid invoices of one or more service providers, said method including the steps of: at enrolment receiving from said customer customer data including a customer reference with said one or more service providers, customer payment details for each said service provider, customer SMS and/or email contact data and customer name; receiving from said one or more service providers a payment history file providing, for each customer, provider data including customer reference with service provider, customer name, amount invoiced and still unpaid, and due date for payment; matching said customer data and said provider data for each said customer to generate customer reminder data including provider name, amount invoiced and unpaid, customer card name, and contact data; using said customer reminder data to contact each said customer via SMS and/or email to request a return message authorising payment; and receiving payment authorisation return messages and instructing payment using said customer reminder data via a payment system known per se.

2. A method according to claim 1 wherein said customers enrol with said method by email, internet registration, telephone, facsimile or regular postal mail.

3. A method according to claim 1 or 2 further including the steps of defining a billing cycle for each invoice issued by said one or more service providers to said enrolled customers, defining conditions under which a pending customer contact is cancelled, defining the contents of a customer contact, defining reporting procedures, and recording status information relating to each invoice for each customer.

4. A method according to any one of the preceding claims wherein said payment system issues receipt data and comprising the step of using said customer reminder data to contact each customer instructing payment to advise the receipt data of that customer.

A method according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the reminder is sent just before the due date.

6. A method of sending enrolled customers a reminder concerning an unpaid invoice of a service provider, said method being substantially as herein described with reference to Fig. 2 of the drawings.

7. A reminder system for sending enrolled customers a reminder concerning unpaid invoices of one or more service providers, said system including: a customer data store in which for each enrolled customer is stored customer data including customer reference with said one or more service providers, customer payment details for each service provider, customer SMS and/or email contact data and customer name; a provider data store in which for said one or more service providers is stored a received payment history file providing for each customer provider data including customer reference with service provider, customer name, amount invoiced and still unpaid, and due date for payment; computer matching means connected to said customer data store and said provider data store to generate, for each said customer, reminder data including provider name, reference with service provider, customer amount invoiced and unpaid, customer card name, and contact data; computer contacting means connected to said computer matching means to route either an SMS or email reminder requesting a return message authorising payment to each said matched customer; and message receiving computer means to receive said return messages authorising payment and instruct payment utilising said customer data via a payment system known per se.

8. A reminder system according to claim 7 wherein said payment system issues receipt data and said reminder system further includes a receipt data store connected to said computer contacting means to receive said receipt data and pass same to said computer contacting means which contacts each customer instructing payment to advise the receipt data of that customer.

9. A reminder system according to claim 7 or 8 wherein said reminder is sent just before the due date. A reminder system for sending enrolled customers a reminder concerning an unpaid invoice of a service provider, said reminder system being substantially as herein described with reference to Fig. 2 of the drawings. Dated this 5 th day of December 2003 WHILEMOBILE.COM PTY LTD By HODGKINSON AND McINNES Patent Attorneys for the Applicant